Located about 200 kilometers east of Tehran in north central Iran, the city of Semnan has a population of about 125,000 people. Among them are several hundred Baha’is from every walk of life and socio-economic class.

Yet despite their small number, the Baha’is of Semnan have been the focus in recent years of an intensifying persecution, facing an array of economic, physical and psychological attacks. These include arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, the shutting down of their businesses, cemetery vandalism, denunciations of their faith in school classrooms, distribution of anti-Baha’i propaganda, and arson attacks on their properties.While these types of attacks on Baha’is are not confined to Semnan, the situation there is noteworthy for its particular intensity and the mobilization and coordination of official and semi-official elements – including the police, the courts, local officials, and the clergy. Their aim: to enforce ever more strongly the government’s long-established policy of seeing that the progress and development of Baha’is are blocked.

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In this special report:

This section of Baha’i World News Service includes articles and background information about the case of the Baha’is of Semnan.

• A Community Under Fire – How a systematic campaign of persecution has been rolled out in Semnan.
• Types of Persecution – Articles exploring the range of attacks directed toward the Semnan Baha’i community.
• Timeline of Events – A sampling of major incidents related to the situation in Semnan since 2005.
• Incitement to Hatred – Semnan’s campaign of anti-Baha’i seminars and propaganda.
• The Baha'i Question – Iran’s blueprint for the strangulation of the Baha’i community.
• Photographs – A selection of images from Semnan, downloadable for news media and other use.

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