Religious Rights

Cyrus the Great, the founder of the first unified Iranian nation-state, is celebrated for affording freedom of religion to all of his subjects–a policy commemorated both in a declaration printed on a clay cylinder bearing his name and in the Old Testament. This venerable tradition has been abandoned by the Islamic Republic of Iran: affronts to the dignity of Iran’s religious minorities, including Sunni and Sufi Muslims, Christians, Jews, Yaresanis, Zoroastrians, and Baha’is are enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and in the Islamic Penal Code. Furthermore, in recent years religious identity itself has often been the only pretext for arrest and imprisonment. The following resources highlight some cases of religious discrimination.