Living Under Suppression: The Situation of Gonabadi Dervishes in Iran

This report examines the Iranian government’s suppressive and discriminatory policies and practices against Gonabadi Dervishes and explains the root causes behind the situation Dervishes are facing. In addition, the report illustrates how the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), has failed to comply with its own laws and constitutional requirements, as well as its international human rights obligations with respect to the Gonabadi Dervish religious minority.

Sufism has a long history in Iran and has inspired some of the world’s most beloved literature, such as Rumi’s poems. Despite this, Sufism has not always been regarded favorably by the Iranian state. The Iranian government has destroyed Dervishes’ places of worship, seized their property, suppressed Dervishes’ peaceful protests, and placed many of them behind bars.

The accounts of several witnesses interviewed by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (“IHRDC”) demonstrate that the Iranian government has systematically limited Gonabadi Dervishes’ right to the free exercise of religion and deprived them of their due process rights, such as the rights to adequate counsel and a fair trial. After Dervishes’ protests in Tehran in February 2018, many Dervishes were sentenced to long prison terms, corporal punishment, and internal exile. The violation of their due process rights is entrenched and ongoing.

Although the Iranian Constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on religion, it declares that any investigation into individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and that no one can be subjected to questioning and aggression for merely holding an opinion. Moreover, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“ICESCR”), Iran is obligated to respect the rights of its citizens irrespective of their religious beliefs. The Islamic Republic, however, has shown respect neither for its constitutional norms nor its international commitments.

Since the early years after the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic has tried to control religious expression, and it does not hesitate to suppress any religious practice that goes beyond its acceptable ideological boundaries. Gonabadi Dervishes’ theological principles challenge conservative Shiʿa doctrines and undermine Velayat-e Faqih, or Guardianship of the Jurist, which is the foundational idea of the Islamic Republic. Based on Shiʿa clerics’ historical animosity toward Sufi orders, the Iranian government’s propaganda portrays Gonabadi Dervishes as a pervert sect, alongside Bahá’ís and Christian converts. Seen as a potential threat, Gonabadi Dervishes are repressed and subjected to numerous discriminatory practices.

Introduction

On the night of February 19, 2018, a violent clash occurred between security forces and a group of Gonabadi Dervishes who had gathered in Golestan-e Haftom, a street in northern Tehran. Gonabadi Dervishes were worried about their spiritual leader, Noor-Ali Tabandeh. There were some rumors that the government intended to arrest him. Dozens of Gonabadi Dervishes went to Golestan-e Haftom Street to protect Noor-Ali Tabandeh’s house, also known as Dolatsara. Ebrahim Allahbakhsi, a young Gonabadi Dervish, was one of them. In an interview with IHRDC, he described what happened to him and other Dervishes on the night of February 19.

After security forces surrounded Dervishes from all sides, a group of them, including women and children, took refuge on the roof of a building in the Golestan-e Haftom Street. They filmed security forces beating other Dervishes on the street. On top of the building, Dervishes couldn’t breathe. The smoke and choking clouds of tear gas were everywhere. The narrower the blockade, the more bullets came their way. After a while, the security forces raided the building.

“Mehdi Bakhtiari (a Gonabadi Dervish) and I were sitting on the ground and ahead of others. They put a gun to my forehead. It was a handgun. Then, they lifted me off the ground,” Allahbakhsi said.[1] Inside the building, the security forces apprehended Dervishes with an unprecedented level of brutality. They formed two rows facing each other and forced arrestees to pass through between them. “They beat us with[footnote type=”numeric”] 1-1:ytutyutyutyut tyutyut gjyu [/footnote]batons and electric shocks from all sides. My head was broken in several places and my fingers were fractured. By the time I reached the yard, my body was completely bruised,” Allahbakhsi added.[2]

Such an experience is not unique, nor is it limited to the latest spate of violent suppression of Gonabadi Dervishes. During the first two decades after the 1979 revolution, Gonabadi Dervishes gradually lost their right to religious freedom. The government hardliners destroyed their places of worship and holy sites in different cities. Gonabadi Dervish spiritual leaders became subject to pressure from the government, and Dervishes’ right to freedom of assembly and association was restricted. Simultaneously, the Islamic Republic established and funded institutes and initiatives to spread hate propaganda and conspiracy theories against Gonabadi Dervishes and other religious minorities.

Starting from 2006, the suppression of Gonabadi Dervishes increased. The Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom was burned to the ground by hardliners and hundreds of Gonabadi Dervishes who had gathered to protect it were arrested. The Islamic Republic’s suppressive actions continued in subsequent years. The Golestan-e Haftom incident was the peak of the repression. It was unprecedented in terms of violence and scale.

Security forces violently attacked and arrested dozens of Gonabadi Dervishes who were peacefully protesting around the house of their spiritual leader. Mohammad Salas was one of these Dervishes. He was executed after confessing to running over three police officers with a bus, despite clear evidence that his confession was extracted under torture. Mohammad Raji, another Gonabadi Dervish, died in police custody after being arrested. More than two hundred Gonabadi Dervishes were sentenced to imprisonment, internal exile, and corporal punishment after grossly unfair trials.

This report first provides a background on the Gonabadi Dervish order and its historical roots. Next, it explores the reasons behind the conflict between the Islamic Republic and Gonabadi Dervishes. The report then proceeds to provide a detailed account of the suppressive and discriminatory practices implemented by the Iranian government against Gonabadi Dervishes, with an emphasis on the last two decades, during which the government’s campaign against Gonabadi Dervishes has intensified. Finally, the report discusses how the Iranian government’s actions against Gonabadi Dervishes violate Iran’s own law and its international human rights obligations.

1. Sufism

Sufism or Tasawwuf is a mystical form of Islam that emphasizes the inward search for God and shuns materialism. In Islam, there is also a tradition of gnosis, or Irfan, that considers reason and logic insufficient instruments for the realization of God, and thus focuses on mukashafa, or mystical experience. Urafa, or Gnostics, abide by the Qurʾan, traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, and revelation.[3]

2. Gonabadi Dervish Order’s Background

The history of the Gonabadi Dervish order dates back to Shah Nematollah Wali (1330-1431), an Iranian Sufi and poet. As Shah Nematollah is considered as the founder of the order, Gonabadi Dervishes are also referred to as Nematollahi.

In 1861, upon the death of Rahmat-Ali Shah, the spiritual leader of Nematollahi Dervishes, three individuals claimed that they were his legitimate successors. This dispute resulted in the trifurcation of the Nematollahi order.[4] Two claimants to his succession were Munawar-Ali Shah, the pivot of the Munawar-Ali Shahi order, and Safi-Ali Shah, who founded the Safi-Ali Shahi order.[5] The third claimant was Sultan-Ali Shah, who founded the Nematollahi Gonabadi order. The term Gonabadi refers to Gonabad, a region in Khorasan Province in which Sultan-Ali Shah resided.[6] Sultan-Ali Shah appointed his son Noor-Ali Shah II as his successor, and the patrilineal succession continued until 1997 when Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh, assumed the qutbiyyat, or spiritual leadership after his deceased nephew, Mahboub-Ali Shah.[7] Dr. Tabandeh’s honorific title was Majzoub-Ali Shah.

During the Pahlavi era, Gonabadi Dervishes were mostly tolerated by the authorities. Sultan Hossein Tabandeh or Reza-Ali Shah II, the former leader of the Gonabadi Dervish order, maintained good relations with the government. He, however, expressed criticism about different issues from a religious point of view.[8] Reza-Ali Shah II also had ties with several influential Shiʿa clerics. He sent a letter of congratulation to Ayatollah Khomeini upon Khomeini’s release from prison, and soon after the 1979 revolution, he proclaimed his fealty to the new political establishment.[9]

Different reports indicate that the Gonabadi Dervish order is the predominant Shiʿa Sufi order with at least more than two million adherents in Iran.[10] Gonabadi Dervishes generally consider themselves as Twelver Shiʿa Muslims. They pray, fast, and perform religious rituals in accordance with the treatises of senior Shiʿa clerics.[11] Gonabadi Dervishes hold Islamic prayer meetings and refer to their place of gathering as hosseinieh, not khanaqah like other Sufi orders.[12] In addition, Gonabadi Dervishes are forbidden from asceticism, withdrawal from the world, and wearing special costumes.[13]

3. Root Causes of Conflict between Gonabadi Dervishes and the Iranian Government

The following factors explain the reasons behind the Iranian government’s targeting of Gonabadi Dervishes.

3.1. Tolerant Interpretation of Religion

The Gonabadi Dervishes believe that their faith in Islam is not based upon jurisprudence, but love, which is “an Attribute of God” and confirmed implicitly in numerous Qur’anic verses.[14]Accordingly, Dervishes share a common transcendent motif and seek the spiritual concept of unity. Their intended concept of unity indicates tolerance and friendship, not intellectual conflict. As Alireza Roshan, a Gonabadi Dervish interviewed for this report stated, “[Dervishes] have studied the book Ikhwân al-Safâ’ (The Brethren of Purity).[15] This book says that Zoroaster is the same as Mohammad and Jesus Christ. All of them were sent by God, so we have one God, and during the period of religious wars, [Ikhwân al-Safâ’] suggested peace over the concept of God.”[16]

3.2. Rejection of the Concept of Taqlid in Doctrinal Issues of Religion

The Shiʿa believe in taqlid, or emulation, which means “unquestioning acceptance of the legal decisions of a competent faqih without knowing the basis of those decisions.”[17] Senior Shiʿa clerics interpret the holy texts and traditions for lay persons, who have no choice but to follow them.[18] The Gonabadi Dervishes, however, do not recognize the concept of taqlid as such. Although Gonabadi Dervishes follow senior Shiʿa clerics’ treatises regarding religious rituals, they pursue the guidance of their qutb, or spiritual leader, about their spiritual journey. According to Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh, people need to follow the advice of a competent faqih to utter Allahu Akbar correctly. Such practice is called taqlid. But each person must comprehend the meaning of Allahu Akbar individually.[19]

3.3. Dedication to Spiritual Leader and Strong Relationship among Dervishes

Gonabadi Dervishes acknowledge the holiness and leadership of their qutb, and not Shiʿa clerics, during the Mahdi’s occultation.[20] Due to such deference, bayʿat, or the pledge of allegiance to the qutb, has a significant place in the Gonabadi Dervish order.[21] This practice is not common with other Sufi orders and the Shiʿa. In addition, the dedication to qutb prevents Gonabadi Dervishes to stand, as the follower in prayer, behind a non-Dervish leader.[22]

As Shah Nematollah Wali composed in a poem, the spiritual relationship between the qutb and his disciples is the backbone of the three branches of the Nematollahi Dervish order.[23] Dervishes have a very strong network based on discipleship and brotherhood. Senior Shiʿa clerics, however, do not have a comparable relationship with those who follow them as disciples.[24] Moreover, Shiʿa clerics’ traditional networks have lost their effectiveness as the Shiʿa clerics’ credibility has eroded in the years since the 1979 revolution. Without state resources, Shiʿa clerics would not be able to mobilize their followers as Dervishes do.

3.4. Disagreement about Islamic Tax Apportionment

According to Shiʿa jurisprudence, Shiʿa Muslims are required to pay two different Islamic taxes, zakat and khums, in order to complete their faith.[25] As these taxes are a matter of faith, the Iranian state does not enforce them like state-mandated taxes.[26] Historically, the poor and non-Muslims are exempt from paying these taxes.[27]

From the Shiʿa point of view, Khums is a one-fifth share of specified forms of income, set aside for variously designated beneficiaries. Khums must be paid to the righteous faqih who has the sole discretion to distribute it.[28] Gonabadi Dervishes, however, do not pay Khums to Shiʿa clerics. Instead, they submit one-tenth of the specified forms of their income to their qutb to use it for charitable causes that he deems most worthy of support. This one-tenth tax is called Oshriyeh.[29]

Shiʿa clerics are very dependent on financial resources provided by Khums.[30] Starting from early 20^th century, Gonabadi Dervishes have deprived Shiʿa clerics from a major part of this financial source. Not surprisingly, they unanimously have ordered that Oshriyeh does not conform with Islamic law, and Gonabadi Dervishes defy the shariʿa by not paying their religious taxes to Shiʿa clerics.[31]

3.5. Rejection of Velayat-e Faqih

The theory of Velayat-e Faqih, or Guardianship of the Jurist, is predicated on the interpretational foundation laid for taqlid or emulation. In his bid to overthrow the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini introduced a new governing philosophy based on the framework of taqlid. He stated that the right to rule belongs to a righteous faqih during the Mahdi’s occultation.[32] Gonabadi Dervishes, however, do not accede to the Guardianship of the Jurist. In the 1980s, Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh wrote an article against Velayat-e Faqih in a magazine published by the Society for the Defense of Freedom and Sovereignty of the Iranian Nation.[33]

3.6. Leadership of Noor-Ali Tabandeh

In 1997, Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh, also known as Majzoub-Ali Shah (1927-2019), assumed the qutbiyyat of the Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervish order. He was a well-known lawyer who had cooperated with the Liberation Movement of Iran.[34] He served in Mehdi Bazargan’s provisional government.[35] He also defended high-profile political prisoners, such as Abbas Amir-Entezam, the deputy prime minister in the Interim Cabinet of Mehdi Bazargan, who was falsely accused of espionage for the United States.[36]

During the 1980s, Tabandeh continued his political activities with National-Religious activists, a loosely knit pro-reform political group. In 1990, Tabandeh participated in preparing a protest letter to President Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani about corruption and repression in the country. This letter resulted in his imprisonment for eight months.[37] Although Tabandeh retired from political activities after he assumed the qutbiyyat, he occasionally spoke out on political matters.^[38] The turning point in the Iranian government’s confrontation with the Gonabadi Dervish order was before the 2009 presidential election, when Dr. Tabandeh formally endorsed Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate.[39] Etemad Melli, a newspaper that reflected the views of Karroubi’s political party, published Dr. Tabandeh’s statement in support of Karroubi on the first page:

Dervishes do not interfere in politics. But Dervishes do have free will; now, and at this time, of course, exceptional circumstances prevail. Mr. Karroubi brought our cries to Muslims and constantly does so, so Dervishes pay attention to him, and it’s very natural, and [Dervishes] inherently and naturally want to pay back the efforts and the compassion of that gentleman.[40]

Gonabadi Dervishes opened campaign headquarters in cities with considerable Dervish populations to support Karroubi’s presidential bid.[41] They overwhelmingly voted for him.[42] During the last decade of his life, Tabandeh personally was subjected to the Iranian government’s pressure. He was forced to stay away from his hometown of Baydokht and the order’s Mazar-i Sultani mausoleum.[43] After the clashes in Golestan- Haftom in 2018, he was placed under an unofficial house arrest for almost 553 days until he was finally allowed to go to his hometown.[44] Tabandeh passed away in December 2019.[45]

3.7. Ayatollahs’ Green Light for Suppression

In recent years, a growing number of people fleeing from religious restrictions have found peace in spirituality, including new cosmic mysticism and historical Dervish orders.[46] Shiʿa clerics have expressed their concern about such public interest in Sufism on numerous occasions. According to Dr. Mostafa Azmayesh, a Dervish rights activist based in France, in 2006, a Shiʿa cleric publicly threatened that if the officials do not shut down the Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Qom, his followers would do so.[47] Several senior Shiʿa clerics also issued anti-Sufi fatwas that often were followed by violence and destruction.[48]

3.7.1. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Opinion

In response to an istifta, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated that attending Dervishes’ gatherings “is not permissible.”[49] He added that it would be better for those who believe in the teachings of the Qur’an and the Shi ʿa Imams “to set aside the separate name, which is not only not needed but also harms, and join the enormous congregation of their great Muslim nation.”[50]

3.7.2. Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani’s Opinion

Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani is a hardline Shiʿa cleric who has expressed his strong disapproval of Sufism, Dervishes, Jews, and Muslim intellectuals. In a sermon, he declared, “Sufi orders were formed with the purpose of weakening Islam,” because Dervishes promote separating religion from politics.[51] Following the destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom in 2006, Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani published a statement in which he denounced the Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervish order. He stated,

After the Imam Khomeini’s movement [the 1979 revolution], pure Islam has gained predominance in Muslims’ lives, [so] nowadays, there is no place for the Sufi orders . . . [Rulers like] Harun al-Rashid and Mahmud of Ghazni have built Khanaqahs for this sect and because Sufi qutbs have always separated religion from politics, they referred to tyrant kings as legitimate rulers and praised them .[52]

Some reports indicate that the perpetrators who attacked Gonabadi Dervishes’ places of worship in recent years had a green light from Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani.^[53] In the aftermath of the clashes in Golestan-Haftom in February 2018, he again harshly condemned Gonabadi Dervishes as “a false and deviant sect.” Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani also called for swift action against those who had killed police officers .[54] In a recent lecture, he declared, “all Sufi orders are false and there is no difference [among them], and we have many narrations of the Shiʿa Imams, in which they rejected Sufis, [such as] Imam Sadiq who pronounced that [Sufis] are our enemies.”[55] In 2019, he stated that promoting Sufism is strictly forbidden in any form.[56]

3.7.3. Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi’s Opinion

Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi is a senior Shiʿa cleric who teaches at the Qom Seminary and has close ties with the Islamic Republic. He has denied the Holocaust and is an outspoken critic of Sufism, particularly in his book Jilvih Haq [Manifestation of the Truth].[57] Without distinguishing among different Sufi orders, he stated that Dervishes are “deviant in general,” and Muslims “shall avoid association and marriage with them.”[58] He also declared that khanaqah has no place in Islam, and it is in fact “the Dervishes’ heresy.”[59] Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi even publicly stated that Dervishes are dangerous, politically and religiously, and the government must prevent disseminating their message.[60] In response to an istifta about the reconstruction of a khanaqah belonging to Zahabiya Dervish order in Dezful, Khuzestan Province, he denounced Sufi orders.[61] He stated that attending Dervishes’ gatherings is “not permissible,” as well as participating in Dervishes’ activities and helping their cause.[62] After clashes in Golestan-e Haftom, he compared Gonabadi Dervishes with ISIS criminals, stating that both groups believe in “false mysticism.”[63]

3.7.4. Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani’s Opinion

Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani is one of the most senior Shiʿa clerics who teach at the Qom Seminary. He is also a serious critic of Sufism and famous Sufi figures, such as Rumi. In one of his main treatises, Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani stated that paying extensive attention to Dervish qutbs is “polytheism and blasphemy” in some forms.[64] Also, in response to an istifta, he ruled that different Sufi orders, although are not equally corrupted, but “some of them are not in compliance with Islam and are deviant in general.”[65] For this reason, he has advised his followers to avoid socializing, friendship, and more importantly, getting married with Dervishes, and not to attend Dervishes’ gatherings.[66] In a separate fatwa, he stated that “[Dervishes’] manner is against the Prophet Mohammad and the Shiʿa Imams, and there is no establishment as khanaqah in Islam.” Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani concludes that Dervish orders cause misguidance and declares that giving any financial help to them is strictly forbidden. [67]

3.7.5. Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani’s Opinion

Ayatollah Lankarani was a fanatic clergyman who in 2007 issued a fatwa ordering the death of Rafiq Taqi, an Azerbaijani author, because of his articles about the Prophet Mohammad.[68] In response to an istifta, he stated that “Sufism and all orders attributed to it are false and wrongful, and the Shiʿa Imams strongly opposed them.” He continued that “basically, making a separation between shariʿa and tariqah [spiritual journey] is one of [Dervishes’] heresies, and therefore, attending the places of this group, particularly khanaqah, is not permissible.” [69]

4. Living under Silent Suppression (1979-2006)

Due to “Shiʿa orientation and effective accommodation with the new political order,” Gonabadi Dervishes fared better through the turmoil after the revolution than did other Sufi orders.[70] Despite this, the rift between them and the Islamic Republic became deeper and placed the order’s religious credibility, leaders, and buildings in jeopardy.[71] The first attack on Dervishes’ religious sites occurred in Kerman shortly after the new government took power in February 1979.[72] In November 1979, the Moshir al-Saltaneh Hosseinieh, also known as Amir-Soleimani Hosseinieh, located on Behesht Street in Tehran, was looted and burned to the ground.[73] During the same period, violent revolutionary religious groups destroyed the tomb of at least one Nematollahi Gonabadi spiritual leader in the Shah Abdul Azim area in Shahr-e-Rey, south of Tehran.[74] The perpetrators of these attacks were mainly influenced by Shiʿa clerics. They justified their actions by accusing Dervishes of “misleading the youth and Hezbollah.”^[75]

As Dr. Mostafa Azmayesh, a Dervish rights activist, described, the radical Shiʿa clerics such as Mohammad Madani Gonabadi, whose hostility against the Gonabadi Dervish order was known during the Shah’s reign, were suddenly enabled to persecute Dervishes. [76]

They burned farms that belonged to dervishes . . . Soon after the revolution, Madani [Gonabadi] paid a busload of thugs to harass the late Hajj Soltan Hossein Tabandeh (Reza-Ali Shah), the spiritual leader of the Gonabadi Dervishes at the time. Subsequently, Soltan Hossein Tabandeh relocated to Tehran . . . In his memoirs, Madani-Gonabadi said he called for the eradication of the Gonabadi Order during a meeting with …Beheshti [the first head of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary]… and … Bani Sadr [the first president of the Islamic Republic]. He argued that dervishes were monarchists and were well liked by the former Shah.[77]

In 1983, hardliners in Tabriz raided the Gonabadi Dervishes’ hosseinieh and damaged the building. The Tabriz municipality demolished the hosseinieh and converted it into a public park.[78] Similarly, a Dervishes’ place of worship was destroyed by the authorities in Soghad, Fars Province.[79] After the 1979 Revolution, hardliners exerted pressure to close Dervishes’ gatherings in places like Shah Daei Allah, the Rahmat-Ali Shah shrine in the Shah Daei neighborhood of Shiraz. Also, Gonabadi spiritual leaders lost their right to travel freely to townships and cities the country. During the 1980s, Hedayat-Ali Nasouti, a Gonabadi spiritual leader, was beaten and arrested by plain-clothes agents on his way from Shiraz to Jahrom in Fars Province.[80]

In 1981 Ayatollah Khomeini granted the request for reconstruction of Amir-Soleimani Hosseinieh. He also instructed Mohammad Mohammadi Gilani, the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, to issue an official letter granting immunity to Gonabadi Dervishes and the safety of their sites. The letter also declared that the qutb of Gonabadi Dervish order can travel throughout the country, can hold meetings, and any attempt to interfere with him would be a serious punishable crime.[81]

After Ayatollah Khomeini’s death, the government’s aggressive actions against Gonabadi Dervishes reached a new level.[82] In 1991, a part of the Amir-Soleimani Hosseinieh was set on fire. Shortly after that, a wall was built around that part. This land was later occupied by the Meraj-e Shohada, the Committee of Finding Missing Soldiers in the Iran-Iraq War.[83] In 1997, Saeed Emami, a deputy to the Minister of Intelligence (“MOI”), described Gonabadi Dervishes as “one of the four most dangerous groups” for the Islamic Republic during a lecture in Hamadan.[84] Starting from the 1990s, the Iranian government has established and funded different institutions and initiatives, such as University of Religions and Denominations and Baqir al-Ulum University in Qom.[85] They have been tasked to scrutinize and defame what they called “misguided sects,” which include Gonabadi Dervishes.[86]

The Dervishes’ situation got worse when former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power. In 2005, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who headed the judiciary at the time, issued a directive to provincial prosecutor’s offices ordering them to shut down Gonabadi Dervishes’ religious sites in cooperation with security forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (“IRGC”).[87] In recent years and in numerous occasions, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denounced “false mysticism,” which gave hardliners a green light to intensify their confrontation with Gonabadi Dervishes.[88]

5. New Era of Suppression (2006-Present)

In this section, the accounts of witnesses interviewed by IHRDC will be presented to demonstrate how the Iranian government’s policies have impacted the lives of individual Gonabadi Dervishes. Subsequently, specific incidents will be discussed to provide additional context on the extent of the government’s policies against Gonabadi Dervishes.

5.1. Testimony of Witnesses

5.1.1. Alireza Roshan

Alireza Roshan is a Gonabadi Dervish who currently lives in exile in Turkey. He is a poet and journalist, and he used to work in Iranian reformist newspapers, including Hayat-e No and Sharq. Roshan was not born in a Dervish family but decided to join the order during his years at university.[89]

In 2006, a group of attorneys and Dervish rights activists established the Majzooban-e Noor website to In 2010, Alireza Roshan joined the Majzooban-e Noor website as the news editor. cover news about Gonabadi Dervishes.[90]

In September 2011, a deadly confrontation occurred between a group of government–backed hardliners and Gonabadi Dervishes in the small city of Kovar, Fars Province. As Alireza Roshan stated, the editorial staff of Majzooban-e Noor website were in constant contact with Dervishes in Kovar during the unrest. The Majzooban-e Noor published several articles and detailed reports about the situation in Kovar, including the murder of a young Dervish named Vahid Banani who was shot and died of his wounds shortly after.

The situation in Kovar was very serious. “They had brought [plainclothes] forces and recalled the revolutionary people of Shiraz to go there. We constantly warned and mentioned in the news that the situation was critical. Attorneys [who were also Dervish] communicated [with the authorities], but [the authorities] didn’t listen.” The clashes intensified when hardliners attacked Dervishes’ homes and businesses.[91]

On September 5 and September 6, 2011, MOI agents raided the offices of Majzooban-e Noor website in Tehran and Shiraz. They arrested at least eleven members of the website’s managers and editorial staff, including Alireza Roshan.[92]

Within five seconds, Reza Entesari ran to see what was going on. Suddenly, the agents poured [inside] and kicked him on his ribs and finger. [Because of the kick] his finger was pushed to the back of his hand. They also hit Ali Moazami Goudarzi on his side. I was behind the computer . . . and was not beaten . . . [The agents] were in plainclothes and didn’t show us [any warrant].

Roshan stated that the MOI’s agents took films and pictures of Dervishes, and then transferred them to a Hyundai Santa Fe, which he had seen before. Roshan described the MOI’s agents as young and fashionable.[93] The arrested editorial staff the of Majzooban-e Noor website were transferred to ward 209 of Evin prison. They were charged with creating an illegal group with the intent of disrupting national security, disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and insulting the Supreme Leader.[94] Several days after his arrest, Roshan was called for interrogation that continued for almost three days. The MOI’s agents forced him to sit in front of a wall in a very small room during the interrogation sessions. Although interrogators tried to put Roshan under mental and emotional stress, they did not physically torture him.[95]

The interrogator came and put a piece of paper in front of me and [asked] when did you become a Dervish? Which schools did you attend in childhood? What kind of jobs you had done? And, his last question was do you have a Facebook account or not? Then, [they] took my passwords. [They] took the password of my email. [They] wanted the Facebook password. [They] wanted that kind of stuff…Their questions were about the Dervish order. [One of the interrogators] said that you will be sentenced for moharebeh [waging war against God] …and you are murderers, and why have you done so? [96] Why did you publish the news [about Dervishes]? You are against the government.[97]

The MOI interrogators also mentioned Roshan’s family and made some comments about them that were very disturbing to him. He was allowed to call his family after 24 days, during which no one knew his whereabouts. After about one month in solitary confinement, Roshan was released on bail.[98] In May 2012, he was tried at Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Pirabbasi, on the charge of conspiring against national security.[99] “[During the trial], Pirabbasi asked, ‘What were you doing there? Are you a Dervish?’ I said, ‘I’m a journalist.’ He said, ‘Prove that you’re a journalist.’ I showed him my journalist ID card. He said, ‘The journalist ID card doesn’t work for me!”[100] As Alireza Roshan described, Judge Pirabbasi was suddenly called to preside over another trial, and he left the courtroom without concluding Roshan’s trial.[101]

Roshan was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, one year of which was enforceable.[102] His sentence was upheld by Branch 54 of the Court of Appeals, presided by Judge Movahhedi. Roshan served his sentence in ward 350 of Evin prison.[103] After his release from prison in October 2013, Roshan found out that he no longer had a job with Sharq newspaper. On February 19, 2018, a deadly confrontation occurred between Gonabadi Dervishes and security forces in the Golestan-e Haftom Street in Tehran.

I became very concerned. I called Sina Entesari. He said don’t come [around the Golestan Street] and go and write the news! We have a very bloody night ahead here…The voices I heard were heartbreaking![104]

Shocked by the level of brutality shown by the government, Roshan took his family to northern Iran and turned off his cell phone for fifteen days. In the following months the government’s propaganda apparatus started a smear campaign against Gonabadi Dervishes. The pro-government media published numerous articles about Dervishes’ deviations and compared them with ISIS. The fear about ISIS intrusion into Iran and repetition of heinous crimes committed by its members was very real at the time. Very soon, the Iranian social media became full of conspiracy theories and hatred against Dervishes.[105]

The situation became intolerable for Roshan. The Telegram channel of his son’s school contained content stating that ISIS Dervishes had murdered Basij members. Roshan was very concerned that his son could be hurt in school. Roshan and his family eventually left Iran for Turkey in March 2019.[106]

5.1.2. Faezeh Abdipour

On December 30, 2017, Faezeh Abdipour, a young Dervish rights activist and a political science student, was violently arrested at Dey General Hospital, in Tehran. Her husband, Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam, and two other Gonabadi Dervishes, Kasra Nouri and Mohammad Reza Darvishi, were also taken into custody. They had gone to the hospital to visit Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani, a Dervish rights activist and the manager of Majzooban-e Noor website, who was hospitalized there. The MOI’s agents tried to arrest Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam without showing a warrant. When Dervishes resisted unlawful arrest, security forces fired warning shots inside the hospital and arrested all of them. The Dervishes were transferred to Evin prison. [107]

In her interview with IHRDC, Faezeh Abdipour stated that the four Dervishes went on hunger strike to protest their arrest and incarceration. They were placed in solitary confinement and interrogated by the MOI’s Religions and Denominations Department. The questions were mostly about Gonabadi Dervishes’ faith and Dervishes’ personal life.[108]

Once they [interrogators] came and showed me a list and said that you have called these numbers that are overseas, and you are connected to the MEK[109] . . . [They] sent my mother to the Vozara detention center and interrogated her, and told her that your daughter is a member of the MEK, and your daughter has illegitimate affairs . . . [They] tried hard to induce this issue that you’re a Dervish who has connections to MEK members abroad and has received financial resources from them.[110]

Faezeh Abdipour described that when she asked the interrogators to have an attorney present, they ridiculed her. They also threatened that she and her husband would receive long prison sentences and exile to remote places.[111] When the news of their arrest spread, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered in front of Evin prison to express their solidarity with the detained Dervishes. This protest continued for almost ten days, during which no confrontation occurred, and the arrested Dervishes were finally released.[112] About one month after that, the clashes in Golestan-e Haftom occurred, during which Abdipour was severely injured.

Perhaps about 30 to 40 individuals started beating me. [They] hit me with batons so [hard] and were kicking me. They started beating me. I didn’t know what I should do! And, I only laid on the ground, and [they] started beating me, and [they] hurled the worst sexual insults against me, and I didn’t think about their profanity at all! They hit me so [hard] in the head that I just put my hand on my head, and I said that I think I would die, considering the way they were hitting me on the head.[113]

Abdipour was not arrested during the clashes, but she was seriously injured. She has an open case awaiting trial. Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam also sustained critical injuries in Golestan-e Haftom and was arrested by security forces. As Faezeh Abdipour stated, her husband was not allowed access to medical treatment during his detention. He also did not have an attorney during his trial at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Salavati. Sharifi Moqadam was sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment, internal exile, travel ban, flogging, and prohibition on political activities.[114]

5.1.3. Ebrahim Allahbakhshi

Ebrahim Allahbakhsi is a young adherent of the Gonabadi Dervish order. In his interview with IHRDC, Allahbakhsi stated that he was severely beaten and arrested during the clashes in Golestan-e Haftom in February 2018. “Several agents beat me with sticks and batons, while cursing and saying that they will kill all of us.”[115] The security forces’ beating continued. When Allahbakhsi was transferred to the Police Criminal Investigation Department on Shahpur Street, he was bleeding profusely from the head and lost his consciousness. He suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized for three days, during which security forces continued their harassment. He was transferred to the Great Tehran Penitentiary, also known as Fashafoyeh prison, several hours after a major surgery on his fingers and while he still needed inpatient medical care.[116]

In the cold weather of February, Allahbakhsi and other detained Dervishes were held in the prison yard for a while before being admitted into the prison. Prison officials confiscated Allahbakhshi’s antibiotics and other medications, which he should have consumed after the surgery. Dervishes were sent to the quarantine ward, which lacked any facilities such as a heating system. As Allahbakhshi described, the prison officials later took a new mugshot of him, because his first mugshot was taken when his head was bandaged and it was apparent that he was severely injured.[117]

Ebrahim Allahbakhsi was interrogated twice; once by the MOI and once by the IRGC intelligence. In recent years, these two organizations have worked in parallel or even sometimes in competition with each other.[118] The MOI’s interrogators asked Allahbakhsi more about the incidents that led to his arrest. Except verbal threats, there was no physical torture. The IRGC’s interrogators approached people who had been photographed or filmed during protests.[119]

In interrogation sessions, IRGC intelligence officers blindfolded Allahbakhshi and forced him to sit in front of a wall. As Allahbakhshi described, anytime that he didn’t give them the answers they sought, the interrogators snapped his head or hit him with a rosary. They also threatened him that he would never see his family again and they would execute him in the Golestan-e Haftom Street. The interrogators bragged that the judge had no choice but to issue the order that they dictate. “The main purpose of the interrogators was to force me to confess on the state TV. To say that I was wrong . . . to say that Dr. Tabandeh deceived me and the other Dervishes, and to repudiate him and the Gonabadi Dervish order in general,” Allahbakhshi said.[120]

Ebrahim Allahbakhsi was tried at Branch 14 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, on the charge of conspiring with intent to disrupt national security, acting against national security, and disobeying law enforcement. As Allahbakhsi stated, Judge Ahmadzadeh did not even admit his attorney to the courtroom. “Our trial was funny . . . When I entered the courtroom, Judge Ahmadzadeh saw me, looked at my file, and said Cheerio! He didn’t talk to me and even didn’t ask what I was doing in Golestan-e Haftom!” [121] Allahbakhshi was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and flogging.[122] The appeal court, however, reduced his sentence to one year’s imprisonment.[123]

During his imprisonment in Fashafoyeh prison, Allahbakhsi, alongside other political prisoners, protested against inhumane conditions of Qarchak prison, where Dervish women were incarcerated. Their protest was crushed by prison guards and Allahbakhsi was sent to solitary confinement.[124] After that, he was transferred to the ward that housed drug offenders.[125]

According to Article 8 of Iran’s Prisons Regulations, all convicts, upon being admitted to walled prisons or rehabilitation centers, “must be separated based on the type of the conviction, its duration, their criminal background, character, morals and behavior” in accordance with decisions made by the Prisoners Classification Council.[126] Placing political prisoners alongside violent convicts is a violation of Iran’s own regulations and is a recurring human rights concern.

Two Gonabadi Dervishes, Ebrahim Allahbakhshi and Ali Karimi, joined Soheil Arabi, another political prisoner in the ward of drug-offenders. “Farzadi, the head of the prison, already instructed the ward’s supervisor, which is one of the inmates, and the prison guards to harass me, Ali, and Soheil. One day, we were sitting in the prison yard, when suddenly about ten prisoners attacked and started beating us,” Allahbakhsi said. In protest, Allahbakhshi and two other political prisoners went on hunger strike and demanded to be transferred to the political prisoners’ ward. They concluded their hunger strike only after prison officials promised to improve the ward’s conditions.[127]

5.1.4. Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani

Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani is one of the managers of the Majzooban-e Noor website. He was arrested alongside other managers and editors of the website in September 2011. During the arrest and subsequent to that, MOI agents harassed and ridiculed Moradi Sarvestani.[128] He was transferred to Evin prison, where he was held in solitary confinement for three months before his first trial.[129]

We [the editorial board of Majzooban-e Noor website] did not attend the trials. Judge Salavati presided over our trials (in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court), and none of our friends attended the court. Then, he issued some sentences, and I received ten years and six months’ imprisonment on charges of acting against national security. [They] explicitly wrote that being a Dervish is a crime! Mr. Entesari was sentenced to eight years and six months’ [imprisonment]. Our friends, Afshin Karampour, Farshid Yadollahi, Omid Behrouzi, Mr. Daneshjou, and Mr. Amir Eslami, were [also] sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. Without our request and without our attorneys’ request, [they] sent our cases to the court of appeals, and my sentence was reduced to four years’ [imprisonment] and my friends’ sentences were reduced to three and a half years’ [imprisonment]. I was released from prison on June 15, 2015.[130]

The Majzooban-e Noor members did not attend their trials in protest to violation of their due process rights. They believed that MOI officers had already instructed Judge Salavati on how to rule in their cases and their defense in the courtroom would have no impact.[131] During his detention, Moradi Sarvestani suffered from serious medical conditions; however, the prison officials did not allow him to receive proper medical treatment. After his release from prison in 2015, Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani had a stroke. Currently, he is half paralyzed and unable to work.

5.2. Destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom in 2006

In 2005, several anti-Sufi books were published and distributed widely in Qom.[132] Starting from the 1990s, conservative establishments, such as University of Religions and Denominations and Baqir al-Ulum University in Qom, have systematically demonized what they call “pervert sects,” which include Gonabadi Dervishes, Bahá’ís, and Christian converts.[133]

As Dr. Mostafa Azmayesh, a Dervish rights activist, described, the anti-Sufi books argued that because Gonabadi Dervishes don’t believe in Velayat-e Faqih and faithfully follow their qutb, they shouldn’t be allowed to have government jobs. If they have government jobs, then they must be identified and fired.[134] In December 2006, Ahmadinejad announced that he would take some measures to prevent “deviant groups that promote false spirituality.”[135]

About 2006, a new hosseinieh was built in Qom on a plot belonging to Seyyed Ahmad Shariat, a spiritual leader of the Gonabadi Dervish order. He was supposed to manage the endowed property as its trustee. Despite this, the Qom Province Security Council did not authorize the opening and operation of the Shariat Hosseinieh.[136] In addition, the Hajj, Endowment, and Charity Affairs Organization declared that Shariat Hosseinieh has no “legitimate trustee” and brought an expropriation claim against the Dervishes.[137] The court in Qom ordered the closure of the hosseinieh.[138] Some reports indicated that the Qom Province Security Council ordered the destruction of the hosseinieh almost three years before its opening.[139] According to Alireza Roshan,

In 2005, a group came and provoked a number of Shiʿa clerics [in order] to confiscate the Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Qom and to give it to Heyat Fatemiyoun for Basij militia.^[140] Some of Shiʿa clerics, including Shahshahani who was a disciple of Mesbah Yazdi [a radical Shiʿa cleric], had given speeches, saying “In Islam there are only mosques, not khanaqahs! [Similarly] in Christianity there are only churches or in Judaism [there are only] synagogues! And, in Islam, there must only be mosques. We don’t tolerate [Dervishes] building a khanaqah… next to the Masoumeh Shrine and the offices of senior Shiʿa clerics in Qom.”[141]

In February 2006, hoping to find support from the government, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes sent an open letter to several senior Shiʿa clerics, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They expressed “unequivocal support” of the laws of the country and requested assistance against a group who was “intent on harassing and causing sectarian conflict among Muslims and Shiʿa.”[142] Meanwhile, many Dervishes stayed at the hosseinieh in order to protect it.[143] Dervishes distributed flowers and sweets among the people nearby in order to reduce tension in the air.[144]

On the night of February 13, 2006, plainclothes Basij militia and police forces attacked the hosseinieh.[145] They fired tear gas and violently arrested hundreds of Dervishes.[146] During the night, plainclothes Basij members burned the Shariat Hosseinieh and two nearby houses belonging to Dervishes. Shortly after that, city officials demolished the houses and the hosseinieh with bulldozers.[147] Reportedly, at least 200 individuals were injured.[148]

Within two months after this incident, most of the detained Dervishes were released on bail. Several Dervishes, including Omid Behrouzi and Farshid Yadollahi, refused to post bail in protest to Dervishes’ unfair sentences.[149] The latter group was also discharged within one year.[150] Amir-Ali Mohammadi Labaf, a Gonabadi Dervish, was charged with “insulting sacred religious values” due to performing prayers in Dervishes’ gatherings. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, flogging, and internal exile.[151] In the case of Seyyed Ahmad Shariat, the Qom Province Court of Appeals upheld the order of his expulsion from Qom, but overturned his prison sentence on the charges of “forcible occupation of an endowment property and disturbing public order.”[152] He also received compensatory damages, which was much lower than the market price of his properties.[153]

Several months later, the government formed an investigating committee that was sent to Qom. According to the committee report, the dispute over the ownership of Shariat Hosseinieh quickly escalated to a national security issue due to “interferences of some institutes and irresponsible individuals.”[154] Until the present day, some Dervishes still suffer from physical injuries they sustained during clashes in Qom. In addition, many Dervishes were summoned and questioned again about their involvement in the Qom incident in subsequent years.[155]

5.3. Destruction of the Boroujerd Hosseinieh in 2007

The government’s actions against Gonabadi Dervishes in Boroujerd, Lorestan Province, had started before 2007. In November 2007, the Gonabadi Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Boroujerd was burned to the ground and destroyed. The pro-government Fars News Agency claimed that the attack of several Gonabadi Dervishes on a local mosque and their insults against a Friday prayer imam instigated the clashes between Gonabadi Dervishes and local Basij militia. At least 180 Dervishes were arrested, and many were injured.[156]

Despite the government’s claims, many reports indicate that Gonabadi Dervishes did not start the clashes. Plainclothes Basij militia surrounded the hosseinieh for almost two nights. After they destroyed a part of the hosseinieh’s walls, Dervishes were forced to defend themselves. After midnight, the whole building was destroyed by bulldozers, while plainclothes men were chanting slogans against Dervishes.[157] It is notable that before the destruction of the hosseinieh hardliners in Boroujerd had taken several provocative actions, including distribution of pamphlets and collecting signatures in condemnation of Gonabadi Dervishes.[158]

5.4. Acts of Oppression in 2008

5.4.1. Destruction of a Private Prayer Centre in Chermahin

In July 2008, a Dervishes’ prayer center in the small town of Chermahin in Isfahan Province was demolished.[159] The officials declared that this center, which was inside a private residential house belonging to Rahmtollah Javadi, a Gonabadi Dervish, was destroyed because of city code violations. Despite this, the order of destruction, issued by the Article 100 Municipal Commission, was already overturned by the Court of Administrative Justice.[160] On the day of demolition, Rahmtollah Javadi and thirty other Gonabadi Dervishes were arrested. They were charged with disturbing public order and disobeying law enforcement, and they were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, fines, and prohibition on attending Dervishes’ gatherings.[161]

5.4.2. Confrontations in Khuzestan Province, Hamedan, and Kish Island

In Ahvaz and Omidieh, both in Khuzestan Province, Dervishes’ prayer centers were attacked with Molotov cocktails in June and October 2008.[162] In Omidieh, Dervishes received threatening letters from a group named “Mansouroun 2.” In Ahvaz, unknown individuals attacked and stabbed the attendant of the Dervishes’ hosseinieh. On August 29, 2008, security forces arrested a Gonabadi Dervish in Abadan, Khuzestan Province, searched his house, and confiscated his belongings. On June 1, 2008, municipal employees, alongside security forces, destroyed and removed the temporary outdoor tents in the Gonabadi Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Hamadan.[163]

In December 2008, security forces attacked the Gonabadi Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Kish Island in the Persian Gulf and beat and arrested several Dervishes who were inside. They also changed the hosseinieh’s door locks, did not allow anyone to enter it, and confiscated the hosseinieh’s belongings.[164] Several nights later, they raided the house of a Gonabadi Dervish and arrested the people who were attending a meeting there. Farshid Yadollahi Farsi and Amir Eslami, two Dervish attorneys who went to Kish Island to defend detained Gonabadi Dervishes, were also arrested.[165] They were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on charges of disseminating lies and disturbing public order.[166]

A group of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered in front of the prosecutor’s office in Kish Island to protest these arrests. Many of these Dervishes were prosecuted later.[167]

5.5. Acts of Oppression in 2009

5.5.1. Confrontation in Mazar-e Sultani Mausoleum in Baydokht

In July 2009, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes held a peaceful protest outside the Provincial Governor’s office in Gonabad, Khorasan Province. The demonstration had been prompted by the detention of the supervisor of the Gonabadi Dervishes’ cemetery, known as Mazar-e Sultani Mausoleum. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for violating a government directive banning any burial at the Mazar-e Sultani. In May 2010, 24 Dervishes who attended the protest in front of the Governor’s office were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three months to five months, flogging, and internal exile.[168]

5.5.2. Destruction of the Isfahan Hosseinieh

Several months before the destruction of the Isfahan hosseinieh in 2009, a pamphlet distributed during the Friday prayer in Isfahan, invited people to attack Gonabadi Dervishes’ place of worship.[169] Gonabadi Dervishes’ central hosseinieh in Isfahan was already closed in 1995.[170] Starting from the 1990s, MOI agents placed extensive pressure on Dervishes in Isfahan in order to prevent their activities. Several Gonabadi Dervish spiritual leaders were forced to relocate from Isfahan, and the Article 100 Municipal Commission issued the destruction order of Dervishes’ hosseinieh and library located in the historical cemetery of Takht-e Foulad.[171] Dervishes were concerned for the safety of their historical place of worship, so several Dervishes usually stayed overnight.[172]

On the night of February 18, 2009, dozens of security forces invaded the Dervishes’ hosseinieh and library and destroyed them by bulldozers. Before the destruction, they blockaded the area and collected all books and valuable items. They, however, did not demolish the Tomb of Dervish Nasser-Ali, also known as Izad-Goshtasb, because it was a registered cultural heritage monument.[173] In subsequent days, many Dervishes gathered around the ruins of the hosseinieh, but the police and plainclothes Basij members violently attacked and dispersed them. Several Dervishes were injured and arrested. After that, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes staged a peaceful protest in front of the Iranian parliament. During this sit-in protest, at least sixty Dervishes were arrested.[174] In remembrance of these incidents, Noor-Ali Tabandeh proclaimed February 21 as the annual Day of the Dervish.[175]

5.6. Acts of Oppression in 2010

5.6.1. Prohibition of Burial at the Mazar-i Sultani Mausoleum

In January 2010, security forces confronted a group of Gonabadi Dervishes who intended to bury the body of a deceased Dervish at the Mazar-e Sultani mausoleum in Gonabad. The security forces arrested 24 Dervishes on charges of disturbing public order and burying corpses at a forbidden place. The Gonabad Health Department already banned any funeral service at the Mazar-e Sultani mausoleum as “insanitary.” Ten Dervishes were sentenced to five months’ imprisonment, flogging, and internal exile for one year. Fourteen Dervishes were sentenced to 91 days’ imprisonment.[176]

5.6.2. Attacks on Seyed-al-Shohada Hosseinieh in Karaj

The Seyed-al-Shohada Hosseinieh is in the vicinity of Imamzadeh Hassan, a shrine in Karaj belonging to a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The local Basij militia has always been critical of the Dervishes’ presence in the vicinity of a Shiʿa holy place, and on numerous occasions they provoked people to destroy the Dervishes’ hosseinieh.[177] On May 19, 2006, leaflets were distributed during the Friday prayer, comparing Dervishes’ hosseinieh to Masjid al-Dirar, a mosque built by the Prophet Mohammad’s rivals and eventually destroyed by Prophet Mohammad.[178] In September 2007, about a hundred plainclothes Basij members surrounded the hosseinieh for several nights, threatening to occupy it, but no confrontation occurred. At that time, the Karaj Friday prayer imam, Mohsen Kazerouni, stated that affiliation with Dervish orders is a “betrayal of Islam.”[179] In subsequent years, the tension continued; several Dervishes were arrested, and the Article 100 Municipal Commission ordered that the Dervishes’ hosseinieh must be destroyed. On June 5, 2008, several municipal employees, alongside police forces, tried to execute the demolition order.[180]

On the night of May 12, 2010, a group of vigilantes gathered in front of the hosseinieh, and while shouting against Sufism and Dervishes, tried to break into the hosseinieh. On that night, no clash occurred, and the police prevented the vigilantes’ entry into the building. One night later, they gathered again and while shouting the slogan “Heydar! Heydar!” tried to instigate a fight with the Dervishes who were inside the hosseinieh.[181] The vigilantes were fully equipped, but their protest was concluded without any incident. [182]

On June 23, 2010, about twenty plainclothes agents introduced themselves as IRGC intelligence officers and searched the hosseinieh and several houses belonging to Dervishes without showing any warrant. They also interrogated several Dervishes about the beating of one of their colleagues by unknown individuals. They threatened that if they did not find the assailant, Dervishes would pay the price. In addition, at least six Dervishes were summoned to the local office of the IRGC intelligence.[183] In reaction to these events, tens of Gonabadi Dervishes from across the country went to Karaj to protect the hosseinieh against any attack. Despite the tensions, no confrontation occurred.[184]

In subsequent days, the Dervishes sent an open letter to the Armed Forces’ Prosecutor’s Office, complaining about the IRGC forces’ provocative actions.[185] After the Dervishes returned to their cities, many of them were summoned by the MOI. In Shahr-e Kurd in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, security forces raided the house of Nematollah Riahi, a Gonabadi Dervish who refused to go to the MOI local office.[186] In addition, the MOI issued an ordinance banning all Dervishes’ gatherings across the country on the first anniversary of the disputed 2009 presidential election. In July 2010, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes sent an open letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on behalf of the order, criticizing the government’s response to the protests.[187]

5.7. Acts of Oppression in 2011

5.7.1. Kovar Incident

In September 2011, a deadly confrontation between Basij members and Gonabadi Dervishes occurred in the small city of Kovar in Fars Province. Starting a few weeks earlier, government hardliners had taken many provocative actions against Dervishes, including distribution of pamphlets, writing insulting slogans on walls, attacks on Dervishes’ business while shouting “down with American Sufi,” and searching Dervishes’ houses without warrants.[188] During the clashes, Vahid Banani, a young Gonabadi Dervish, was shot and killed. At the same time, at least three other Gonabadi Dervishes were also seriously wounded by shots fired by plainclothes security forces.[189] Despite evidence indicating that a police officer had shot Banani directly, Iranian authorities failed to prosecute him and tried to depict the incident as involuntary manslaughter and just pay diya or blood money.[190]

At least forty individuals were injured during the Kovar incident.[191] Many were arrested, including Amir Eslami and Afshin Karampour, both attorneys, who went to the office of Kovar’s local governor to find a solution for the crisis. Many Dervishes who tried to go to Kovar from nearby towns were also apprehended.[192] A number of websites affiliated with hardliners claimed that the clash started because Dervishes insulted and assaulted a seminary student named Shahbazi, who had agitated against Gonabadi Dervishes.[193] At that time, there were about 150 Gonabadi Dervish households in Kovar.[194]

A complaint was filed by 113 Basij members and Shiʿa clerics against Gonabadi Dervishes in Kovar. The court sentenced 35 Dervishes to a total of 85 years’ imprisonment, internal exile, and monetary damages.[195] Seven Dervishes were charged with moharebeh, or waging war against God, and corruption on earth. Three of the individuals charged with moharebeh were sentenced to permanent internal exile and four were sentenced to temporary internal exile.[196] The Supreme Court upheld these sentences.[197] A group of Gonabadi Dervishes, including Saleh Moradi and Kasra Nouri, filed a complaint in the Special Court for the Clergy against the clerics who took provocative actions against Dervishes. After several years, the case was closed without reaching a decision.[198]

After the government witnessed Gonabadi Dervishes’ mobilization capabilities during the Kovar incident, its propaganda apparatus intensified attacks against Gonabadi Dervishes through numerous websites, such as Ferghe News, Sofiye News, Feragh va Adyan, 313adine, Afsar-e Jang Narm, Mouood, and also the Institute of Strategic Studies of Islamic Sciences and Education.[199]

5.7.2. Confrontation in Fooladshahr

In January 2011, security forces violently attacked and arrested Morteza Mahjoubi and four other Gonabadi Dervishes in the city of Fooladshahr, in Isfahan Province.[200]

5.8. Acts of Oppression in 2013

5.8.1. Attack on Shahr-e Kurd Prayer Center

In January 2013, the Shahr-e Kurd municipality announced that a house in which Gonabadi Dervishes held their gatherings and prayers must be destroyed, because such usage in a residential dwelling was against the law. The police and security forces tried to remove the temporary outdoor tents and demolish the house. They, however, faced resistance and retreated. Shortly after that, thousands of Gonabadi Dervishes from across the country went to Shahr-e Kurd and gathered in that house to prevent any intervention.[201] In subsequent days, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes sent an open letter to high-ranking government officials, including the Supreme Leader. In the letter they asked whether if indeed there was a city code violation in the building. such a violation justified a group to invade a residential house without any warrant or permission and to destroy the owner’s personal properties.[202] It is notable that the Shahr-e Kord municipality commission did not find any violation in the building.[203]

5.8.2. Confrontations in Bandar Abbas and Khorramshahr

In May 2013, security forces arrested a Gonabadi Dervish in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province. Following his arrest, more than 60 Dervishes gathered in front of the MOI local office in the city.^[204] In November 2013, a group of Basij members started provocative actions against Gonabadi Dervishes in Khorramshahr, Khuzestan Province. Dervishes received threatening phone calls telling them to stop their gatherings. Vigilantes severely beat Amin Azadi and Hamid Azadeh, two Gonabadi Dervishes.[205]

5.9. Dervishes’ Civil Resistance against Oppression in 2014

5.9.1. Sit-in Protest in Front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office

In late February 2014, a group of incarcerated Dervishes in Evin and Adel Abad prisons went on hunger strike. They were protesting inadequate medical treatment for Mostafa Daneshjou, Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani, and Farshid Karampour, as well as the punitive transfer of two other Dervishes from Evin prison to Rajaee Shahr prison.[206] Dervishes’ families declared that they would gather in front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office on March 8, 2014, to express their support for incarcerated Dervishes on hunger strike. More than 2,000 Dervishes in different cities announced that they would go on hunger strike in support of their fellow imprisoned Dervishes.^[207] Meanwhile, the detained Dervishes sent an open letter to Ali Younesi, Special Assistant to President for Ethnic and Religious Minorities’ Affairs, asking him to end discrimination against Dervishes.[208]

On March 8, hundreds of Gonabadi Dervishes went to the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office. Despite the officials’ promises, the police and plainclothes agents violently attacked protesters and arrested at least 300 Dervishes, including several dozen women.^[209] A number of human rights defenders, including Reza Khandan, who also attended the Dervishes’ protest, later shared their observations on social media. Khandan described that security forces attacked women with pepper spray and batons.[210] On March 9, the security forces were much more violent. Sediqeh Khalili also explained what she witnessed. She is the wife of Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani, a Dervish rights activist who was imprisoned at the time.

[The security forces] dragged the ladies on the ground, pulled on their hair, and their scarves fell off their heads. [They] kicked us with their boots and used profanity. Male officers hit my daughter on her head and hands as she tried to prevent her uncle from being arrested. They pulled on her hair, so that her scarf fell off her head. [They also] were dragging Reza Entesari’ s mother on the ground and beating her. She is a 60-year-old woman. [After the arrests, they] transferred the women to the prayer hall in Evin prison. There were some children among us: one infant and several two to three-year-old children. [We] were held in the prayer hall for hours. The children were not given any water and food, and they were crying.[211]

At least 250 Dervishes were arrested on March 9, 2014.[212] The Dervish women, who got injured during the crackdown, later complained against the police and security forces. There is no reporting on the outcome of this case.[213]

5.9.2. Campaign to Migrate from Iran to Evin Prison

On July 20, 2014, the Majzooban-e Noor website initiated the Dervishes’ Campaign to Migrate from Iran to Evin prison, also known as the Kouch (migration) campaign.[214] The campaign intended to protest against invidious state actions against the Dervish community and to express support and solidarity with the detained Dervishes. The campaign organizers declared, “At the time that our brothers in faith are being oppressed and abused in the country’s prisons every day and have been deprived of their most basic rights for defending the Dervish order’s sanctuary and for the crime of seeking justice, what has been left for us except migrating from a bigger prison named Iran to a smaller prison named Evin to support and sympathize with those loved ones?” [215]

The Kouch campaign’s organizers also sent an open letter to Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, asking him to issue a fatwa declaring the Dervishes’ apostasy if being a Dervish is tantamount to being irreligious.[216] The Kouch campaign invited Gonabadi Dervishes to gather with blindfolded eyes and tied hands in front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office and ask law enforcement officers to arrest all of them. [217]

On August 31, 2014, nine incarcerated Gonabadi Dervishes in Evin and Adel Abad prisons went on indefinite hunger strikes. They published their wills declaring that their demand was an end to restrictions imposed against Gonabadi spiritual leaders, the news blackout against the Dervish community, and illegal destruction of Dervishes’ houses and places of worship. This group included Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani, Mostafa Daneshjou, Afshin Karampur, Reza Entesari, Farshid Yadollahi, Amir Eslami, Kasra Nouri, Omid Behrouzi, and Mostafa Abdi. Although the first four Dervishes had serious health conditions, the prison officials hardly allowed them to receive proper medical treatment during this time.[218]

On September 20, 2014, in response to the Kouch Campaign, hundreds of Gonabadi Dervishes, many of whom had come to Tehran from different parts of the country, tried to gather in front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.[219] The security forces arrested about 800 Dervishes, most of whom were released after spending up to two days in the basements of various police stations.[220] Soon after this unsuccessful attempt, the Kouch Campaign invited Dervishes to gather again in front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office on September 21.[221]

As Ebrahim Allahbakhshi described, dozens of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered in the Behesht Street, which is near the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office, since early morning. Around noon a clash occurred. The anti-riot police forces violently attacked Dervishes, including women, with batons, electric shocks, and pepper spray. Tens of Dervishes were injured, many of whom were transferred to the Saleh Clinic, which belongs to Dervishes and is located next to Amir-Soleimani Hosseinieh in Behesht Street.[222] According to the Majzooban-e Noor website, about 450 Dervishes were arrested.[223] It is reported that the police insulted the arrested Dervishes and introduced them as members of ISIS and the MEK to the people at the scene.^[224]

On September 28, 2014, about a thousand Gonabadi Dervishes gathered again in front of the Tehran office of the Ministry of Justice in Valiasr Square. The Minister of Justice’s envoy appeared among demonstrators, urging them to give the authorities a week to review the Dervishes’ demands in a meeting with the judiciary and the speaker of the parliament. After this meeting, the Dervishes’ peaceful gathering was concluded.[225] In subsequent days, many arrested Dervishes were released.[226]

5.10. Golestan-e Haftom Incident in 2018

5.10.1. Confrontation in Streets

In mid-January 2018, Basij members placed a checkpoint near the house of Noor-Ali Tabandeh in the northern Tehran street of Golestan-e Haftom. Shortly after that, tens of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered around Tabandeh’s house to protest the Basij checkpoint. They feared the government planned to arrest their spiritual leader. The checkpoint was removed and protesting Dervishes dispersed after violent police intervention.[227]

Several days later, a rumor was spread that the government intended to place Noor-Ali Tabandeh under house arrest. In response, Gonabadi Dervishes started to patrol around his house. On the early morning hours of January 31, 2018, plainclothes Basij members attacked Dervishes who were sleeping in their parked cars. After some clashes, as Dervishes outnumbered them, the plainclothes agents retreated and left some of their motorcycles. Also, during nights, they instigated Dervishes to escalate the situation. According to Ebrahim Allahbakhshi, a Gonabadi Dervish present at the scene, the Dervishes did not initiate the confrontation and sought help from the police to protect them.[228]

On February 17, several Dervishes were arrested, including Amir-Ali Mohammedi Labaf, who had gone to the police department to report the theft of his car. Nematollah Riahi, a 68-year-old Dervish, was arrested after he went to the police department to ask about Amir-Ali Mohammadi Labaf.[229] Before the outbreak of clashes on February 19, the Majzooban-e-Noor Telegram channel published a video of Noor-Ali Tabandeh, in which he requested Gonabadi Dervishes to leave the area. He asked Gonabadi Dervishes to not act based on emotions in a way that hurts others and defames the order. But he advised Dervishes to defend themselves if needed.[230]

At around 12 noon, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered in front of the police precinct 102 on Pasdaran Avenue to stage a peaceful protest against the arrest of Nematollah Riahi, who had serious health issues. The Dervishes’ delegates negotiated with police officials, who promised to handle Riahi’s release.[231]

On or about 5 p.m., several warning gunshots were fired from inside the police station. Reacting to the gunshots, Dervishes started to chant “Allahu Akbar” and blocked Pasdaran Avenue, the major street in the area. Within a very short period, tens of anti-riot police stationed at Pasdaran Avenue fired tear gas and plastic bullets toward Dervishes. Many Dervishes, including women and children, were injured in front of the police station. A video showed that Saeed Soltanpour, a Gonabadi Dervish, was shot in his neck. Dr. Rasoul Hoveyda, another Gonabadi Dervish, transferred him to the hospital, where both were arrested. Mohammad Raji and Mohammad Salas were also critically injured. The anti-riot police beat Mohammad Salas so severely that many of those at the scene thought he was killed. Salas was taken into custody, alongside Saeed Karimiyaee and Mehrdad Mosavari.[232]

On or about 7 p.m., warning gunshots and choking clouds of tear gas forced Gonabadi Dervishes to move toward Golestan-e Haftom Street. After that, anti-riot police and tens of plainclothes agents stormed into the Golestan-e Haftom Street and surrounded the neighborhood.[233] Dervishes tried to defend themselves by creating barricades, throwing stones, and setting trash bins on fire.[234] They claimed that they had no choice but to defend themselves, and they uploaded many photos showing men with bloodied faces.^[235]

Between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., the security deputy of Tehran’s provincial government confirmed that shootings had taken place at the Pasdaran district and the Golestan-e Haftom Street but declined to provide details.[236] The clashes continued; Gonabadi Dervishes tried to resist tear gas by setting trash bins on fire. A bus coming from Paydarfar Street ran over police forces that were in Golestan-e Haftom Street. Three police personnel were killed, and several others were wounded.[237] Multiple witnesses saw that the bus went south bound toward Golestan-e Hashtom Street. Fars News Agency later claimed that Mohammed Salas was the driver of the hit-and-run bus.[238]

On or about 2 a.m., a group of security and police officials met with Dr. Tabandeh and a group of Dervishes. They agreed that the anti-riot police leave the area and the Dervishes clean the neighborhood and disperse.[239]

On or about 5 a.m., tens of anti-riot police and plainclothes Basij members, while shouting their usual slogans such as “Heydar! Heydar!” and “Mashallah Hezbollah,” charged toward the small group of Gonabadi Dervishes in Golestan-e Haftom Street.[240] They fired excessive tear gas to the degree that visibility became limited. “I saw security forces [mistakenly] shoot at each other on the street full of smoke and flames,” a witness testified. They ruthlessly attacked and beat up the Dervishes.[241]

On or about 9 a.m., Fars News Agency released a video showing a car (model IKCO Samand) hit a group of police forces and drive away.[242] Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran Prosecutor, later announced that there was also another hit-and-run incident involving a car (model Saipa Pride). He confirmed that the drivers of the Samand and the Saipa Pride have been arrested.[243] Some reports indicate that Abbas Dehghan, a Gonabadi Dervish who was arrested during clashes in Golestan-e Haftom, was severely tortured to confess that he drove the IKCO Samand.[244] He was held in temporary detention for 797 days, during which he had no access to an attorney and medical care. Also, he was held in solitary confinement for months.[245] On April 27, 2020, he was tried at Tehran’s Criminal Court on charges of “congregation and collusion with intent to disrupt national security, acting against national security, and disobeying law enforcement.”[246] There is no reporting on the outcome of his case.

5.10.2. Aftermath of Crackdown

On February 20, 2018, a police spokesman announced that 300 Gonabadi Dervishes were arrested.^[247] The Majzooban-e Noor website reported the same number of arrestees, stating that many of these individuals were apprehended outside Golestan-e Haftom Street.[248] The police also stated that in addition to the casualties of the hit-and-run bus incident, two Basij members were killed; one run over by a car and another stabbed to death.[249] At least three Dervishes lost their eyes, and three others suffered hearing problems as a result of being beaten during their arrests and interrogations.[250] The officials instructed the coroner’s office to not examine the injured Dervishes. For this reason, Dervishes could not file complaints about their injuries.[251]

General Rahimi, the commander of Tehran’s police force, stated in a state TV interview that the police could fire a rocket-propelled grenade at Noor-Ali Tabandeh’s house.[252] Tabandeh issued a statement expressing his regret for what happened.[253]

Dervishes’ trials, headed by Judge Salavati and Judge Ahmadzadeh at the Tehran Revolutionary Court, started in March 2018. They usually lasted only a few minutes. Judges repeatedly insulted Dervishes and focused their questions on Dervishes’ faith as opposed to any particular crime. At least 208 Dervishes were sentenced to a total 1,080 years’ imprisonment, corporal punishments (5,995 lashes in total), travel bans, internal exile, and prohibition from joining political and social groups.[254] Gonabadi Dervishes usually had no access to an attorney during trials.[255] Different reports indicate that detained Dervishes were subjected to physical and mental torture and inhumane treatment. Many Dervishes were also denied access to proper medical treatment.[256]

The women arrested in Golestan-e Haftom were transferred to Qarchak women’s prison, a notorious detention center located on the southern outskirts of Tehran. Contrary to regulations governing Iran’s Prisons Organization regarding separating political prisoners from other offenders, Dervish women were kept in a ward with other inmates, including violent felons. These women had been deprived of the right to a lawyer and were held in insanitary conditions.[257]

The Qarchak prison officials deliberately incited tension between other inmates and Dervish women in order to intimidate them. When tension between prisoners escalated, prison guards responded ruthlessly. Dervish women were beaten violently and later were transferred to different wards.[258] The prison officials punished Dervish women in others occasions as well: once when they objected to confiscation of their personal belongings, and once when they were not allowed to have phone calls.[259] Elham Ahmadi, a Gonabadi Dervish, sent an audio file outside Qarchak prison in which she described Dervish women’s painful conditions. After that, Mehdi Mohammadi, the head of Qarchak prison, filed a complaint against Ahmadi. She was sentenced to 148 lashes on charges of “disseminating lies and insulting prison guards.” She did not have an attorney at her trial.[260]

Many reports indicate that Dervish women were subjected to “constant verbal abuse, including sexual slurs, and denied proper medical treatment.”[261] Sediqeh Safabakht and Shokoufeh Yadollahi, two detained Dervish women, have endured serious injuries in Qarchak prison.[262] In early July 2018, Nazila Nouri, Avisha Jalaledin, Shima Entesari, Sima Entesari, and Sediqeh Safabakht were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment each.[263] The court of appeals later reduced the sentences of a number of these women to two years’ imprisonment.[264]

In recent months, the judiciary officials have ordered the release of many prisoners due to Covid-19 pandemic conditions. The political prisoners who have been sentenced to more than five years in prison on the charge of “acting against national security,” however, were not granted early discharge from prison.[265] Based on the judiciary’s directive, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes were pardoned or paroled. Despite this, at least 39 of them were ordered to relocate to underprivileged areas in Sistan and Baluchistan, Khorasan, Kerman, and Bushehr provinces in order to complete their exile sentences.[266]

According to Article 98 of Iran’s Criminal Code of 2013, “Pardon shall remove all the effects of the conviction,” except payment of diya and damages.[267] Although the imprisonment sentences of the latter group of Gonabadi Dervishes were commuted, their exile sentences remained intact, which is against Iranian law. Moreover, Iran’s Criminal Code provides that the government must supply the basic needs of convicts in internal exile. The Islamic Republic, however, has failed to do so.

5.10.3. Mohammad Salas: A Death Penalty Case

Mohammad Salas was a 51-year-old Gonabadi Dervish from the western city of Boroujerd. “A man who was always laughing loudly, never talked a lot, and always took a broom [to clean the street] . . . even if a cigarette butt fell from someone on the ground, he cleaned it, because [he didn’t want] the alley that we were waiting there or we were there for some concerns, for instance, to get dirty,” recalled Faezeh Abdipour, a Gonabadi Dervish interviewed by IHRDC.[268]

Many people witnessed that the police and plainclothes security forces beat and arrested Mohammad Salas in front of the Pasdaran police station between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on February 19, 2018. Because of their brutal beatings, many witnesses thought that they killed Salas there.[269] In addition, at least one witness saw Mohammad Salas, detained and injured, in an ambulance inside the Police Station about 7:30 p.m. Another witness testified that he saw Mohammad Salas laid on a bed with a bandaged face at Imam Sajjad Hospital around 8 p.m.[270] About 8 p.m., a bus hit a group of police personnel and killed three of them.[271] Several hours later, the Fars News Agency published a videotaped interview with Mohammad Salas in which he was apparently injured and seemed to be in a hospital. On Camera, Salas said,

We had gone to stay in front of the police station to [ask the police to] release our fellow Dervish, and the police forces arrived . . . I got angry and went into the crowd. I’m a bus driver, and I sat behind the bus steering wheel . . . That bus wasn’t mine; it belonged to someone else. I didn’t realize at all at the time. I didn’t mean it… I just pushed the gas pedal. I didn’t realize at all. My condolences. [The damage] is done. I will be executed. [The damage] is done. I have two kids and have always tried hard to be successful. [The damage] is done.[272]

Mohammad Salas was charged with murder of three police personnel. According to the prosecutor, Salas’s confession was the principal evidence in his indictment.[273] On the first day of his trial, while still injured, Salas declared that his confession was taken under torture and was not voluntary.[274] Despite this, he was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial, during which Saeed Ashrafnejad was his attorney.[275]

Zeinab Taheri, Salas’s appellate defense attorney, later stated that Mohammad Salas was severely injured at the time of his confession. According to her, seventeen parts of his skull had broken during the arrest. Also, his vision was almost gone, and his hearing was severely damaged. [276] In the petition to appeal, Zeinab Taheri challenged the indictment’s validity as follows:

The bus ramming through police forces was a Mercedes-Benz model produced by Iran Khodro. But the bus that Mohammad Salas was driving was a Scania model assembled by Shahab Khodro. In addition, the car plate number mentioned in the indictment is not the same as the bus driven by the defendant;
No fingerprint was taken from the bus steering wheel, gear stick, and other parts that could prove the identity of the hit-and-run driver;
The available videos show that police personnel shot at the bus windshield. If Salas was the driver, he must have been killed or injured as a result of the police shooting;
In the indictment, “having a commercial driver license” is listed as an evidence against the defendant; and
The defendant did not meet his appointed attorney before the trial.[277]

The bus that belonged to Dervishes and was parked on Golestan-e Haftom Street had a different look. “The bus had no seats. We removed them and used the bus as a place to sleep . . . Also, Dervishes had drawn flowers and blooms on the bus body and the windows to make it more pleasant for the people,” Ebrahim Allahbakhsi said.”[278]

During his short detention, Mohammad Salas was held in solitary confinement. Despite all ambiguities in the case and substantial violation of the defendant’s rights, the death penalty was upheld by Judge Mahmood Hatami and Judge Azizollah Razaqi at Branch 39 of the Iran’s Supreme Court. Mohammad Salas was executed on June 18, 2018.[279]

A day after the execution, Zeynab Taheri, Salas’ appellate defense attorney, was also arrested. She was charged with “disseminating lies on social media, disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and disturbing public opinion.”[280] Some reports indicate that Taheri was arrested because she disclosed an audio file in which a man assumed to be Mohammad Salas denies the charges against him.[281] A twitter account, which was supposedly in Taheri’s name, revealed the audio and declared that more documents would be published soon. In subsequent days, Zeynab Taheri announced that she has been told by Tehran’s Prosecutor Office to close all her accounts on social media, which she did.

5.10.4. Mohammad Raji: A Case of Custodial Death

Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi Dervish, was severely beaten and arrested by security forces during the clashes at Golestan-e Haftom. After about two weeks, the police declared that he died in custody on March 3. Until then, his family were unaware of his whereabouts. Some reports indicate that he was injured when he was arrested, but despite this, he was transferred to the Police Criminal Investigation Department on Shahpour Street.[282]

The Majzooban-e Noor website reported that Mohammad Raji died during interrogation. Raji had been a commander of Iranian forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.[283] According to his family, security forces had refused to give his body to the family unless they agreed to have him buried at night without a ceremony. Despite his family’s protest, Mohammad Raji was buried in his hometown of Aligoudarz, in Lorestan Province, at night.[284] No one has been held accountable for Mohammad Raji’s death so far.[285]

5.10.5. Behnam Mahjoubi

Behnam Mahjoubi was a 33-year-old Gonabadi Dervish prisoner who died in custody on February 16, 2021.[286] Mahjoubi was arrested during the Golestan-e Haftom incident, and he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on national security charges.[287] Mahjoubi was being treated by a psychiatrist, and the medical examiner’s office had declared that he was not in the condition to serve his sentence.[288] While in prison, Mahjoubi was taken to the Razi Psychiatric Hospital, also known as Amin Abad. Mahjoubi described that he was tortured at the hospital. Specifically, Mahjoubi stated that the hospital personnel tied him up like a crucifix and urinated on him.[289] Mahjoubi was also administered injections the contents of which were unknown to him.[290] According to other prisoners held in Evin prison, Mahjoubi’s condition was worse after he was taken back to prison from the Razi Psychiatric Hospital compared to the time before he was taken there.[291] Mahjoubi was taken to a Loqman hospital on February 13, 2021 for food poisoning.[292] He was pronounced dead three days later. Detaining Mahjoubi despite his condition, the failure of Iranian authorities to provide adequate medical care to him, and the torture he experienced at the Razi Psychiatric Hospital constitute serious human rights violations, including violating the right to life.

5.11. Continuous Oppression and Hunger Strike after Golestan-e Haftom

On April 30, 2018, security forces attacked Amir-Soleimani Hosseinieh, and beat and arrested fifteen Dervishes. They confiscated the hosseinieh’s belongings and vandalized some parts of it. The security forces also attacked Saleh Clinic, which is next to the hosseinieh, and seized its patients’ documents.[293] The pressures on the Dervish community continued. In November 2019, 72 detained Dervishes went on hunger strike. They demanded an end to Dr. Tabandeh’s house arrest and closure of their places of worship. [294] The government did not comply with their requests.

6. Actions against Attorneys Representing Gonabadi Dervishes

After clashes in Qom in 2006, three attorneys who represented Gonabadi Dervishes in their trials were disbarred and suspended. Farshid Yadollahi, Mostafa Daneshjou, and Omid Behrouzi lost their licenses to practice law for five years and were also sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, flogging, and fines.[295]

In September 2011, five Dervish attorneys, alongside the editors of the Majzooban-e Noor website, were arrested. They were charged with “membership in an illegal group to disrupt national security, spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic, insulting the Supreme Leader, and disturbing public order.”[296] Before their trial, Judge Salavati, the head of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, changed the charge of “membership in an illegal group” to “formation of an illegal group” to prolong their temporary detention.[297] In protest to violation of their due process rights, none of these attorneys attended their trials.[298] Mostafa Daneshjou, Farshid Yadollahi Farsi, Amir Eslami, Omid Behrouzi, and Afshin Karampour were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and banned from political activities.[299] In 2015, some reports indicated that their sentences were reduced or converted to time on probation.[300]

7. Majzooban-e Noor Website and Social Media

Since the 1979 revolution, Gonabadi Dervishes have often been boycotted by the establishment media in Iran. According to Farhad Nouri, a member of the Majzooban-e Noor website, newspapers and magazines did not cover Gonabadi Dervishes anymore because it became forbidden. After the destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom in 2006, a group of Dervish rights activists created the Majzooban-e Noor website.[301] Within a few years, this website could provide comprehensive news coverage of the Gonabadi Dervish community and report about government’s discriminatory actions against them.

The website’s managers and editors were arrested in 2011.[302] They were sentenced to 56 years’ imprisonment in total.[303] The barriers of political oppression and the news blackout inspired Gonabadi Dervishes to expand their network and publicize their message on social media. Since March 2014, accounts affiliated with the Majzooban-e Noor in Facebook and Twitter became the main tools for reporting on oppression against Dervishes and recruiting supporters.[304] During the violent clashes of February 2018, social media virtually became the only source for transmitting updates about events in Tehran.

8. Violation of Iranian Law

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution declares Islam and the Twelver Jafari school of Shiʿa as the “official religion” of the country (art. 12). It enumerates Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as the “only recognized religious minorities,” who have the freedom only to “exercise matters of personal status and religious education” (art. 13).[305] More importan, the Constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on religion. According to Article 19, “color, race, language and the like do not bestow any privilege.”[306] The plain language of the article, its legislative history, and the purpose of its legislation does not indicate that “the like” include religion as a prohibited basis of discrimination.

On the other hand, Article 3 of the IRI Constitution declares that the Iranian government is obliged to use all of its resources in order to eliminate “all forms of unjust discrimination” for all people.[307] The legislature did not provide further context and it is not clear that this provision includes religious discrimination. Since the “official religion” defines the legitimacy and correctness in the Constitution, it is arguable that the constitutional assembly had accepted the mainstream Shiʿa tradition, which suggests unequal treatment with persons based on their religion.[308]

Despite this, Article 23 of the Constitution declares, “The investigation of the beliefs of persons is forbidden, and no one may be molested or prosecuted for holding a belief.”[309] Moreover, several constitutional provisions provide due process rights to all people, such as protection against unreasonable searches and seizures (art. 22), freedom of association (art. 26), freedom of assembly (art. 27), speedy trial (art. 32), assistance of counsel (art. 35), and prohibition of torture (art. 38). The Constitution does not exclude religious minorities from these legal protections.[310]

The Islamic Republic claims that it respects the rights of religious minorities. Its behavior in dealing with religious minorities, including Gonabadi Dervishes, however, proves otherwise. Numerous reports have shown that the Islamic Republic systematically discriminate against people based on their religion.[311] The accounts of witnesses interviewed by IHRDC describe that the Iranian government has routinely violated its own constitutional requirements with respect to Gonabadi Dervishes.

9. Violation of International Law

Since its rise to power in 1979, the Islamic Republic has institutionalized religious discrimination. The government’s hostility toward those who do not subscribe to its ideology has caused a wide variety of human rights abuses against Iran’s religious minorities. As a party to the ICCPR and the ICESCR, the Islamic Republic is obligated to respect the rights of its citizens irrespective of their religious beliefs. In this section, human rights violations against Gonabadi Dervishes will be examined in the context of international human rights norms.

9.1. Right to Life

Article 6.1 of the ICCPR declares, “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” In at least four incidents, the Iranian government has violated the rights of Gonabadi Dervishes to life. In 2011, a police officer killed Vahid Banani, a Gonabadi Dervish, in a fatal shooting in the town of Kovar. The authorities did not prosecute the officer who had killed Banani for murder. In 2018, Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi Dervish detained during Golestan-e Haftom clashes, died of his injuries while in police custody. No one has been held accountable for his death thus far. Later in the same year, Mohammad Salas, also detained during Golestan-e Haftom clashes, was executed on the charge of killing three police officers after an unfair trial. Salas’s confessions, which were extracted under torture, were used as the principal evidence provided against him. In 2021, Behnam Mahjoubi, an imprisoned Gonabadi Dervish, died after he was tortured and denied medical care.

9.2. Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Article 7 of the ICCPR states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Gonabadi Dervishes interviewed by IHRDC, and numerous accounts discussed in this report, show widespread use of excessive force and torture against Gonabadi Dervishes, particularly for extracting confessions. Three Dervishes lost their eyesight in the aftermath of Golestan-e Haftom clashes, for instance.[312]

9.3. Right to Religious Freedom

Article 18.1 of the ICCPR provides, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.”

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly destroyed Gonabadi Dervishes’ places of worship and arrested those Dervishes protesting these state actions. Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa against Gonabadi Dervishes.[313] Furthermore, state-sponsored media have repeatedly published defamatory content against Gonabadi Dervishes. Taken together, the actions of the Islamic Republic against Gonabadi Dervishes amount to a gross violation of the protections enshrined under Article 18.1 of the ICCPR.

9.4. Right to a Fair Trial and Adequate Access to Counsel

Article 14 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to a fair trial and the right to adequate access to counsel. Testimonies obtained by IHRDC for this report, as well as evidence gathered by other sources, demonstrate the extent to which Gonabadi Dervishes have been subject to the violation of their due process rights. Ebrahim Allahbakhshi, for instance, stated that his trial consisted of the judge asking his name and then going on recess. The fact that Dervishes were often tried together without any attempt by the government to assign individual responsibility for their alleged crimes indicates the extent to which Dervishes’ trials violated Iran’s commitments under the ICCPR. With respect to the right to adequate access of counsel, on several occasions, Iranian authorities have detained and prosecuted the very attorneys who were seeking to defend other Dervish defendants. These measures illustrate the Iranian government’s unwillingness to afford Gonabadi Dervish defendants a fair judicial process.

9.5. Right to Education

Article 13 of ICESCR recognizes the right to education. The Islamic Republic has routinely denied the right to education to Bahá’ís and student activists. A number of Gonabadi Dervishes have also been denied this right. In 2017, Sepideh Moradi was expelled from Tarbiat Modares University, where she was pursuing a master’s degree in computer science.[314] Prior to her expulsion, she was summoned by the university’s disciplinary committee and told to sign a pledge not to be a member of the Gonabadi Dervish order, which she refused. In 2018, Zahra Qalandarinejad was verbally informed that she was dismissed from the Islamic Azad University in Bandar Abbas because of her faith in the Gonabadi Dervish order.[315] Although she had already taken half of the exams, she was not allowed to complete her education. Farshid Yadollahi, Amir Eslami, and Mostafa Daneshjou, were also deprived of continuing their higher education in prior years.[316]

9.6. Right to Work

Article 6 of the ICESCR guarantees the right to work. The Islamic Republic has deprived several Gonabadi Dervishes of the right to work. In the years after clashes in Qom in 2006, Gonabadi Dervishes faced unprecedented discrimination. Reportedly 37 Dervishes who held government jobs were expelled from their positions.[317] Many others could not be employed or obtain professional licenses due to their affiliation with the Gonabadi Dervish order. In one case, an Iran-Iraq War injured veteran lost his disability benefits due to his faith.[318] In another case, Ali Moazami-Fard was fired from Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in Semnan Province because he hosted Dervishes’ events in his house.[319]

Gonabadi Dervishes, who had teaching positions, were particularly scrutinized and many lost their jobs. In 2008, three female teachers, Lida Taban, Vida Taban, and Faezeh Vahedi were expelled from work in Karaj due to their affiliation with the Gonabadi Dervish order.[320] The Court of Administrative Justice upheld the expulsion orders. Similarly, Mehdi Mardani-Rad lost his teaching job in Gorgan, Golestn Province. He later was dismissed from his second job at a local bank.[321] In 2014, Alireza Kashi and Bozorgmehr Hekmat-Shoar, two high school teachers in Semnan Province, were banned from teaching due to their faith in the Gonabadi Dervish order.[322] “Membership in the pervert Gonabadi dervish order,” as it was mentioned in his expulsion orders, had caused Abbas Oliaei to lose his job at the Iran Civil Aviation Organization.[323]

Moreover, many small businesses belonging to Gonabadi Dervishes faced problems. In 2008, a bookstore in Gonabad was forced to stop selling books about Sufism and the Gonabadi Dervish order. In the same year, in Isfahan, two Gonabadi Dervishes could not renew their barber shop licenses after being in business for half a century.[324]

In 2008, Dr. Nassir Ahmadi and Emad Mardani were expelled from their teaching positions in university.[325] On March 18, 2011, Ehsanollah Heydari, an attorney and the faculty of Islamic Azad University in Khoramabad, in Lorestan Province, was dismissed from his academic position. The Majzooban-e Noor reported that his affiliation with the Gonabadi Dervish order was the reason of his expulsion. Heydari was also banned from continuing his higher academic education because of the same reason.[326] In the same manner, three university professors, Dr. Shahram Pazouki, Dr. Bijan Bidabad, and Dr. Mohammad-Ali Saber, were either dismissed or lost their tenures because of their affiliation with the Gonabadi Dervish order.[327] In 2016, Mohammad-Ali Tavousi, a researcher of Sufism and Mystics, was dismissed from the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran.[328]

In 2017, a Gonabadi Dervish was violently beaten and arrested by the police in Karaj because he placed the specific Dervishes’ insignia at his place of business.[329] This trend continued after the clashes in Golestn-e Haftom. Ebrahim Allahbakhshi, who was released after spending one year in prison, faced numerous difficulties to have a source of income to support his family. Until the outbreak of the coronavirus, he had a street food van.

There were about ten to twelve other mobile food vendors in the area [that I parked my van]. Despite this, every night only I had problems there. A day before Qasem Soleimani’s funeral [former commander of Quds Force], Basij militia attacked me and my car. They ruined all my belongings. They ransacked the car and broke the chairs. They talked in a very friendly manner with other vendors and asked them to leave the area, but they got into a fight with me! Another night, the police came and said we should take your car to the police’s parking lot. I asked, “Why? What’s wrong with this car that it should be taken to the [police] parking lot?” They said, “This is the order and you have to come with us to the [police] parking lot.” When I started arguing [they] suddenly handcuffed me and put me in the police car . . . They sent me to the jail. I was detained for one night, and a day after that they sent my case to the prosecutor’s office. I’m currently free on bail. [330]

Alireza Roshan lost his job in Shargh newspaper after his release from prison and faced a lot of pressure from security forces. Anytime publishers organized the unveiling ceremony for one of his books, the security forces prevented it. They believed that any publicity would be beneficial for Dervishes. As Roshan described, “It was like living under the shadow of a constant threat.” [331]

Conclusion

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution does not explicitly prohibit religious discrimination. Article 23 of the Iranian Constitution, however, states, “The investigation of the beliefs of persons is forbidden, and no one may be molested or prosecuted for holding a belief.” Moreover, several constitutional provisions provide due process rights to all people. There is no indication that religious minorities are excluded from these legal protections.

In addition, as a party to the ICCPR and the ICESCR, Iran is required to respect the freedom of religion and the freedom to practice or manifest one’s religion, both individually and collectively as a community. In addition, Iran is obligated to guarantee due process rights to its citizens, including the right to have access to an attorney and having a fair trial, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

Evidence presented in this report indicates that the Islamic Republic has failed to comply with not only its own Constitution and laws, but also its international obligations, with respect to adherents of the Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervish order. Accordingly, the discrimination based on religion is rife, as the Islamic Republic continues to engage in systematic violations of Dervishes’ religious freedom.

Methodology

IHRDC gathered and analyzed information for this report from the following sources:

Testimony of victims and witnesses. IHRDC interviewed six Gonabadi Dervishes for this report; one of them is currently in exile in Turkey, but the rest of them are in Iran.

Religious Resources. The Ayatollahs’ fatwas regarding Sufism and Dervishes were reviewed and cited in the report. Their responses to religious inquiries are accessible online in different websites affiliated with the Qom seminary.

Documents issued by non-governmental organizations. Reports and press releases from the different human rights organizations have been used in drafting this report.

Academic articles and books. Books and articles on Sufism in general and the Gonabadi Dervish order in particular have been consulted and cited in this report.

Media reporting. Various Iranian media sources, as well as non-Iranian media sources, have been used to provide details and context for this report. Where the report cites or relies on information provided by government actors or other involved parties, it specifies the source of such information and evaluates the information considering the relative reliability of each source. The IHRDC has meticulously cross-checked all the sources of information used to compile this report to ensure their credibility and accuracy.

All names of places, people, organizations, etc. in the footnotes originally written in Persian have been transliterated using the system of the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES), available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/information/author-resources/ijmes-translation-and-transliteration-guide

Appendix A

Item 1, page 1 – The indictment of 53 arrested Gonabadi dervishes in Qom, Mar. 8, 2006. The indictment by the investigating judge at Branch 3 of the Qom’ Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office charged Gonabadi Dervishes with disturbing public order and disobeying law enforcement.

Item 1, page 2 – The indictment of 53 arrested Gonabadi dervishes in Qom, Mar. 8, 2006. The indictment by the investigating judge at Branch 3 of the Qom’ Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office charged Gonabadi Dervishes with disturbing public order and disobeying law enforcement.

Item 1, page 3 – The indictment of 53 arrested Gonabadi dervishes in Qom, Mar. 8, 2006. The indictment by the investigating judge at Branch 3 of the Qom’ Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office charged Gonabadi Dervishes with disturbing public order and disobeying law enforcement.

Item 2, page 1 – The disbarment order issued by the Center of Legal Advisors of the Judiciary, Sep. 5, 2007. Based on this order, Mostafa Daneshjou, a Gonabadi Dervish, lost his license to practice law.

Item 3, page 1 – The university expulsion order for Mohammad-Esmaeil Salahi Firouzabadi, a Gonabadi Dervish, on Nov. 3, 2008. He was dismissed from law school at Islamic Azad University, Meybod Branch. The disciplinary committee charged him with insulting Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Khamenei. He later was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.

Item 4, page 1 – The decision of the Article 100 Municipal Commission that did not find any violation in the building of Dervishes’ place of worship in Shahr-e Kurd, Nov. 30, 2011. The representative of the Ministry of Interior in the Commission, however, dissented from the decision.

Item 5, page 1 – The sentence of Nosrat Tabasi issued by Judge Pirabbasi at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, May 24, 2012. He was a member of the Majzooban-e Noor website, and was charged with “acting against national security and conspiracy to disrupt public order.” “Publishing news about Gonabadi Dervishes on the Internet,” was also mentioned as one of his crimes. The court order described Tabasi’s defenses as “delusional and unjustified,” and sentences him to a suspended five-year prison term.

Item 5, page 2 – The sentence of Nosrat Tabasi issued by Judge Pirabbasi at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, May 24, 2012. He was a member of the Majzooban-e Noor website, and was charged with “acting against national security and conspiracy to disrupt public order.” “Publishing news about Gonabadi Dervishes on the Internet,” was also mentioned as one of his crimes. The court order described Tabasi’s defenses as “delusional and unjustified,” and sentences him to a suspended five-year prison term.

Item 6 – The Iranian government published the above picture as the hit-and-run bus. This is an old model of Mercedes-Benz bus produced by Iran Khodro. There are several bullet holes in the windshield, at least two of them on the side of driver. Mohammad Salas, who was announced as the bus driver, had no gunshot wounds.

Item 7 – The bus that Gonabadi Dervishes parked in the Golestan-e Haftom Street in February 2018 and was used by them as a place to sleep overnight. It seems that the bus is a Scania city bus assembled by Shahab Khodro. Ebrahim Allahbakhshi and Alireza Roshan, two Gonabadi Dervishes interviewed by IHRDC, described this bus that matched the above pictures.

Source of picture: Aida Qajar, Sarkub Darāvish; Pruzhiyi az Pish Ta ʿyīn Shude [Suppression of Dervishes; A Predetermined Project], Melliun Iran (Mar. 18, 2018), https://melliun.org/iran/159850

Item 8 – Different videos taken by citizens show the bus after hitting law enforcement officers in the Golestan-e Haftom Street in February 19, 2018. Source: YouTube

Item 9 – The Tehran Coroner Office’s report about the death of Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi Dervish, May 30, 2018. Based on the result of the autopsy and postmortem examination, the cause of fatal death was head trauma and massive internal bleeding. Raji had numerous deep wounds, caused by a hard and sharp object, and injuries in his head and his entire body. Some of his ribs were also fractured, and he had spinal cord injuries.

Appendix B – List of Mass Conviction of Gonabadi Dervishes, September 2020

Names	Sentences	Status at the Time of this Report’s Publication
1. Abbas Dehghan	No sentence issued after being incarcerated for 2 years	Imprisoned; Fashafoyeh prison, Tehran Province
2. Mostafa Abdi	26 years’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months of which is enforceable due to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013), 148 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ internal exile	Imprisoned; Fashafoyeh prison, Tehran Province
3. Amin Safari	23 years’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months is enforceable), 148 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ internal exile	Imprisoned; Qezel Hesar prison, Alborz Province
4. Kiyanosh Abbaszadeh	16 years and 6 months’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months is enforceable)	Imprisoned; Fashafoyeh prison, Tehran Province
5. Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam	12 years’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months is enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	Imprisoned; Fashafoyeh prison, Tehran Province
6. Kasra Nouri	12 years’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months is enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on membership in political parties and participation in social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Salas Babajani in Kermanshah Province	Imprisoned; Adel Abad prison, Fars Province
7. Vahid Khamoshi	12 years’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months is enforceable) and 2 years’ exile in Rayen in Kerman Province	Imprisoned; Vakil Abad prison, Khorasan Razavi Province
8. Behnam Mahjoubi	2 years’ imprisonment	Died while imprisoned in Evin prison, Tehran Province Behnam Mahjoubi died after being tortured and denied medical care by prison authorities. His death was announced at Loqman hospital in Tehran on February 16, 2021
9. Mohammad-Ali Raji	91 days’ imprisonment	Temporarily released

10. Mostafa Mirmohammadi	13 years and 6 months’ imprisonment, 148 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Nehbandan in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
11. Reza Yavari Motlaq	9 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Taybad in Khorasan Razavi Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
12. Reza Entesari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social and political activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Khorasan Razavi Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
13. Sekhavat Salimi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ exile in Nikshahr in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
14. Sina Entesari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social and political activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
15. Mohammad–Reza Darvishi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Nehbandan in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
16. Mehdi Keyvanlou	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
17. Mojtaba Biranvand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
18. Babak Moradi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
19. Salaheddin Moradi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
20. Saeed Dourandish	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Zabol in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
21. Morteza Balichi Kangarlou	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Sarbisheh in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
22. Rostam Sagvand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Nehbandan in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
23. Saeed Karimaei	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Nehbandan in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
24. Behrouz Sadeqi Oliyaei	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
25. Kiyanosh (Akbar) Biranvand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ exile in Zahak in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
26. Heydar Teymouri	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Khash in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
27. Rasoul Hoveyda	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Zahak in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
28. Jafar Ahmadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
29. Majid Rashidi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
30. Mohammad Karimaei	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Sohraj village in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
31. Alireza Lak	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Manujan in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
32. Alireza Azadravesh	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
33. Mahmoud Barakouhi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Kahnuj in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
34. Mansour Farhoudmand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in South Khorasan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
35. Ehsan Malekmohammadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Zabol in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
36. Ahmad Iranikhah	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
37. Mehdi Bakhtiari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ exile in Bushehr Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
38. Ahmad Barakouhi	7 years’ imprisonment (reduced to 2 years’ imprisonment by an appeals court) and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
39. Saeed Soltanpour	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ exile in Zahak in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
40. Mehdi Izadpanah	5 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ exile in Sirjan in Kerman Province	In exile; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
41. Ehsan Safari	3 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ exile in Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Paroled and sent to exile in December 2019
42. Hadi Shahreza Gamasaee	No reporting on trial	Currently in exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province; unknown date
43. Mehdi Mahdavi	No reporting on trial	Currently in exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province; unknown date

44. Mehrdad Rezaei	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Sarbaz in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released in early 2019; awaiting exile
45. Abolfazl Sahraei	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Sarbisheh in South Khorasan Province	Released in early 2019; awaiting exile
46. Abolfazl Avazeh	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Mirjaveh in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; awaiting exile
47. Mojtaba Shokri	1 year’s imprisonment and 2 years’ exile in Taybad in Khorasan Razavi Province	Released in early 2019; awaiting exile
48. Mehdi Mardani-Rad	1 year’s imprisonment and 2 years’ exile in Sib Va Sooran in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released in early 2019; awaiting exile

49. Mehdi Mahdavifard	13 years and 6 months’ imprisonment (7 years and 6 months was enforceable), 144 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Nikshahr in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted by the judiciary’s directive in early 2020
50. Reza Rezaei	12 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 148 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Mirjaveh in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
51. Bashir Riyahi Ghaletaki	10 years and 6 months’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 148 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Khaf in Razavi Khorasan Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
52. Reza Sigarchi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
53. Hadi Karimi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
54. Amir Nouri	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
55. Javad Khamisabadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ travel ban, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
56. Ardeshir Ashayeri	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
57. Majid Moradi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 75 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
58. Morteza Sohrabpour	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
59. Mohammad-Hasan (Hasan) Shahreza	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
60. Amin Soleimani	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
61. Hesam Moeini	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
62. Sadeq Qeysari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban. Qeysari is not a Gonabadi Dervish, but he was arrested in Golestan-e Haftom clashes.	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
63. Mohsen Norouzi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
64. Reza Nematollahi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
65. Hasan Abbasi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
66. Ramin Ashkouh	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 75 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
67. Morteza Shokri	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 75 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; detail unknown
68. Ali Qamari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; detail unknown
69. Khashayar Dehghan	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	Released; detail unknown
70. Habib Qanbari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; detail unknown
71. Ali Karimi (name of father Abdorrahim)	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Bushehr Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted in unknown date
72. Ali Bahadori	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ exile in Mirjaveh in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
73. Siamak Sohrabi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; detail unknown
74. Iraj Madhi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ internal exile	Released; detail unknown
75. Mahmoud Baghyar	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
76. Ali Sadeqi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
77. Majid Zamiri	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
78. Mohammad-Reza Shayan	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
79.Mohammad Samadyar	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
80. Abdullah Esmaeili	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
81. Zafar-Ali Moqimi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ exile in Zahak in Sistan and Baluchistan Province	Released; detail unknown
82. Mohsen Abolhasani	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	Released; detail unknown
83. Samad Dadras (Dadrasi)	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
84. Abolfazl Babahoseini	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
85. Jahangir Haghani	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
86. Masoud Alimadadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
87. Amir Seyyedi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
88. Afshin Salimi Chegini	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
89. Amir Salimi Chegini	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
90. Mohammad-Reza Abolfathi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
91. Majid Amirahmadi (Yarahmadi)	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
92. Hamid-Reza Amirahmadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
93. Mohammad-Reza Zehtab	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
94. Nemat Kazemi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
95. Milad Kakavand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
96. Saeed Khamoshi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
97. Mostafa Rahsepar	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
98. Farhad Naeimi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in November 2019
99. Morteza Qaderi Samani	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
100. Shahram (Omid) Moqadasi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
101. Mehran Asgharzadeh	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
102. Ali Nejadsahebi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
103. Behnoud Rostami	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
104. Omid Moqadasi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
105. Younes Lak	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
106. Qasem Hasanlou	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
107. Masoud Marzouqi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
108. Gholam Abbasi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
109. Majid Karimi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
110.Asghar Mohammadi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
111. Reza Bavi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
112. Mostafa Armandoust	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
113. Gholam-Abbas Avazeh	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
114. Nima Azizi Tazengi	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
115. Aliasghar Shariat	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
116. Mohammad-Reza Babazadeh Shayan	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
117. Mohammad-Reza Roeein Esfandiyari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
118. Mohsen Ashtiyani	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
119. Mohammad-Reza Heydari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
120. Mohammad Esfandiyari	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
121. Amir Asteraki	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
122. Nader Biranvand	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
123. Abbas Hajatinia	7 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
124. Farhang Bouzari Kharrazi	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable), 74 lashes, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; detail unknown
125. Hossein Soleimani	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
126. Asghar Ebrahimi-Maqam	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities	Released; detail unknown
127. Amin Hosseini	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; detail unknown
128. Akbar Dadashi	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable) and 74 lashes	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
129. Hossein Hashemi	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
130. Habib Galleh–Dari	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
131. Ahmad Mousavi	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
132. Reza Farrashi	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; detail unknown
133. Mehdi Fateminasab	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
134. Farnam (Farham) Farhang Kermani	6 years’ imprisonment (5 years was enforceable)	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
135. Ali Bariyan	5 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province	Released; detail unknown
136. Babak Taqian	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
137. Hossein Arang	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
138. Avisha Jalaledin	5 years’ imprisonment	Released on bail or bond
139. Hassan Arab-Ameri	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
140. Ali-Mashallah Vafaeifard	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
141. Mohammad Dalvand	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
142. Asghar Samadyar	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
143. Mohammad-Hossein Abolfathi	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
144. Mohammad Asad Samani	5 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
145. Saleh Kamali Dehkordi	7 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ travel ban. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 3 years’ imprisonment.	Released; prison sentence was commuted in October 2019
146. Hossein Ghazavi	3 years’ imprisonment	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
147. Meysam Azizan	3 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
148. Amirbahador Jafari	3 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
149. Mohsen Azizi	3 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
150. Qasem Zamani	3 years’ imprisonment (2 years was enforceable)	Released; sentence completed
151. Faramarz Mangari	10 years’ imprisonment, 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Roudbar in Kerman Province. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 2 years in prison.	Released; sentence completed in January 2020
152. Moslem Norouzi	7 years’ imprisonment, 74 lashes, and 2 years’ exile in Borazjan in Bushehr Province. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed in January 2020
153. Sepideh Moradi	5 years’ imprisonment, 2 years’ travel ban, and 2 years’ prohibition on social and political activities. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed
154. Shokoufeh Yadollahi	5 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ prohibition on social and media activities. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed
155. Sima Entesari	5 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed
156. Shima Entesari	5 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed
157. Mehrdad Eyni	2 years’ imprisonment, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban	Released; sentence completed
158. Hamid Ashayeri	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
159. Kamran Bahadori	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
160. Ali Bolboli	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
161. Hossein Jashn	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
162. Omid Mahdavi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
163. Malek Rezaei	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
164. Sajjad Baradaran	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
165. Mohammad Amirahmadi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
166. Mousa Fazlipour	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
167. Ashkan Kazemi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
168. Esmaeil Norouzi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
169. Abbas Barqamadi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
170. Elias Mohammadi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
171. Ali Reshno	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
172. Alireza Siasi	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
173. Jalaledin Ghazavi Bidgoli	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
174. Sajjad Baradaran	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
175. Ali Afshar Asli	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
176. Mohammed-Qasem Allahyari	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
177. Mohammad Alamdoust	2 years’ imprisonment	Released; detail unknown
178. Aliasghar Salari	2 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment.	Released; prison sentence was commuted in early 2020
179. Pouria Nouri	2 years’ imprisonment. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence.	Released in October 2018
180. Hossein Haj-Mohammadi	2 years’ imprisonment. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence.	Released in October 2018
181. Elham Ahmadi	5 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment. In prison, she was sentenced to 148 lashes.	Released; sentence completed
182. Mansour Fouladi	1 year and 6 months imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
183. Hossein Biranvand	1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
184. Hassan Feyzi	1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
185. Mohammad-Ali Karami Abad Shapouri	1 year’s imprisonment and 40 lashes	Released; sentence completed
186. Sajjad Razmi	7 years’ imprisonment, 74 lashes, 2 years’ prohibition on social activities, and 2 years’ travel ban. It seems the court of appeals reduced sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed in January 2019
187. Manouchehr Kokabi	7 years’ imprisonment, 74 lashes, and 2 years’ internal exile. The court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
188. Aliasghar Ganj Panahi	7 years’ imprisonment, 74 lashes, and 2 years’ prohibition on social activities. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed in January 2019
189. Ebrahim Allahbakhshi	7 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes. The court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
190. Arman Abolfathi	7 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
191. Armin Abolfathi	7 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
192. Mehdi Eskandari	7 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ travel ban. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence.	Released; sentence completed
193. Bijan Soltani Alakrani	7 years’ imprisonment. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
194. Arash Moradi	7 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
195. Sediqeh Safabakht	5 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ prohibition on social and political activities. It seems the court of appeals reduced her sentence to 1 year’s imprisonment.	Released; sentence completed
196. Nazila Nouri	5 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced her sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
197. Shahab Bakhshian	5 years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
198. Mostafa Arman (Zaman)	2 years’ imprisonment. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence to 1 year in prison.	Released; sentence completed
199. Noor-Ali Mousavi	2 years’ imprisonment. It seems the court of appeals reduced his sentence.	Released in October 2018
200. Reza Heydari	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
201. Kian Nejadhoseini	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
202. Alborz Rostami	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
203. Mehdi Saadat	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
204. Moslem Rezaei	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
205. Hossein Kalhor	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
206. Ali Mohammadshahi	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
207. Mohammad Nezameslami	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
208. Mohsen Parvin	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
209. Majid Shayeq	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
210. Mehdi Saadat	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
211. Hashem Avazeh	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
212. Ebrahim Rezaei	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
213. Ahmad Nabaei	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
214. Yaser Soleimani Jonaqani	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
215. Mehdi Imanzadeh	1 year’s imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
216. Ali Qannadzadeh	16 months’ imprisonment. It seems that the court of appeals reduced his sentence.	Released; sentence completed
217. Maryam Farsiyabi	6 months’ imprisonment and 2 years’ prohibition on social and political activities	Released; sentence completed
218. Maryam Barakouhi	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
219. Ahmad Daraei	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
220. Esmaeil Abedini	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
221. Jamal Tehrani	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
222. Mehdi Nazari	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
223. Mostafa Mirzaei	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
224. Hossein Karimi	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
225. Emad Goudarzi	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
226. Nader Yavari	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
227. Nour-Ali Moqimi	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
228. Mehrdad Goodarzi	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
229. Ramin Yavari	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
230. Amir Mousavian	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
231. Omid Zamiri	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
232. Shahram Shokri	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
233. Nima Aliyeh	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
234. Mohammad Taqipour	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
235. Mehdi Moqaddam Alavian	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
236. Farshad Sepahvand	6 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
237. Mostafa Biranvand	4 months’ imprisonment	Released; sentence completed
238. Shahnaz Kian Asl	No reporting on trial	Released on bail
239. Ayoub Assadi	No reporting on trial	Released on bail or bound due to serious medical conditions
240. Shoaib Esmaeili	No reporting on trial	Released in early 2020
241. Saeed Godarzi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed in early 2020
242. Shahab Akbari	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
243. Mehdi Mahdilou	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
244. Nematollah Riahi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
245. Mostafa Shiraziyan	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
246. Ali Qasemi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
247. Mohammd-Baqer Moqimi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
248. Ali Jamshidi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
249. Hossein Fahimi	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
250. Mohammad Rajaei	No reporting on trial	Released; sentence completed
251. Alborz Eskandari Sabzi	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown
252. Yousef Raeeszadeh	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown
253. Farhad Biranvand	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown
254. Ebrahim Mohammadi	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown
255. Abolfazl Salari	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown
256. Abolqasem Nasiri Bafqi	No reporting on trial	Released; detail unknown

[1] IHRDC Interview with Ebrahim Allahbakhshi (April 7, 2020) (on file with IHRDC).

[2] Id.

[3] Lloyd V. J. Ridgeon, Islam and Inter-faith Relations; The Gerald Weisfeld Lectures 2006, 73 (2007). See also Mehdi Aminrazavi & Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia 59-64 (2013) (discussing al-Fārābī, the Second Teacher, and his great influence on early Islamic Sufism).

[4] See Gonābādi Order, Encyclopædia Iranica (Feb. 14, 2012), http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gonabadi-order

[5] Leonard Lewisohn, An Introduction to the History of Modern Persian Sufism, Part I: The Nematollahi Order: Persecution, Revival and Schism, Vol. 61 No. 3 Bulletin of SOAS, 449-50 (1998).

[6] See Encyclopædia Iranica, supra note 4.

[7] Matthijs E.W. van den Bos et al., Gunābādiyya, Encyclopedia of Islam III (eds) 2 (Brill 2013), https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/*-COM_27547

[8] Id.

[9] Hajj Ali Tabandeh Mahboub-Ali Shah, Khurshīd Tābāndih [The Shining Sun] 87, 126, 150, 158, 527, 677-8 (2^nd ed. 1994(, http://www.sufi.ir/books/download/farsi/khorshid-tabandeh.pdf

[10] Raz Zimmt, Sufis, Social Networks and the Struggle for Religious Freedom in Iran, Vol. 2 No. 3 Middle East Social Media (Mar. 2014), https://english.tau.ac.il/impact/sufis#_edn1 See also Elham Shayegh, Sufism and Transcendentalism; A Poststructuralist Dialogue Between Rumi and Whitman 23 (2020) (discussing the number of Gonabadi Dervishes in Iran).

[11] Alireza Kermani, Sīyāsāt Zādigi Rūḥāniyat Shiʿa Va Nāshākibāai Dar Barābār Darvishān [Politicization of Shiʿa Clerics and Intolerance Toward Gonabadi Dervishes], Radio Zamaneh (Oct.7, 2014), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/180268

[12] The hosseinieh is a house of worship and a congregation hall for Shiʿa ritual ceremonies, particularly those associated with the remembrance of Ashura. Najebah Marafi, The Intertwined Conflict: The Difference Between Culture and Religion 123 (2012). The kānaqāh is an Islamic institution and physical establishment, principally reserved for Sufi Dervishes to assemble and pray in the presence of a Sufi master, who is a teacher and leader of the group. See Kānaqāh, Encyclopædia Iranica (Apr. 20, 2012), http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kanaqah

[13] Javad Nourbakhsh, In the Tavern of Ruin: Seven Essays on Sufism 75 (1978).

[14] William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi 196, 214 (1983).

[15] Ikhwân al-Safâ’ is one of the most complete medieval encyclopedias of sciences. See Ikhwân al-Safâ’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Jul. 8, 2016), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ikhwan-al-safa/#Aut

[16] Witness Statement of Alireza Roshan, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (Feb. 29, 2020), https://bit.ly/3dYNk8d.

[17] See Taqlīd, Encyclopedia Britannica (Feb 18, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/topic/taqlid

[18] Gūftigū Bā Dr. Seyyed Mostafa Azmayesh Darbāri ʿAqāyid Va Vażiyat Darāvīsh Gonabadi [Talk with Dr. Seyyed Mostafa Azmayesh about the Gonabadi Dervishes’ Beliefs and Conditions], IranGlobal (Mar. 13, 2018), https://iranglobal.info/node/65277

[19] Noor-Ali Tabandeh: Bi ʿumre Khud Jisārāt Bi Hosseinieh Nadideham [I Have Never Witnessed Disrespect to the Hosseinieh During My Life], Radio Zamaneh (Nov. 25, 2007), http://zamaaneh.com/news/2007/11/post_3008.html

[20] According to Shiʿa belief, Mehdi, the Hidden Imam and a successor of the Prophet Muhammad, will reappear as a latter-day savior for humanity after his long occultation. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide in Early Shi’ism; The Sources of Esotericism in Islam 114 (1994).

[21] Van Den Bos Et al., supra note 7, at 3-5.

[22] Hajj Molla Sultan Mohammad Gonabadi sultan ali-shah, Saʿādāt Nāmih [Epistle of Salvation] 109-10 (Hossein-Ali Kashani Baydokhti ed., Haqiqat 2^nd ed. 2000) (1886), http://www.sufism.ir/books/download/farsi/saadatnameh.pdf

[23] Shah Nimatullah Wali, Diwan Ash ʿār [poem collection] odes 826, 1024 (Mehrdad Bayat ed.), https://ganjoor.net/shahnematollah/ (last visited Sep. 25, 2020).

[24] Mohsen Kadivar, Daravish Gonabadi Va Jumhūri Islami [Gonabadi Dervishes and the Islamic Republic], Kadivar.com (Feb. 21, 2018), https://kadivar.com/16450/ .

[25] The zakāt is an obligatory payment of a determinate portion of specific categories of lawful property for the benefit of the poor and other enumerated classes that must be paid to the righteous faqīh. See Aaron Zysow, Zakāt, Encyclopedia of Islam (P. Bearman et al. eds., 2^nd ed. 2012), https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/zakat-COM_1377?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=Zakat See also Ijbār Bi Khums Va Zakāt-Niẓām Māliyih Islam-Mānābiʿ Iqtisādi Niẓām Islam [Compulsion to Pay Taxes-Islamic Tax System-Economic Resources of the Islamic System], Pursman Daneshgahiyan (May 10, 2007), available at https://bit.ly/2HTZZgR, (discussing the importance of Islamic taxes and the role of Islamic government in imposing such taxes).

[26] Chirā Natavānistim Khums Va Zakāt rā Vārid Māliyātha Kunim; Mafhūm Vajh-u-Imārih [Why Have We Not Been Able to Include Khums and Zakāt in the Taxes; The Concept of “Vajh-u-Imārih” in Islamic Economy], IQNA News Agency (Jan. 19, 2020), https://iqna.ir/fa/news/3872646/.

[27] Har Ānchi Bāyad Dar Mūridi Khums Bidanim [Everything We Need to Know About Khums], Howzeh News Agency (Aug. 3, 2018), https://www.hawzahnews.com/news/457507/.

[28] See Aaron Zysow & Robert Gleave, Khums, Encyclopedia of Islam (P. Bearman et al. eds., 2^nd ed. 2012), https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/khums-COM_1417?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=Khums+

[29] Noor-Ali Tabandeh, Darbāri Ḥuqūq Māli va Oshriyeh; Qesmat Aval [about Financial Laws and Oshriyeh vol. 1] 13-16, 30-2 (14^th ed. 2009), http://www.tasavof.ir/books/download/farsi/hazrate-majzoubalishah/jozveh121/jozveh_14_jozavate_mozooee.pdf

[30] Hana Sheikh, Muqāyisi Sāẓmān Rūḥāniyāt Catholic Va Tashaayuʿ [Comparison of the Catholic Church with the Shiʿa Clergy], BBC Persian (Aug. 15, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/blog-viewpoints-45198586

[31] Markaz Mutāliʿāt Va Pāsukhgūiyy Be Shubahāt Ḥūzih ʿilmīyeh Qom [Center of Studies and Responding to Religious Inquiries in Qom Seminary], Andisheh Qom, https://www.andisheqom.com/fa/Question/View/8722, (last visited Sep. 18, 2020).

[32] Mehran Tamadonfar, The Islamic Polity and Political Leadership: Fundamentalism, Sectarianism, And Pragmatism 104, 106 (2019).

[33] Behzad Pour Saleh, Noor-Ali Tabandeh; Āz Radi Naẓariyih Velayat-e Faqīh Tā Hasr Dar Golestan-e Haftom [Noor-Ali Tabandeh; From Rejecting the Theory of Velayat-e Faqīh to House Arrest in Golestan-e Haftom], BBC Persian (Dec. 24, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-features-50758206

[34] The Liberation Movement of Iran is a political organization founded during the 1960s. Its members describe themselves as “Muslims, Iranians, and Constitutionalists” who follow the political principles of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the 35th Prime Minister of Iran. See Forough Jahanbakhsh, Islam, Democracy and Religious Modernism in Iran: From Bazargan to Soroush (1953-2000) 91-2 (2001).

[35] Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh served as the Deputy to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance (“MCIG”), the Director of the Hajj, Endowment, and Charity Affairs Organization, and the Deputy to the Minister of Justice in Mehdi Bazargan’s cabinet. Mehdi Bazargan (1907-1995) was the first Iran’s Prime Minister after the 1979 revolution. See Paria Montazerzadeh, Bāvarhaiyy Darāvish Va Barkhūrd Ḥukūmat; Ābi Ravāni Ki Sang Shud [Dervishes’ Beliefs and the Government’s Reaction; The Soft Water That Turned into Hard Stone], Radio Zamaneh (Feb. 27, 2018), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/383601

[36] Paria Montazerzadeh, Bāvarhaiyy Darāvish Va Barkhūrd Ḥukūmat; Ābi Ravāni Ki Sang Shud [Dervishes’ Beliefs and the Government’s Reaction; The Soft Water That Turned into Hard Stone], Radio Zamaneh (Feb. 27, 2018), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/383601

[37] Negāhi Bi Zindigī Noor-Ali Tabandeh; Darvishī Ki ʿrfān Va Sīyāsāt Rā Dar Āmikht [A look at the Life of Noor-Ali Tabandeh; A Dervish Who Mixed Mysticism and Politics], EuroNews Persian (Dec. 25, 2019), https://farsi.euronews.com/2019/12/24/iran-biography-noor-ali-tabandeh-sufi-lawyer-politician

^[38] Mushkil Jumhūri Islami Bā Darāvish Gonabadi Chist?[What Is the Problem of the Islamic Republic with Gonabadi Dervishes?], Deutsche Welle Persian, (Feb. 20, 2018), https://bit.ly/382iDy8.

[39] Pour Saleh, supra note 33.

[40] Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh Qutb Daravish Gonabadi: Imrūz Ḥimāyat Az Karroubi Dar Intikhābāt Vaẓifi Tamām Fuqarā Āst [Dr. Noor-Ali Tabandeh the Qutb of the Gonabadi Dervish Order: Today Supporting Karroubi in the Election Is a Duty for All Fuqarā (Gonabadi Dervishes)], Balatarin (June 7, 2009), https://www.balatarin.com/permlink/2009/6/7/1610922

[41] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[42] According to Ladan Boroumand, co-founder of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center and a prominent human rights defender, up to four million followers of the Gonabadi Dervish order voted for Karroubi. Jeffrey Gedmin & Sean Keeley, Interview with Ladan Boroumand: “The Shah Was Never as Hated as the Supreme Leader Is,” American-Interest (Feb. 20, 2020), https://www.the-american-interest.com/2020/02/20/ladan-boroumand-the-shah-was-never-as-hated-as-the-supreme-leader-is/

[43] EuroNews Persian, supra note 37.

[44] Rahbar Darāvish Gonabadi: Nimitavānam Birūn Biryāyam Āma Dar Manzil Āzadam [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Leader: I Can’t Leave the House, But I’m Free Inside the House], BBC Persian (Mar. 7, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-43314388

[45] EuroNews Persian, supra note 37.

[46] Erfan Sabeti, Chi Kasī Az Mā ʿnaviyathāay Jadid Mitarsad [Who is Afraid of New Spiritualities?], BBC Persian (Feb. 14, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/blog-viewpoints-43057641

[47] Darāvīsh Gonabadi Va Kishmakish bā Ḥukūmat Iran; Gāhshumār [The Timeline of Conflict Between Gonabadi Dervishes and the Government of Iran], BBC Persian (Feb. 20, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-features-43125911

[48] Van Den Bos Et al., supra note 7, at 4.

[49] Istiftā means a formal inquiry for a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a faqīh. The ruling in response to an istifta is called fatwa, which could be binding for followers of the faqīh who issued it. See Mohammad Khalid Masud, The Significance of Istifta in the Fatwa Discourse, Vol. 48 No. 3 Islamic Studies, 341-66 (2009), https://www.jstor.org/stable/20839171?seq=1

[50] Barkhī Az Fatwāhāay Marājiʿ Taqlīd Dar Mūrid Taṣawwuf Va Kānaqāh [Collection of Ayatollahs’ Fatwas about Sufism and Kānaqāh], No. 47 Ravaq Andisheh mag. (Nov. 2005), http://pajuhesh.irc.ir/product/magazine/show.text/id/962/order/72

[51] Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani: Sūfīeh Bā Hadaf Tażīf Islam Shikl Girift [Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani: Sufi Order Was Formed with the Purpose of Weakening Islam], Jumhūri Islami (Feb. 19, 2006), https://www.magiran.com/article/1004076

[52] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

^[53] Golnaz Esfandiari, Sufism Under Attack In Iran, Radio Farda (Feb. 26, 2009), https://www.rferl.org/a/Sufism_Under_Attack_In_Iran/1499990.html

[54] Masʾ ūlān Āmilān Jināyat Khīyābān Pāsdārān Rā Zudtar Mujāzāt Kunand [The Authorities Shall Punish the Perpetrators of Vicious Acts in the Pasdaran Street As Soon As Possible], Mehr News Agency (Feb. 24, 2018), https://www.mehrnews.com/news/4235590/.

[55] Naqdhāay Ḥażrat Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani Bar ʿAqāyid Sūfīyan [Criticisms of Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani of Sufis’ Beliefs], Shafaqna (Sep. 22, 2018), https://fa.shafaqna.com/news/632543/

[56] When the news of a TV drama about Rumi was spread in 2019, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani harshly denunciated Sufi orders. They said promoting Sufism is haram [strictly forbidden]. See Makarem Shirazi Va Nouri Hamedani Sākht Film Shams Tabrizi ra Ḥarām Iʿlām Kardand [Makarem Shirazi and Nouri Hamedani Declared That the Production of Shams Tabrizi’s Movie Is Haram], Radio Farda (Sep. 24, 2019), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/30180804.html

[57] Top Iran Cleric Rejects Holocaust as ‘Superstition’, Sydney Morning Herald (Sep. 6, 2010), https://www.smh.com.au/world/top-iran-cleric-rejects-holocaust-as-superstition-20100906-14wca.html

[58] Ḥukm Izdevāj Bā Sūfīyih [The Religious Order About Marriage with Sufis], Pāygāh Itilaʿrasānī Daftar Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, https://makarem.ir/main.aspx?typeinfo=21&lid=0&catid=22928&mid=263041(last visited Sep. 18, 2020).

[59] Ḥukm Ḥuzūr Dar Kānaqāh Va Shirkat Dar Majālis Sūfīyih [The Religious Order About Attending the Khanaqah and Participation in Dervishes’s Gatherings], Hadana (Apr. 8, 2017), https://bit.ly/3mri5FP,

[60] Ayatollah Makarem: Sūfīyan Yik Khaṭar Maḥsūb Mishavand [Ayatollah Makarem: Dervishes Are a Considered a Danger], Donya-e Eqtesad (Sept. 29, 2018), https://bit.ly/2J0ZmT0.

[61] Zahabiya, also known as Umm al-Salāsil or Zahabiyya Eqteshashiya, is a Shiʿa Sufi order that emerged in the ninth century in todays’ Iran and Iraq. The Zahabis, alongside the Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervish order, are the major active Shiʿa Sufi orders of Iran. See Jafar Sajadi, Fārhāng Maʿāref Islami Jeld Dovom [Encyclopedia of Islamic Education Vol. 2] 892 (1994). Although Zahabis’ numbers remain uncertain, they continue to recruit and propagate their message, mostly using underground networks, in different cities. See Asadollah Khavari, Zahabiya Jeld Aval [Zahabiya Vol. 1] 296 (2004). After the 1979 revolution, the Zahabis were forced to cope with serious restrictions on their religious practices and missionary activities. Dr. Abdolhamid Ganjavian, the 39th Qutb of the order, moved to London in the aftermath of the1979 revolution. After his death in 2010, Dr. Hossein Assariyan, based in Dezful, assumed the role of leadership as the 40th Qutb of the Zahabi order. See Ata Anzali, The Emergence of the Zahabiyya in Safavid Iran, Vol. 2 Issue 2 Journal of Sufi Studies, 149-175 (June 2013), https://brill.com/view/journals/jss/2/2/article-p149_2.xml#affiliation0

The Zahabi Dervishes have places of worship in different cities, including Dezful (Ahmadieh Kānaqāh), Tehran (located in the Serah-e Amin Huzoor), and Shiraz (Ahmadieh Kānaqāh). The Kānaqāh in Dezful was built in 1959. When Zahabi Dervishes intended to reconstruct its building in 1999, Ayatollah Ali Shafiee, the Supreme Leader’s Representative in Khuzestan Province, objected to the project. Following the hardliners’ uproar, Dezful’ municipality demolished the Kānaqāh. Zahabi Dervishes, however, brought a lawsuit to the Court of Administrative Justice, which ruled for reconstruction of Kānaqāh in 2004. In the aftermath of Dervishes’ judicial victory, hardliners tried hard to prevent restoration of Dezful’ Kānaqāh. In this manner, several senior Shiʿa clerics denounced the Zahabiyya Dervish order. These Shiʿa clerics were Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat, Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani, Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, and Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani. See Dar Khuṣūṣ Faʿālīyathāay Kānaqāh Dezful Va Nūʿ Kārhāyishān Va Zīri Naẓar Chi Majmūʿiy Kār Mikunand Tūżīḥ Dahīd [Please Explain About the Operation of Dezful’ Kānaqāh, the [Zahabiyya’s] Activities, and Who is Their Management], Rahrovan Velayat (Oct. 6, 2014), https://btid.org/fa/news/42695

[62] Ravaq Andisheh mag., supra note 50.

[63] Vākunish Dū Marjaʿ Taqlid Be Dargiri Barkhi Darāvish Bā Nīrūy Intiẓāmi; In Gurūh Ham Ṭarafdār ʿrfān Kāziband Ham Inḥirafi [Reaction of Two Ayatollahs to the Clashes Between Some Dervishes and the Police; This Group Is Also a Proponent of False Mysticism and a Deviant Group], Khabar Online (Feb. 2, 2018), https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/757476/.

[64] Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Maʿārif Dīn Jeld Aval [The Religion Teachings Vol. 1] 35 (2006).

[65] Ayat Peyman & Muhammad Sadeq Rajabi, Naẓar Fuqahā Dar Yik Sad Sāl Ākhir Dar Mūridi Taṣavūf [Shiʿa Jurists Opinions About Sufism in the Last Hundred Years], Shabake Ijtihād (Oct. 3, 2019), https://bit.ly/37KWTqm.

[66] Fatāvī Ayatollah ūẓmā Safi Golpaygani Dar Muridih Firqihāay Sūfīyih [Fatwas of Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani About Sufi Orders], Tabnak News (Dec. 4, 2018), https://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/857137.

[67] Ravaq Andisheh mag., supra note 50.

[68] Sudūr Fatwā Idām Nivīsandih Maqāleh Mūhun Bi Payāmbar Ākram [Issuance of the Fatwa Ordering Execution of the Author Who Published an Insulting Article About the Prophet Muhammad], Tebyan (Mar. 4, 2007), https://article.tebyan.net/37240. Rafigh Taghi was killed in December 2011 in Baku, Azerbaijan. See Ranad Mansho, Nivīsandih Azarbaijani Muntaqid Islam Dar Piy Suʾe Qasd Dar Guzasht [Azerbaijani Writer and Critic of Islam Died Following an Assassination Attempt], Radio Farda (Dec. 11, 2011), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_rafiq_taqi_death/24400000.html

[69] Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani: Sūfīyih Vā Hame Mazāḥib Mansub Bi Ān Az Firqihāay Bātil Āst [Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani: Sufism and All Dervish Orders are False Groups], Jomhouri Eslami (Aug. 24, 2006), https://www.magiran.com/article/1183500

[70] Ali Afshari, Velayat-e Faqīh Va Intiqāmgiri Tārikhi Az Daravish [Velayat-e Faqīh and Historical Revenge of Dervishes], Radio Farda (Mar. 3, 2018), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/iran-theocracy-againstderavish/29132746.html

[71] Van Den Bos Et Al., supra note 7, at 2.

[72] Deutsche Welle Persian, supra note 38.

[73] Nazanin Ansari, The Gonabadi Dervishes: Gnostics, Royal Advisors, Political and Religious Adversaries, Kayhan life (Mar. 20, 2018), https://kayhanlife.com/people/the-gonabadi-dervishes-gnostics-royal-advisors-political-and-religious-adversaries/

[74] IHRDC Interview with Hamid-Reza Moradi Sarvestani (April 17, 2020) (on file with IHRDC).

^[75] In this context the term Hezbollah refers to Iran’s post-revolutionary Islamist populace, not the armed Lebanese militia supported by the Iranian government. See Deutsche Welle Persian, supra note 38.

[76] Ansari, supra note 73.

[77] Id.

[78] Amir Chamani, Zist Darvishān Dar Iran: Āz Takhrib Kānaqāh Tā Sarkūb Pīravān [Dervishes’ Life in Iran; From Demolition of Their Kānaqāh to Suppression of Their Adherents], Tribune Zamaneh (Apr. 24, 2018), https://www.tribunezamaneh.com/archives/152912

[79] In March 2000, a Kānaqāh in Torbat Heydariyeh in Khorasan Province was also demolished by city officials. Kānaqāhs in Iran, Silsileh Nematollahi, http://www.nematolahi.com/ (last visited Sep. 23, 2020) (follow “Kānaqāh Hāy Jahān” hyperlink; then follow “Iran” hyperlink; after that, select “more explanations” hyperlink for “Torbat Heydariyeh Kānaqāh.”

[80] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73. The travel restrictions for Gonabadi spiritual leaders have continued until recently. In September 2008, Karam-Ali Farhanpour, a Gonabadi spiritual leader, was arrested by security forces in Yasuj, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. He was questioned about the reason for his travel and was forced to leave the city. Similarly, in November 2008, Farhanpour was arrested at Bandar Abbas Airport and was forced to return. See Vażʿiyat Daravish Nematollahi Gonabadi Dar Sāl 1387 [The Situation of Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervishes in the Year 2008], Pezhvak Iran, http://www.pezhvakeiran.com/page1.php?id=9181 (last visited Sep. 20 , 2020).

[81] Ansari, supra note 75.

[82] Ayatollah Khomeini was among a small minority of Shiʿa clerics who have used Sufi literature and sources in interpretation of holy texts. See Peyman & Rajabi, supra note 65. In some of his poems, Ayatollah Khomeini also praised Dervishes and Kānaqāh to such an extent that a group of researchers concluded that he in fact held Sufis in the highest regard. See Ayatollah Khomeini, Diwan Āshʿār [Poem Collection] 22, 46 (2013), https://bit.ly/3mqijgt. The pro-government researchers, however, have denied such a conclusion.

[83] Vaqāyiʿ Golestan-e Haftom: Nīshtar Bar Zakhmhāay Chihil Sālay Darāvish Nematollahi Gonabadi [Golestan-e Haftom Clashes: A Knife in Old Wounds of Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervishes], Shabtab News (Mar. 27, 2018), https://bit.ly/3os7L29.

[84] Bargi Az Kār Nāmih Chihil Sālih Jumhūri Islami; Digarāndīshān Mazhabī Dar Miyān Qurbāniyān Qatlhāay Zanjīriyy Dahi Haftād [A Page of the Islamic Republic’s Forty-Years Record: Religious Dissidents Among the Victims of the Chain Murders of Iran in the 1990s], Human Rights in Iran (May 14, 2019), https://humanrightsiniran.com/1398/54077/

[85] Deutsche Welle Persian, supra note 38.

[86] Ali-Asghar Ramezanpour, Itisāb Ghazā Khānigi Darvishan Dar Iran [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hunger Strike at Home in Iran], BBC Persian (Mar. 7, 2014), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2014/03/140307_nm_darvish_gonabad_strike

[87] Ansari, supra note 75.

[88] See Sabeti, supra note 46. See also Ameneh Mostaqimi, Nuskheh hāay Kāzib Baray Sabk Zindigī Maʿnavī [False Prescriptions for a Spiritual Lifestyle], Quds Online (Feb. 27, 2013), available at http://www.qudsonline.ir/news/107131/ (discussing Supreme Leader’s talking point about false mysticism and Sufi orders during a trip to North Khorasan Province).

[89] Roshan, supra note 16.

[90] Id.

[91] Id.

[92] Human Rights Watch, World Report 2012; Events of 2011 at 555, (2012), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wr2012.pdf

[93] Roshan, supra note 16.

[94] Ṣudūr Āḥkām Sangīn ʿlaīh Darāvish Gonabadi Va Vukalāyishān [Issuing Heavy Sentences Against Gonabadi Dervishes and Their Attorneys], BBC Persian (Jul. 14, 2013), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2013/07/130714_nm_gonabadi_sufi_prison

[95] Roshan, supra note 16.

[96] Moharebeh can be punished by death, amputation of opposing limbs, crucifixion, and exile under Iranian law.

[97] Roshan, supra note 16.

[98] Id.

[99] Alireza Roshan, Shāʿ ir Irani az Zindān Āzad Shud [Alireza Roshan, the Iranian Poet, Was Released from Prison], Radio Zamaneh (Oct. 17, 2013), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/104422

[100] Roshan, supra note 16.

[101] Id.

[102] “In the cases of offenses punishable by ta’zir, where the offenses committed are not more than three, the court shall impose the maximum punishment provided for each offense; and if the offenses committed are more than three, [the court] shall impose more than the maximum punishment provided for each crime provided that it does not exceed more than the maximum plus one half of each punishment. In any of the abovementioned cases, only the most severe punishment shall be executed and if the most severe punishment is reduced or replaced or becomes non-executable for any legal reason, the next most severe punishment shall be executed. In any case where there is no maximum and minimum provided for the punishment, if the offenses committed are not more than three, up to one-fourth, and if the offenses committed are more than three, up to half of the punishment prescribed by law shall be added to the original punishment.” See Qanuni Mojazat Islami [Islamic Penal Code], Tehran 1392 [2013], art. 134, https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/103202/125190/

[103] Arash Hassannia, Mulāqāt Ba Alireza Roshan [Meeting with Alireza Roshan], Radio Farda (Nov. 9, 2012), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/b22-molaghat-ali-reza-roshan/27334302.html

[104] Roshan, supra note 16.

[105] Javābīiyy Reza Tabandeh Bi Mohajerani: Har Kas Darāvish Ra Dāʿishī Bikhānad, Gunāhash Bar Dushi Shumā Nīz Hast [Reza Tabandeh’ Response to Mohajerani; If Anyone calls Gonabadi Dervishes as ISIS Criminals, the Guilt Is on You, Too], Iran International (Mar. 3, 2018), https://bit.ly/3kIZHb0.

[106] Roshan, supra note 16.

[107] Idāmi Bīkhabarī Az Vażʿiyat Chahār Darvish Gonabadi Dar Bāzdāshat [Still No News about Four Arrested Gonabadi Dervishes], Radio Zamaneh (Jan. 4, 2018), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/375120

[108] IHRDC Interview with Faezeh Abdipour (Feb.25, 2020) (on file with IHRDC).

[109] The Mojahedin-e Khalq (“MEK”) is an opposition group that engaged in armed resistance against the Iranian government. Thousands of the group’s members and sympathizers were executed during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.

[110] Abdipour, supra note 107.

[111] Id.

[112] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[113] Abdipour, supra note 107.

[114] Id.

[115] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[116] Id.

[117] Id.

[118] Hossein Bastani, Pishravī Qānūnī Eṭilāʿāt Sipāh Dar Zamin Vizārat Eṭilāʿāt [Legal Trespass of IRGC Intelligence into the Ministry of Intelligence’s Territory], BBC Persian (Sep. 25, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-features-49832670

[119] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[120] Id.

[121] Id.

[122] Atlas Zendan Haye Iran [Iran Prisons’ Atlas], Ebrahim Allahbakhshi’s profile, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/4308/ (last visited Sep. 17, 2020).

[123] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[124] Free Imprisoned Teachers, Center for Support of Human Rights (Nov. 16, 2018), http://en.cshr.org.uk/2018/11/16/2066/

[125] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[126] Ayin Nameh Ejraiyy Sazman Zendanha va Eqdamat Tamini va Tarbiyati Kishvar

[Executive regulation of the state organization of prison and probation services], Tehran 1384 [2005], art.8, http://prisons.ir/page-main/fa/0/form/pId77

[127] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[128] Roshan, supra note 16.

[129] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73.

[130] Id.

[131] Gūftigū Bā Farhad Nouri Mudir Site Majzooban-e Noor Darbāri Aḥkām Sangīn Darāvish [Interview with Farhad Nouri, the Manager of the Majzooban-e Noor Website, About the Dervishes’ Heavy Sentences], Deutsche Welle Persian (Jul. 17, 2013), https://bit.ly/3mBvgnE.

[132] Esfandiari, supra note 53.

[133] Ramezanpour, supra note 85.

[134] Esfandiari, supra note 53.

[135] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[136] The Province Security Council has the highest authority to decide about security issues at the provincial scale. Each province has its own Security Council, which is below the Country’s National Security Council in the hierarchy. See Qanuni Rajeʿ Bi Ta ʿyīn Vazayif Va Tashkilat Shoray Amniat Kishvar [Law on responsibilities and organization of country’s National Security Council], Tehran 1362 [1983], art. 4, 5, 6, https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90807

[137] A governmental organization that manages endowed properties that have no designated or known trustee, special dedicated properties, Islamic shrines and holy sites, and charity donations. See Qanuni Tashkilat va Ekhtiyarat Sazman haj va oqaf va Omor Khiyrīyeh [Law on Organization and Jurisdiction of Hajj, Endowment, and Charity Affairs Organization], Tehran 1363 [1984], art. 1, https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90992

[138] Tabʿīd Shaykh Darāvish Gonabadi Az Qom [Expulsion of the Gonabadi Dervish Spiritual Leader from Qom], BBC Persian (Sep. 22, 2007), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/story/2007/09/070922_mf_gonabadi.shtml

[139] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73.

^[140] The spiritual leader of the Heyat Fatemiyon was Morteza Agha-Tehrani, a protégé of Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi. Agha-Tehrani is an alumnus of Baqir al-Ulum University in Qom and used to be a close associate of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the morals teacher of his cabinet. When the members of Heyat Fatemiyon, alongside other hardliners, demolished the Shariat Hosseinieh, Agha-Tehrani was in the United States. See Abdulah Shahbazi, Kālbudshikāfi Yik Ḥādisi: Tākhrib Hosseinieh Darāvish Bā Chi Hadafi? [Dissection of an Accident: What Was the Reason Behind the Destruction of Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hosseinieh?], at 2-5, Shahbazi.org (Mar. 19 2006), http://shahbazi.org/Articles/Gonabadi_Ghom.pdf (discussing the connections between the Heyat Fatemiyon and the role of its leader in the destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom).

[141] Roshan, supra note 16.

[142] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[143] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73.

[144] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[145] Ḥamlih Bi Darāvish Gonabadi Qom Va Iʿtirażhā Bi Ān [Attack on Gonabadi Dervishes in Qom and Protests Against It], Deutsche Welle Persian (Feb. 22, 2006), https://bit.ly/3kzvwmt.

[146] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[147] The debris was immediately removed, and the plot of hosseinieh and two destroyed houses became a public parking lot. See Diljūī Az Darāvish Qom [Consolation of Gonabadi Dervishes in Qom], Aftab News (Mar. 26. 2006), https://aftabnews.ir/fa/news/44396/.

[148] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[149] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73.

[150] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[151] Amir Labaf Az Darāvish Sākin Qom Sāʿati Pish Bāzdāsht Sud [Amir Labaf, a Gonabadi Dervish Living in Qom, Was Arrested a Few Hours Ago], HRANA (Sep. 18, 2017), https://www.hra-news.org/2017/hranews/a-12449/

[152] IranGlobal, supra note 18.

[153] Aftab News, supra note 146.

[154] Ḥaq Bā Karrūbi Būd; Takhrib Hosseinieh Darāvish Qom Ishtibāh Būd [Karroubi Was Right; Destroying the Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Qom Was Wrong], Etemad Meli (Mar. 19, 2006), https://www.magiran.com/article/1019867

[155] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[156] Bijan Yeganeh, Takhrib Kānaqāhhā: Pāyān Hamzīstī Musālimatāmiz Roḥāniyun Ba Darāvish? [Destruction of Kānaqāhs; Is It an End to the Peaceful Coexistence of Shiʿa Clerics and Dervishes?], Radio Farda (Nov. 14, 2007), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_daravish/421153.html

[157] Takhrib Hosseinieh Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Boroujerd [Destruction of Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Borujerd], BBC Persian (Nov. 11, 2007), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/story/2007/11/071111_bd-gonabadi.shtml

[158] Tahdid Va Irʿāb Darāvish Dar Boroujerd [Threatening and Intimidating of Dervishes in Boroujerd],Gonabadi News (Oct. 12, 2007), https://gonabadienews.wordpress.com/2007/10/ See also Pakhsh Vasiʿ Ilamīyih ʿalayīh Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Boroujerd [Widespread Distribution of Pamphlet Against Gonabadi Dervishes in Borujerd], Gonabadi News (Sep. 4, 2007), available at https://gonabadienews.wordpress.com/page/5/ (discussing the details of hardliners’ provocative actions against Gonabadi Dervishes in Boroujerd).

[159] International Federation for Human Rights, Discrimination against Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Iran (July 2010), https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c8622f72.html

[160] Roozbeh Bolhari, Darāvish Chirmahīn Isfahan Rā Āz Raftan Bi Majālis Darvishi Manʿ Kardihānd [Dervishes in Charmahin in Isfahan Province Have Been Banned From Attending Dervishes’ Gatherings], Radio Farda (Nov. 11, 2010), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f4_Dervish_Isfahan_ban_participate_meetings_Iran/2227827.html

[161] Sī Darvish Gonabadi Bi Taḥamul Ḥabs Vā Jazāyiyy Naqdi Maḥkūm Shodand [Thirty Gonabadi Dervishes Were Sentenced to Imprisonment and Fines], HRANA (Nov. 11, 2010), https://www.hra-news.org/2010/hranews/1-4279/

[162] International Federation for Human Rights, supra note 158.

[163] Vażʿiyat Daravish Nematollahi Gonabadi Dar Sāl 1387 [The Situation of Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervishes in the Year 2008], Pezhvak Iran, http://www.pezhvakeiran.com/page1.php?id=9181(last visited Sep. 20, 2020).

[164] Inʿikās Khabari Fishārhāy Āmnīyatī Bar Darāvish Gonābādi Kish [Reflection of News about Security Pressures on Gonabadi Dervishes in Kish], Ba Yarran Majzooban (Dec. 30, 2008), https://bit.ly/3mt2N3j.

[165] Pezhvak Iran, supra note 162.

[166] Vakil Darāvīsh Dar Band Moʿtādān Zindān Sārī [Dervish Attorney in the Ward of Drug Offenders in Sari Prison], BBC Persian (June 16 2011), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2011/06/110616_u01_daravish_daneshjoo

[167] Ba Yarran , supra note 163.

[168] International Federation for Human Rights, supra note 158.

[169] Żarūrat Barkhurd Bā Sarān Firqih Sūfīyih Va Nijāt Ighfālshudigān [The Necessity of Encountering the Head of Sufi Order and Rescuing the Deceived Persons], Vol. 28 ʿbrathāay ʿshura mag. (Oct. 31, 2008) (on file with IHRDC).

[170] Takhrib Hosseinieh Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Takht Fūlād Isfahan [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Takht Fulad (Cemetery) in Isfahan Was Destroyed], Khabarname Amir Kabir (Feb. 19, 2009), https://web.archive.org/web/20090222223213/http://www.autnews.us/archives/1387,12,00017194

[171] Miʿādgāh Darāvish Isfahan Shabānih Tavasuṭ Nirūhāay Āmnīyatī Bā Khāk Yiksān Shud [The Meeting Place of Gonabadi Dervishes in Isfahan Was Destroyed by Security Forces Overnight], Melliun Iran (Feb., 19, 2009), https://www.melliun.org/hambast/ha09/02/18hoghugh.htm

[172] Hosseinieh Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Isfahan Takhrib Shud [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Isfahan was Destroyed], Radio Farda (Feb. 19, 2009), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_daravish_isfahan_demolished/1495488.html

[173] Golnaz Esfandiari, Lūdirhā Dar Maqbarih Darvish Nāsir Ali [Bulldozers in the Tomb of Dervish Nasser-Ali], Radio Farda (Feb. 28, 2009), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f1_Dervishes_Isfahan/1495744.html

[174] Bāzdāsht Dasti Kam Shaṣt Darvish Gonabadi Dar Iran [Arrest of at Least Sixty Gonabadi Dervishes in Iran], Radio Zamaneh (Feb. 22, 2009), http://zamaaneh.com/news/2009/02/_60_1.html

[175] Van Den Bos Et Al., supra note 7, at 5.

[176] Maḥkumiyat Qatʿī 24 Darvish Gonabadi [Definite Conviction of 24 Gonabadi Dervishes in Court], BBC Persian (Nov. 10, 2010), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2010/11/101112_l44_sentence_gonabadi

[177] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[178] Daftar Makārim Shirazi Iʿlamiyih Zid Sufi Dar Karaj Tuzīʿ Minamāyad [The Office of Makarem Shirazi Is Distributing Anti-Sufi Leaflets in Karaj], Melliun Iran, https://www.melliun.org/hambast/ha06/06/04daravish.htm )last visited Sep. 20, 2020).

[179] Yeganeh, supra note 155.

[180] Pezhvak Iran, supra note 162.

[181] The term Heydar refers to Shia’ first imam (Ali ibn Abi Talib). Since the Supreme Leader Khamenei’s first name is also Ali, this slogan can also be interpreted as showing fealty to him.

[182] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[183] Ḥamalāt Muʿāvinat Eṭilāʿāt Sipāh Pāsdārān Bi Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Karaj Va ʿaksi Māmūrān Sipāh [IRGC Deputy Intelligence’ Attacks on Gonabadi Dervishes in Karaj and The Photos of IRGC Agents], Peyke Iran (June 25, 2010), https://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=18468

[184] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[185] Ḥamlih Bi Hosseinieh Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Karaj[Attack on Gonabadi Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Karaj], Kaleme (June 25, 2010), https://www.kaleme.com/1389/04/04/klm-23998/

[186] Iḥẓar Darāvish Shahr-e Kurd Āz Sūyi Idāri Eṭilāʿāt [Summoning Dervishes by the Ministry of Intelligence’ Office in Shahr-e Kurd], HRANA (June 30, 2010), https://www.hra-news.org/2010/hranews/1-1542/

[187] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[188] Dargīrī Darāvish Gonabadi Va Libās Shakhsihā Dar Kovar [Clash Between Gonabadi Dervishes and Plain-clothes Agents in Kovar], BBC Persian (Sep. 3, 2011), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2011/09/110903_l37_daravish_kavar_unrest

[189] Yiki Āz Darāvish “Bar Āsar-i Iṣābat Gulūlih” Dar Bimāristāni Dar Shiraz Darguzasht [A Dervish Died of a Gunshot Wound in a Hospital in Shiraz], Radio Farda (Sep. 6, 2011), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_kovar_passed_away/24320220.html

[190] Haft Sāl Guzasht; Nigāhi Bi Vażʿiyat Parvandih Qatl-i Vahid Banani Darvish Jān Bākhtih Dar Ḥādisi Sāl 1390 Shahristān Kovar [Seven Years Passed; A Look at the Murder Case of Vahid Banani, the Dervish Who Lost His Life During the Clashes in Kovar in 2011], Info Sufi (Sep. 9, 2018), https://www.infosufi.com/6046/

[191] Naqẓ Hūqūq-i Aqaliyathāay Dini Dar Jumhūri Islami Iran Qesmat 3 [Violation of Religious Minorities’ Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vol. 3], Tavaana, https://tavaana.org/fa/Violation_of_the_rights_of_religious_minorities4 (last visited Sep .20, 2020).

[192] Ḥamlih Bi Darāvish Dar Ūstān Fars Bā Shuʿār-i Marg Bar Darvish Āmrīkāyi [Attacks on Dervishes and Shouting ‘Down With American Sufi’ in the Fars Province], Radio Farda (Sep. 3, 2011), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f10_plain_clothes_attack_dervishes_in_shiraz/24316639.html

[193] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[194] BBC Persian, supra note 187.

[195] Tabʿīd Mādām alʿum Va 85 Sāl Zindān Barāy-i Darāvish Gonabadi [Permanent (Internal) Exile and Eighty-Five Years Imprisonment for Gonabadi Dervishes], Deutsche Welle Persian (May 28, 2014), https://bit.ly/3mwtUKZ.

[196] Human Rights Violations Against Dervishes from Nematollahi Gonabadi Sufi Order in Iran by Security Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, International Organization to Preserve Human Rights in Iran (Nov. 21, 2011), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/d-ir/dv/hr_violations_dervish/hr_violations_dervishes.pdf

[197] Tayīd Ḥokm Tabʿīd Haft Darvish Gonabadi Dar Dīvan ʿālī Kishvar [Supreme Court Upheld the (Internal) Exile Sentences of Seven Gonabadi Dervishes], Kaleme (Jan. 29, 2015), https://www.kaleme.com/1393/11/09/klm-208592/?theme=fast

[198] Pāsukh Dādgāh Vizhe Rūḥāniyat Bi Darāvish Shāki Pas Āz Si Sāl: Bi Dastur Maqāmāt Bālā Āz Sudūr-i Rāy Maʿzurim [Response of the Special Court for the Clergy to Dervishes’ Complaint After Three Years: We Can Not Issue an Order Due to the Higher Officials’ Command], Tribune Zamaneh (Feb. 4, 2015), https://www.tribunezamaneh.com/archives/67872

[199] Ramezanpour, supra note 85.

[200] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[201] “Istādigī” Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Barābar-i Takhrib Maḥaleshān Dar Shahr-e Kurd [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Resistance Against Destruction of Their Place of Worship in Shahr-e Kurd], Radio Farda (Jan. 1, 2013), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f12_gonabadi_dervishes_attacked_in_shahrekord/24878004.html

(Open the link by Firefox search engine).

[202] Nāmih Darāvish Gonabadi Bi Masʿulin Va Maqāmāt-i Dolati Dar Khusūs-i Ḥamlih Bi Majles Darāvish Dar Shahr-e Kurd [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Letter to the Government’s Officials about the Attack on Their Place of Worship in Shahr-e Kurd], Asrar Haqiqat (Jan. 17, 2013), https://bit.ly/34KvqmI.

[203] Dar Pīyi Ḥavādisi Shahri Kurd: Nāmih Darāvīsh Gonābādī Bi Rahbar Jumhūrī Islāmī [Following the Incidents in Shahr-e Kurd: Gonabadi Dervishes’ Letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic], Radio Kocheh (Jan. 18, 2013), http://radiokoocheh.com/article/195782

^[204] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[205] Roshan, supra note 16.

[206] Iran: Freedom of Religion; Treatment of Religious and Ethnic Minorities, ACCORD – Austrian Centre for Country of Origin & Asylum Research and Documentation 44 (September 2015), https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1047954/90_1443443478_accord-iran-coi-compilation-september-2015.pdf

^[207] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[208] Itisāb Ghazā 2000 Darvish; Taẓallum Nāmih Darāvish Bi Ali Younesi [Hunger Strike of 2000 Dervishes; Dervishes’ Letter of Complaint to Ali Younesi], Bonyad Abdorrahman Boroumand blog (Mar. 8, 2014), http://blog.iranrights.org/fa/1764.

^[209] Reza Haghighatnejad, Mājarāyi 14 Rūz Īstādigīi Darvīshān Iran; Ūlguyi Muqāvimat Madani [The Story of Dervishes’ Fourteen Days Resistance in Iran: A Model of Civil Resistance], IranWire (Mar. 12, 2014), https://iranwire.com/fa/features/531

[210] Reza Khandan (@Sepidedam), Facebook (Mar. 7, 2014), https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152246995753954&set=a.76709008953.72388.75638168953&type=1 (last visited Sep. 23, 2020).

[211] Haghighatnejad, supra note 208.

[212] Bāzdāsht Gustardih Darāvish Dar Ruz Duvūm Tajamuʿ; Si Kūdak Dar Mīyān Bāzdāsht Shudegān [Massive Arrest of Dervishes in the Second Day of Protest; Three Children Among Arrestees], Kaleme (Mar. 9, 2014), https://www.kaleme.com/1392/12/18/klm-177254/?theme=fast

[213] Shikāyat-i 28 Darvish Zan Āsīb Dideh Dar Sarkūb Tajamuʿ Muqābil Dādsetāni [Complaint Of Twenty-Eight Dervish Women Who Were Injured During Suppression of Protests in Front of the Tehran’s Prosecutor Office], Kaleme (Mar. 14, 2014), https://www.kaleme.com/1392/12/23/klm-177783/

[214] After clashes in Kovar in September 2011, the Majzooban-e Noor website organized a similar protest in front of Evin prison, which resulted in the arrest of a group of Dervishes. See Dastgīrī 23 Darvish Gonabadi Muqābil Zindān Evin [Arrest of Twenty-Three Gonabadi Dervishes in front of Evin Prison], Deutsche Welle Persian (Sep. 19, 2011), https://bit.ly/2HTzdW8.

[215] Kampīyn-i Koch-i Darāvish Āz Iran Bi Evin [Dervishes’ Campaign to Migrate from Iran to Evin Prison], Radio Zamaneh (July 25, 2014), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/164217

[216] Akbar Ganji, Pārādūks Takfīrīhāay Zid Takfīrī [The Paradox of the Takfiris Who Are Anti-Takfiri], Radio Zamaneh (Nov. 23, 2014), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/189163

[217] Bāzdāsht Gurūhi Az Darāvish Gonābādi Dar Pīiy Tajamuʿ Muqābil Dādsitāni Tehran [Arrest of a Group of Gonabadi Dervishes Following Their Gathering in Front of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office], Radio Zamaneh (Sep. 20, 2014), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/176763

[218] Itisāb Ghazā 9 Darvish Zindāni Va Nigarānī Āz Vazʿ Salāmatī Ānhān [Hunger Strike of Nine Incarcerated Dervishes and Concerns about Their Health], Deutsche Welle Persian (Sep. 13, 2014), https://bit.ly/34MJuw1,

[219] Kermani, supra note 11.

[220] Bāzdāsht Gustardih Darāvish Dar Āṭrāf Dādsitāni Tehran [Massive Arrest of Dervishes Around the Tehran’s Prosecutor Office], BBC Persian (Sep. 20, 2014), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2014/09/140920_l45_derwish_tehran_arrest.shtml See also Montazerzadeh, supra note 36 (discussing the large number of arrests by police and security forces).

[221] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[222] Id.

[223] Māmūran Intizāmī Bish Āz 450 Darvish Ra Bāzdāsht Kardand [Police Arrested More Than 450 Dervishes], Deutsche Welle Persian (Sep. 20, 2014), https://bit.ly/3oPzUAg.

^[224] Pour Saleh, supra note 33.

[225] Tajamuʿ Darāvish Muqābil Dādgustāri Va Gūftigū Bā Namāyandih Vazir [Dervishes’ Gathering in Front of the Justice Department and Negotiating with the Minister’s Envoy], Deutsche Welle Persian (Sep. 28, 2014), https://bit.ly/34Nhh8b.

[226] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[227] Dū Marjaʿ Taqlīd Shiʿa Darāvish Gonabadi Rā Bā Daīsh Qabili Muqāyīseh Dānistand [Two Senior Shiʿa Clerics Have Compared Gonabadi Dervishes with ISIS Criminals], Radio Farda (Feb. 24, 2018), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/nouri-hamadani-dervishes-isis/29060540.html

[228] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[229] Id.

[230] Arvand Pooya, #Utubus; Muziʿ Online Sīyāsātmadārān Dar Bāri #Darāvish Gonabadi [#The Bus; Politicians’ Online Positions about #Gonabadi Dervishes], BBC Persian (Feb. 20, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/43126628

[231] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[232] Abdipour, supra note 107.

[233] Roshan, supra note 16.

[234] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

^[235] Loes Witschge, Iran’s Gonabadi Dervishes: A ‘Long History’ of Persecution, Al Jazeera (Feb. 27, 2018), https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/iran-gonabadi-dervishes-long-history-persecution-180227193000395.html

[236] Muʿāvin Āmnīyatī Ustandārī Tehran Vuqūʿ Tirāndāzi Dar Tajamuʿ Darāvish Dar Khīyābān Pāsdārān Rā Tayīd Kard [The Security Deputy of Tehran’s Provincial Government Confirmed Shooting in Dervishes’ Gathering in Pasdaran Street], Radio Farda (Feb. 19, 2018), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/29048977.html

[237] Bus Attack Leaves Three Officers Dead Amid Clashes with Sufi Sect, YouTube (Feb. 19, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2Z1fGx4g8.

[238] Gonabadi Dervish Protest Leaves 5 Dead in Tehran, Al Jazeera (Feb. 20, 2018), https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/gonabadi-dervish-protest-leaves-5-dead-tehran-180220075337834.html

[239] Abdipour, supra note 107.

[240] A popular chant that literally means “Good job, Hezbollah!” — referring to the government’ hardliners.

[241] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[242] Film Va Gūzārish Dū Ḥamlih Margbār Bā Utubus Vā Samand Bi Māmuran Intizāmī; Tasāvir Māmūrān Shahid Va Rānandih Utubus; Pāyān Āshūb Bā Dastgiri 300 Nafar Va Shahādat 5 Nafar [Video and Report of Two Deadly Attacks by a Bus and an IKCO Samand to Law Enforcement Officers; Pictures of the Martyr Officers and the Bus Driver; Conclusion of the Riot with 300 Arrestees and 5 Martyrs], Derang (Mar. 21, 2018), https://bit.ly/2HYuYrR.

[243] Tużīhāt Dādsitān Tehran Darbārih Ākharin Eqdāmāt Dar Mūridi Parvandih Golestan-e Haftom; Mālik Utubus Shināsāī Va Rānandigān Samand Va Pirāyd Dastgir Shudand [Comments of the Prosecutor General of Tehran About the Latest Developments in the Golestan-e Haftom Case; The Bus Owner Is Identified and the Drivers of Samand and Saipa Pride Were Arrested], ILNA News Agency (Mar. 2, 2018), https://bit.ly/34JKzVk.

[244] Abbas Dehghan Darvish Zindāni Hamchinān Dar Silūl Infirādī Taḥti Shikanjih Bi Sar Mibarad [Abbas Dehghan, a Gonabadi Dervish, Is Still in Solitary Confinement Under Torture], Iran Human Rights Monitor (Feb. 2, 2019), https://bit.ly/3jLEZpx .

[245] Atlas Zendan Haye Iran [Iran Prisons’ Atlas], Abbas Dehghan’ s profile, https://ipa.united4iran.org/fa/prisoner/4277/ (last visited Sep. 20, 2020).

[246] Abbas Dehghan, Darvish Gonabadi Tavasuṭ Dādgāh Kīyfarī Muḥākimih Shud [Abbas Dehghan, a Gonabadi Darvish, Was Tried by the Criminal Court], Azadi TV (Apr. 28, 2020), https://bit.ly/3ejbKcx .

^[247] Shahindokht Molaverdi: Natavānistīm Bā Vakīl Darāvish Mulāqāt Kunīm [Shahindokht Molaverdi: We Could Not Meet With Dervishes’ Attorney], Radio Zamaneh (Mar. 10, 2018), https://www.radiozamaneh.com/385607 (discussing that at least 500 Dervishes were arrested during clashes).

[248] Ḥamlih Shadīd Imāmān Jumʿih Va Maqāmāt Nizāmī Bi Darāvish [Intense (Verbal) Attacks of Friday Prayer Imams and Military Officials on Dervishes], Radio Farda (Feb. 23, 2018), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/military-fridayimamas-attack-dervishes/29058779.html

[249] Witschge, supra note 234.

[250] Khamenei Slams France on Yellow Vest Violence — While Ignoring Brutality at Home, IranWire (Feb. 18, 2019), https://iranwire.com/en/features/5860

[251] Sudūr Āḥkām Dū Tā Haft Sāl, Shalāq Va Tabʿ īd Barāy 40 Tan Āz Darāvish Gonabadi [Issuing Sentences of Two to Seven Years Imprisonment, Flogging, and (Internal) Exile for Gonabadi Dervishes], Kampain Defa az Zendanian Siasi (May 26, 2018), https://www.kampain.info/archive/20152.htm

[252] Rayīs Police Tehran: Mitavānistim Dar Barkhurd Bā Darāvish Bā RPG Vākunish Nishān Dahīm [The Commander of Tehran’s Police Force: We Could Fire an RPG Missile to Contain Dervishes], BBC Persian (Feb. 22, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-43151887

[253] Montazerzadeh, supra note 36.

[254] Mass Conviction of Sufi Protesters; Unprecedented in Iran’s Judicial History, Center for Human Rights in Iran (Aug. 20, 2018), https://iranhumanrights.org/2018/08/conviction-of-16-sufi-protesters-unprecedented-in-irans-judicial-history/

[255] Kampain Defa az Zendanian Siasi, supra note 250.

[256] Barāy 67 Darvish Gonābādi Ḥokm Sādir Shud: Zindān, Shalāq, Va Tabʿ īd [Sentences of Sixty-Seven Gonabadi Dervishes Were Issued: Imprisonment, Flogging, and (Internal) Exile], VOA News (May 28, 2018), https://ir.voanews.com/a/iran-human-rights-justice/4412898.html

[257] Saleh Humeid, Inside Qarchak Prison: ‘Iran’s Most Dangerous for Women,’ Human Rights Report Issued, Al-Arabiya (Sep. 28, 2016), https://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2016/09/28/Inside-Qarchak-Prison-Iran-s-most-dangerous-prison-for-women-.html

[258] Żarb Va Shatm Zanān Darvish Zindāni Dar Zindān Qarchak Varamin [Beating Detained Dervish Women in Qarchak Prison in Varamin], Iran Human Rights Monitor (June 14, 2018), https://bit.ly/3enNxlx.

[259] Shahram Bahraminejad & Michael Lipin, Iran’s Detained Dervish Women Beaten in Prison; Mother Says, VOA News (June 14, 2018), https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/irans-detained-dervish-women-beaten-prison-mother-says (discussing that Sedigheh Khalili, the mother of a Dervish woman detained at the Qarchak prison, heard beating inmates from inside the prison, when she was waiting outside to meet her daughter, Sepideh Moradi. She also learned from a prison guard about a protest in the prison and subsequent violent suppression of Dervish women). See also Zanān Darvish Dar Zindān Qarchak Muridih Żarb Va Shatm Gārd Zindān Qarār Giriftihand [Dervish Women in Qarchak Prison Were Beaten by Prison Guards], BBC Persian (Jun. 14, 2018), available at https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44480778 (discussing the statements of Dervish women’s families about the details of mistreatment in Qarchak prison).

[260] Ravāyatī Āz Elham Va Jafar Ahmadi; Zūj Darvish Ki Har Dū Zindāni Hastand [The Story of Elham and Jafar Ahmadi; A Dervish Couple Who Are Both in Prison], VOA Persian (Jan. 9, 2019), https://ir.voanews.com/persiannewsiran/gunabadi-prisoner-darvish-iran

[261] Amnesty International Report Discloses “Abuse of Women Prisoners” In Iran, Radio Farda (Mar. 26, 2018), https://en.radiofarda.com/a/amnesty-international-report-discloses-abuse-of-women-prisoners-in-Iran/29252195.html

[262] Maḥkūmīyat Sedigheh Safabakht Darvish Gonabadi Bi Panj Sāl Ḥabs-i Taʿzīrī [Sedigheh Safabakht, a Gonabadi Dervish, Was Sentenced to Five-Years Enforceable Imprisonment], HRANA (Jul. 25, 2018), https://www.hra-news.org/2018/hranews/a-16282/ See also Shokofeh Yadollahi, Sima Entesari, Va Sepideh Moradi Āz Zindān Evin Āzād Shudand [Shokofeh Yadollahi, Sima Entesari, and Sepideh Moradi Were Released from Evin Prison], HRANA (Feb. 8, 2020), available at https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-23765/ (discussing the release of three Dervish women from prison).

[263] Center for Human Rights in Iran, supra note 253.

[264] Elham Ahmadi Āz Zindān Evin Āzād Shud [Elham Ahmadi Was Released from Evin Prison], HRANA (Aug. 13, 2019), https://www.hra-news.org/2019/hranews/a-21481/

[265] Dastūrhāay Tāzih Rayīs Qūvih Qażāyīyeh Barāy Muqābilih Bā Corona Dar Zindānhā [New Directives from the Head of the Judiciary to Deal with Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Prisons], Radio Farda (Feb. 29, 2020), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/30461215.html

[266] Tadāvum Sarkūb Āzādihāay Mazhabī Dar Iran: Bi Tabʿ īd Raftan Darāvish Ham Ḥakimīyat Rā Rāzi Nimikunad [Continuous Suppression of Religious Freedom in Iran; Even the (Internal) Exile of Dervishes Does Not Satisfy the Government], VOA Persian (May 25, 2020), https://ir.voanews.com/persiannewsiran/iran-human-rights-220

[267] Qanuni Mojazat Islami [Islamic Penal Code], Tehran 1392 [2013], art. 98, https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/103202/125190/

[268] Abdipour, supra note 107.

[269] Id.

[270] IHRDC Interview with two witnesses who requested that their identity remain confidential (Jun. 8, 2020) (on file with IHRDC).

[271] Mashruḥ Dādgāh Rānandih Utubus Mājarāay Golestan-e Haftom [Comprehensive Report of the Trial of Bus Driver in the Golestan-e Haftom Incident], Ensaf News (Mar. 11, 2018), http://www.ensafnews.com/105004.

[272] Shabi Talkh Golestan-e Haftom [The Bitter Night at Golestan-e Haftom], Shargh (Feb. 21, 2018), https://www.magiran.com/article/3709805

[273] Ensaf News, supra note 270.

[274] 258 Nafar Āz Bāzdāsht Shudigān Nā Ārāmīhāay Isfand Māh Maḥkūm Shudand [258 of Protestors Who Were Arrested During the Clashes in February 2018 Were Convicted], EuroNews Persian (July 17, 2018), https://farsi.euronews.com/2018/07/17/tehran-prosecutor-said-court-order-issued-against-258-detainees-of-march-incidents.

[275] Pāsukh Bi Shubahāt Ḥokm Qiṣaṣ Mohammad Salas; Az Shahādat Shāhidān ta Rānandih Nabūdan Qātil [Response to Ambiguities in the Qiṣaṣ Sentence of Mohammad Salas; Testimony of Witnesses and the [Claim] that the Murderer Was not the Driver], Tasnim News Agency (June, 18, 2018), https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1397/03/28/1752291.

[276] Kampain Defa az Zendanian Siasi, supra note 250.

[277] Iʿdām Mohammad Salas; Ibhāmāt Yik Parvandih [Execution of Mohammad Salas: Ambiguities of a Case], BBC Persian (Jun. 18, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-features-44523373

[278] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[279] Thomas Erdbrink, Man Executed in Iran Over Officers’ Deaths at Protest, NY Times (Jun. 18, 2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/world/middleeast/iran-execution-protest-dervishes.html

[280] Michael Lipin, US Concerned by Iran’s Reported Arrest of Dervish Man’s Lawyer, VOA News (June 19, 2018), https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/us-concerned-irans-reported-arrest-dervish-mans-lawyer

[281] Iran Regime Arrests Defense Lawyer of Executed Man, Iran News Update (June 20, 2018), https://irannewsupdate.com/news/insider/5019-iran-regime-arrests-defence-lawyer-of-executed-man.html

[282] Gonabadi Sufi Dies in Prison, IranWire (Mar. 5, 2018), https://iranwire.com/en/features/5201

[283] Mohammad Raji, Yiki Āz Darāvish Gonabadi “Ḥīyni Bāzjūyī” Kushtih Shudeh Ast [Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi Dervish, Was Killed During Interrogation], Deutsche Welle Persian (Mar. 4, 2018), https://bit.ly/3ei0fCv.

[284] Body of Dervish ‘Beaten During Interrogation’ Buried Overnight, Radio Farda (Mar. 6, 2018), https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-dervish-dead-in-custody-buried-at-night-raji/29082841.html

[285] Iran’s ‘Year of Shame’: More than 7,000 Arrested in Chilling Crackdown on Dissent During 2018, Amnesty International (Jan. 24, 2019), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/01/irans-year-of-shame-more-than-7000-arrested-in-chilling-crackdown-on-dissent-during-2018/

[286] Bihnām Maḥjūbī, Darvīshi Gunābādīi Zindāni Darguzasht[Behnam Mahjoubi, imprisoned Gonabadi Dirvish, died], HRANA (Feb. 16, 2021), https://www.hra-news.org/2021/hranews/a-28860/.

[287] Id.

[288] Id.

[289] Aida Qajar, Rivāyati Tikāndahandihyi Bihnami Maḥjūbī Az Shikanjih Dar Amīn Ābad: Rūyi Man Idrār Mīkardand, IranWire (Oct. 23, 2020), https://iranwire.com/fa/features/42566.

[290] Id.

[291] Id.

[292] Bihnām Maḥjūbī, Darvīshi Gunābādīi Zindāni Darguzasht[Behnam Mahjoubi, imprisoned Gonabadi Dirvish, died], HRANA (Feb. 16, 2021), https://www.hra-news.org/2021/hranews/a-28860/.

[293] Nirūhāy-i Āmnīyatī Bi Hosseinieh Darāvish Dar Tehran Ḥamlih Va 15 Darvish Rā Bāzdāsht Kardand [Security Forces Raided the Dervishes’ Hosseinieh in Tehran and Arrested Fifteen Dervishes], Damavand (May 1, 2018), http://damavand.news/?p=13506

[294] Itisāb Ghazā Dastīh Jamʿī 72 Tan Āz Darāvish Zindāni Dar Zindān Fashafoyeh [Mass Hunger Strike of Seventy-Two Incarcerated Dervishes in Fashafoyeh Prison], Iran Human Rights Campaign (Nov. 4, 2019), https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1398/08/mass-hunger-strike-72-dervishes-imprisoned-in-prison/

[295] BBC Persian, supra note 47.

[296] Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, Agenda 4 Report to Human Rights Council Twenty-Eight Session (Mar. 12, 2015), https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/550ff19c4.pdf

[297] Takhaluf Qānūni Qażi Salavati Barāay Āzar Darāvish Zindāni + Sanad [Judge Salavati’s Legal Violation to Harass Detained Dervishes + Evidence], Kaleme (Jul. 24, 2014), https://www.kaleme.com/1393/05/02/klm-192895/

[298] Sudūr Aḥkām Sangin ʿalayīh Darāvish Gonabadi Va Vukalāyishān [Heavy Sentences for Gonabadi Dervishes and Their Attorneys], BBC Persian (July 14, 2013), https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2013/07/130714_nm_gonabadi_sufi_prison

[299] In September 2011, Mostafa Daneshjoo was at the Sari prison, Mazandaran Province, serving his seven months’ imprisonment that was related to a different case. See BBC Persian, supra note 165.

[300] ACCORD, supra note 205.

[301] Moradi Sarvestani, supra note 73.

[302] Mudīrān Site Majzooban-e Noor Bāzdāsht Shudand [Managers of the Majzooban-e Noor Website Were Arrested], HRANA (Sep. 5, 2011), https://www.hra-news.org/2011/hranews/1-8406/

[303] Deutsche Welle Persian, supra note 130.

[304] Zimmt, supra note 10.

[305] Qanuni Assasi Jumhuri Islami Iran [Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran], 1368 [1989], art. 12, 13, https://en.parliran.ir/eng/en/Constitution.

[306] Id., art.19.

[307] Id., art.3.

[308] Saeed Peyvandi, Āqālīyathā Dar Ḥukūmat Dīnī Yā Zindigī Dar Impirātūrī Tabʿ īżhā [Minorities in the Theological Government or Living in an Empire Based on Discrimination], Radio Farda (Jul. 31, 2018), https://www.radiofarda.com/a/commentary-on-how-Islamic-republic-treats-religious-minorities/29401556.html

[309] Qanuni Assasi Jumhuri Islami Iran [Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran], art. 23.

[310] Id., art. 22, 26, 27, 32, 35, 38.

[311] Tabʿ īż Nāravā ʿalayīh Āqālīyathā Dar Qānūn Āsāsi Jumhūri Islami Iran [Unjust Discrimination Against Religious Minorities in the IR.I. Constitution], Gozaresh Hoghoghe Bashar Dar Iran (Jan. 2014), https://www.ihrr.org/ihrr_article/violence-fa_discrimination-against-religious-and-ethnic-minorities-in-the-islamic-republic-constitution/

[312] Ākharin Vażʿiyat Darvishān Ḥādisi Golestan-e Haftom: 400 Zindāni Ghurbāni [The Latest Update about Dervishes after the Golestan-e Haftom Incident: Four Hundred Innocents in Prison], IranWire (Apr. 26, 2018), https://iranwire.com/fa/features/25842

[313] Ravaq Andisheh mag., supra note 50.

[314] IranWire, supra note 304.

[315] Guzārish Māhīyānih Naqẓ Hūqūq-i Pīyravān Ādyān, Bahman 1396 [Monthly Report on Violations of Religious Minorities’ Rights, January 2018], Committee of Defending the Rights of Religious Minorities (Feb. 22, 2018), http://adian.bashariyat.org/?p=27199

[316] Tavaana, supra note 190.

[317] Committee of Defending the Rights of Religious Minorities, supra note 307.

[318] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

[319] Sarkūb Darāvish Gonabadi Dar Jumhuri Islami Iran [Gonabadi Dervishes’ Suppression in the Islamic Republic of Iran], All Human Rights for All in Iran (Apr. 16, 2015), http://www.iranhrc.org/?lan=fa&p=1636

[320] Pezhvak Iran, supra note 162.

[321] Id.

[322] Pouriya Nejadveisi, Dū Muʿalim Bi ʿlati Darvish Budan Mamnūʿ Tadrīs Shudand [Two Teachers Were Banned from Teaching Due to Their Affiliation with the Dervish Order], Khabarname Melli Iranian (Oct. 28, 2014), https://bit.ly/3kOlpdN.

[323] Pezhvak Iran, supra note 162.

[324] Id.

[325] Committee of Defending the Rights of Religious Minorities, supra note 307.

[326] Ikhrāj Ustād Ḥuqūq Bashar Dānishkadih Ḥuqūq Va ʿulūm Sīyasī Khorramabad [Dismissal of the Human Rights Professor from the School of Law and Political Science in Khorramabad], HRANA (Apr. 4, 2011), https://www.hra-news.org/2011/hranews/1-6545/amp/

[327] Fereshteh Nasehi, Maḥrūmīyat Āz Taḥsīl, Ābzār Fishār Bar Aqaliyathā [Deprivation of Education, A Way to Suppress Minorities], IranWire (June 2, 2017), https://iranwire.com/fa/features/22244?ref=specials

[328] Id.

[329] Id.

[330] Allahbakhshi, supra note 1.

^[331] Roshan, supra note 16.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary