As The World Watches Tehran, Iran’s Henchmen in Yemen Plan to Execute Baha’i

While condemning the murders of protestors across Iran, the international community must also stand up and point the finger at Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis for sentencing a Baha’i to death.

While the world has watched Iranians protest against their government on the streets of Kermanshah and Bandar Abbas, Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have sentenced a Baha’i man to death for his religion.

The Baha’i man, Hamed Haydara, 52, has also had his finances confiscated. He has been imprisoned and expected to face the death penalty since 2013.

Haydara has been forced to sign false confessions under the influence of torture, including electrocution.

Hamed Haydara

One activist for Baha’i rights in Yemen, who kept his name anonymous for his safety, told me that so far there is no official date set for Haydara’s execution.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi party Ansar Allah have arrested and harassed Baha’is since their rise to power in 2014. A June report by the Baha’i International Community said that Rojeh Zayed, a member of Yemen’s prosecution office, as well as other high-ranking authorities “have been repeatedly reported as receiving instructions from Iran to persecute the Baha’i community.”

In addition to sentencing Haydara to death, Houthi militias have also shut down all Baha’i centers in Yemen.

Don’t Let Iran Get Away With It

While supporting freedom and democracy in Iran, the international community must pay attention to Iran’s human rights abuses abroad.

After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, over 200 Baha’is were executed by the Islamic republic.

Mona Mahmudnizhad, 18-year old Baha’i executed in 1983.

In the late 1980’s, executions slowed due to international pressure on Iran and UN resolutions. Today, though there are still vigilante hate crimes and murders against Iran’s Baha’is, as we as hateful government-sponsored propaganda designed to instigate these attacks, there are no more formal executions by the regime.

No matter how flawed, bureaucratic, and messy international politics are, the end of formal executions of Baha’is demonstrates the power of publicity. Clearly, UN resolutions and media coverage have at least some impact. The 200 plus executions of Baha’is that the regime committed prior to international pressure demonstrates what governments are capable of when they think no one’s watching.

Iran needs to know that just as it can’t get away with slaughtering Baha’is in Iran, it can’t get away with slaughtering them outside Iran either.

Post, tweet, and speak up for Hamed Haydara.

#SaveHamedHaydara