Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Iran

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

Iran

Updated March 2024

Baha’is

Baha’is face severe repression by Iran’s government, which 

considers the group a “deviant sect of Islam.” Recent 

amendments to Iran’s Islamic Penal Code specifically target 

Baha’is. Members of the community are subject to closure 

of their businesses, denial of higher education, arrest, and 

prolonged detention on spurious charges. 

Mahvash Sabet

religion or belief:

Baha’i 

arrested:

July 31, 2022

sentence:

10 Years’ Imprisonment

reports of torture:

Yes 

reason for persecution:

Leading the Baha’i community

Christians

Christians in Iran face government harassment and 

severe limitations on the practice, teaching, worship, 

and observance of their faith. Muslims who convert to 

Christianity are often singled out for persecution, with 

security forces often raiding Christian house churches and 

imprisoning Christian converts under false pretenses.

Anooshavan Avedian

religion or belief:

Christian 

arrested:

September 18, 2023

sentence:

10 Years’ Imprisonment

religious leader:

Yes 

reason for persecution:

Leading a house church

Gonabadi Sufis

Gonabadi Sufis are systematically targeted in Iran as a Muslim 

religious minority. Several community members have 

been arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. In recent years, 

Gonabadi Sufi prisoners have died as a result of extreme 

medical negligence.

Hamid Gharehassanlou

religion or belief:

Gonabadi Sufi

arrested:

November 4, 2022

sentence:

Reduced to 15 Years’ Imprisonment; 

Originally Death

reports of torture:

Yes 

reports of medical neglect:

Yes 

reason for persecution:

Protesting religious freedom conditions

Women & Girls Protesting Mandatory Hijab Laws

Iranian women and girls peacefully protesting mandatory 

hijab laws rooted in the government’s religious interpretations 

have faced surveillance, harassment, arrest, incognito 

detention, torture, and murder. Some of the victims of this 

mistreatment are as young as 16.

Golrokh Iraee

religion or belief:

Shi’a

arrested:

November 9, 2019

sentence:

5 Years’ Imprisonment

reason for persecution:

Writing an unpublished story criticizing 

the religiously grounded practice of stoning 

adulterers

FoRB Victims List Stats

351 out of 2,282

Religion or Belief # of Victims

Baha’i 167

Sufi 60

Christian 39

Yarsani 38

Unknown/Unspecified 22

Sunni 13

Shi’a 4

Unspecified/Other Muslim 4

Erfan-e Halgheh Practitioner 3

ECKist 1

Total 351

Type of Abuse # of Victims

Imprisoned 203

Detained 139

House Arrest 9

Total 351

Average Prison Sentence

4 Years, 7 Months

Reports of # of Victims

Torture 20

Medical Neglect 62

Total 82
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Iran

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

Iran

Updated March 2024

Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List Background

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), as amended by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, 

requires USCIRF to:

make publicly available, to the extent practicable...lists of persons it determines are imprisoned or detained, have 

disappeared, been placed under house arrest, been tortured, or subjected to forced renunciation of faith for their religious 

activity or religious freedom advocacy by the government of a foreign country that the Commission recommends for 

designation as a country of particular concern [CPC]...or by a nonstate actor that the Commission recommends for 

designation as an entity of particular concern [EPC]. 

USCIRF developed the Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List—an online public database—to implement this 

provision for countries USCIRF recommends for Country of Particular Concern (CPC) or Special Watch List (SWL) status. The list also 

includes such victims located in the de facto territories of nonstate actors that USCIRF recommends for Entity of Particular Concern (EPC) 

status, according to the same criteria.

Due to limited resources, USCIRF is unable to identify and document all victims that meet the statutory requirement to be included on 

the FoRB Victims List and generally relies on receiving submissions from outside individuals and organizations. As such, the information 

contained in the database does not reflect country, regional, or global trends. Furthermore, percentages highlighted in this section should 

not be used for extrapolation purposes nor interpreted as a particular group experiencing greater violations than another or a particular 

country committing violations at a greater rate than others. To support this project, USCIRF invites those with credible information on 

victims to submit information using the Victims List Intake Form at www.uscirf.gov/form/uscirf-victims-list-intake-form. 

FoRB Victims List Stats Overall

Perpetrator Victims Documented

Algeria 5 

Azerbaijan 11 

Burma 5 

China 798 

Cuba 11 

Egypt 18 

Eritrea 61

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) 2 

Houthis 3 

India 55 

Indonesia 9 

Iran 351 

Iraq 2 

Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) 1 

Kazakhstan 16 

Malaysia 4 

Nicaragua 68 

Nigeria 9 

North Korea 11 

Pakistan 87 

Russia 488 

Saudi Arabia 50 

Sri Lanka 1 

Tajikistan 16 

Turkmenistan 31 

Uzbekistan 88 

Vietnam 81 

Total 2,282 

Religion or Belief Victims Documented

Adivasi 1 

Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light 3

Baha’i 169 

Bon 1 

Buddhist – Hoa Hao 6 

Buddhist – Theravada 3 

Buddhist – Tibetan 93 

Buddhist – Unspecified/Other 32 

Christian – Catholic 79 

Christian – Church of Almighty God 240 

Christian – Jehovah’s Witness 283

Christian – Orthodox 21 

Christian – Protestant 150 

Christian – Unspecified/Other 65 

Duong Van Minh 4 

ECKist (Eckankar) 1 

Erfan-e Halgheh Practitioner 3 

Falun Gong 217

Hindu 10 

Humanist 1 

Jewish 1 

Muslim – Ahmadiyya 20

Muslim – Qur’anist 1 

Muslim – Shi’a 40 

Muslim – Sufi 64 

Muslim – Sunni 412 

Muslim – Unspecified/Other 233

Santeria 5 

Scientologist 1 

Shaman 1 

Sikh 1 

Yarsani 38 

Unknown/Unspecified 83

Total 2,282
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Iran

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

Iran

Updated March 2024

Not Released

Arash Nabavi

Nahaleh Shahidi

Nakisa Hajipour

Nima Mahin Bakht

Amin Sharifi

Farid Alavi

Mishak Manavipour

Behieh Manavipour

Hakop Gochumyan

Mohammad Golbaz

Reza Radmanesh

Gholamreza Keyvanmanesh

Mohammad Chegini

Saeed Soltanpour

Fathi Mohammad Naghshbandi

Abdollah Barahouie

Abdolaziz Omarzahi

Abdulmajid Moradzahi

Mostafa Khosraji

Hasan Nisi

Jome Naami

Abdolsadeh Azari

Sara Mottaghi

Mahsa Mohammadi

Noushin Mesbah

Soroush Iqani

Mina Karami

Sina Shahri

Negin Rezaie

Shahrzad Mastouri

Sadaf Sheikhzadeh

Nakisa Sadeghi

Elham Shareghi Arani

Rameleh Tirgarnejad

Mahsa Tirgar Bahnemiri

Sabin Yazdani

Valiollah Ghadamian

Mansour Amini

Shadi Shahidzadeh

Keyvan Rahimian

Homayoun Khanlori

Sanaz Tafazoli

Hami Bahadori

Kamyar Habibi

Parisa Roohi Zadegan

Enayatollah Naeimi

Sepehr Ziaee

Payam Vali

Atollah Zafar

Zhila Shahriari

Fariba Kamalabadi

Mahvash Sabet

Afif Naeimi

Saman Ostovar

Shahnaz Sabet

Hayedeh Ram

Farid Zirgi Moghaddam

Ardeshir Fanaian

Farhang Sahba

Anooshavan Avedian

Sakineh Behjati

Alireza Nourmohammadi

Ameen Khaki

Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad

Marjan Davari

Abolfazl Pour-Hosseini

Fatemeh Sepehri

Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee

Arash Moradi

Farzaneh Gharehassanlou

Hamid Gharehassanlou

Zeynab Jalalian

Abdolrahim Kouhi

Amanollah Balochi

Shakila Monfared

Mojahed Kourkour

Maryam Nematollahi

Elham Choubdar

Parizad Hamidi Shafagh

Mohammad Nouri

Sina Dehghan

Reza Rasaei 

Released

Shabnam Tebianian

Anisa Fanaian

Suzan Eid Mohammadzadegan

Niusha Badiei Sabet

Maria Khanjani

Mojgan Samimi

Shiva Kashani-Nejad

Paridokht Shojaei

Behnam Pour-Ahmadi

Yekta Fallah

Shahram Fallah

Foad Shaker

Shahdokht Khanjani

Matin Gorji

Ghazal Pakzad

Reyhaneh Pakzad

Yashar Rasti

Massoud Momtaz

Bardia Basiri

Mona Ghodrat

Pouya Nowroozi

Faraz Haghighatjoo

Farbod Alavi

Vesal Momtazi

Rooha Imani

Parwa Behdad

Pooya Saraf

Leili Karami

Shayan Gholami

Shaghayegh Bahrami

Badie Khazei

Sirous Zabihi

Armaghan Zabihi

Arash Zamani

Saman Khadem

Aida Rasti

Anis Sanaie

Sam Samimi

Mojir Samimi

Basir Samimi

Afnaneh Nematian

Sanaz Hekmat-Shoar

Bita Haghighi

Samiyeh Gholinejad

Mani Gholinejad

Nazanin Goli

Mahsa Fathi

Golbon Fallah

Negar Darabi

Hengameh Alipour

Saha Sabeti

Behnam Momtaz

Shafigh Eslami

Nima Shadpour

Nematollah Shadpour

Niloufar Hosseini

Hanan Hashemi

Alhan Hashemi

Shayan Senai

Faran Senai

Sholeh Shahidi

Zhila Sharafi Nasrabadi

Negar Ighani

Shaghayegh Khaneh-Zarin

Saeedeh Khozui

Jamaloddin Khanjani

Anahita Khademi

Ebrahim Firouzi

Abdolhamid Masoumi Tehrani

Faezeh Abdipour

Javad Karimzaei

Nasrin Soutudeh

Atash Shahkarami

Sepideh Rashnu

Melika Qaragozlu

Soori Babaei Chegini

Soheil Arabi

Kaki Farzad Almasi

Siavash Hayati

Mansour Safayi

Seyyed-Soroush Abbasi

Syeed-Amin Abbasi

Seyyed-Karam Abbasi

Shahrouz Esmaeili

Nemat Pourvali

Mehr-Ali Hemmati

Hamid Gorgin

Ghadir Rahimi

Mohammad Bahrami

Seyed Fereydoun Taheri

Seyed Farhad Zalnouri

Ali Nazari

Noshad Taheri

Seyed Fariborz Shah-Ebrahimi

Farzad Rahmatabadi

Amin Malekzade

Meraj Hemmati

Bardia Tajdini

Rashid Mohammadi

Hamid Afshari

Masoum Razavi

Naghi Rahmani

Faezeh Ranai

Seyed Foad Shah-Ebrahimi

Navid Hassanlou

Hamid Zandi Nejhad

Meysam Azimi

Afshin Azimi

Seyed Shahoo Shah-Ebrahimi

Seyed Ali Dakei

Kamyab Heidari

Siavash Kaliani

Kaki Saeed Almasi

Neda Shabani

Peyman Manavi

Jamileh Pakrou

Parvan Manavi

Soroush Agahi

Kianoush Salmanzadeh

Payam Shabani

Elham Salmanzadeh

Houman Khoshnam

Saeed Ettehad

Siamak Honarvar

Firoozeh Soltan Mohammadi

Nasim Kashani Nejad

Fariba Ashtari

Mahboubeh Misaghian

Saeed Naseri

Hamid Naseri

Afsaneh Emami

Shahram Najaf-Tomaraei

Haleh Gholami

Fardin Naddafian

Samin Ehsani

Hiwa Yazdan Mehdi Abadi

Amin Zolfaghari

Sahba Farnoush

Nasim Ghanvatian

Mehrallah Afshar

Arash Rasekhi

Maral Rasti

Mahnaz Jan Nesar

Samin Maghsoudi

Yalda Firouzian

Saham Armin

Foujan Rashidi

Bahareh Zayni

Payman Koushk-Baghi

Farhad Fahandezh

Vahed Kholousi

Shahnam Jazbani

Negin Ghadamian

Sohrab Naghipour

Manouchehr Rahmani

Hassan Sarvestani Momtaz

Azita Rafizadeh

Farzad Homayouni

Mahboub Habibi

Pezhman Shahriari

Sevada Aghasar

Malihe Nazari

Joseph Shahbazian

Morteza Mashhood Kari

Ahmad Sarparast

Ayub Pour Rezazadeh

Fariba Dalir

Hadi Rahimi

Milad Goudarzi

Hossein Kadivar

Mohammed Vafadar

Khalil Dehghanpur

Shahrooz Eslamdoust

Babak Hosseinzadeh

Mehdi Khatibi

Behnam Akhlaghi

Kamal Naamanian

Fatemeh Bakhtari

Mahrokh Ghanbari

Zaman Fadaei

Mohammad Reza Omidi

Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh

Naser Navard Goltapeh

Majid Kashan

Youcef Nadarkhani

Mohammad Roghangir

Sara Ahmadi

Homayoun Zhaveh

Nahid Behshid

Monireh Arabshahi

Saeed Karimaei

Behnoud Pourrostami

Bashir Riahi

Ali Reza Azadravesh

Saeed Khamoshi

Vahid Khamoshi

Mehdi Izadpanah

Behrouz Sadeghi

Mehdi Mahdavifar

Abdollah Esmaili

Hossein Arang

Akbar Biranvand

Farnam Farhang

Mostafa Mir Mohammadi

Kianoush Abbaszadeh

Mohammad Hassan Shah Reza

Mohammad Karimaei

Shokoufeh Yadollahi Farsi
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Iran

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Country of Particular Concern

Iran

Updated March 2024

Mehran Asgharzadeh

Sina Entesari

Kasra Nouri

Reza Entesari

Mostafa Abdi

Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam

Mohammad Reza Darvishi

Ahmad Iranikhah

Saeed Dourandish

Babak Moradi

Morteza Kangarlou

Babak Taghian

Javad Khomeis Abadi

Amir Nouri

Reza Yavari Motlagh

Ali Reza Lak

Hesam Moeini

Reza Sigarchi

Sekhavat Salimi

Nazila Nouri

Abbas Dehghan

Mojtaba Biranvand

Majid Moradi

Alborz Eskandari

Salehoddin Moradi

Ali Akbar Dadashi

Majid Rashidi

Ehsan Malek Mohammadi

Mehdi Keyvanlou

Ardeshir Ashayeri

Jafar Ahmadi

Rasoul Hoveyda

Heydar Teymouri

Mohsen Azizi

Saeed Goudarzi

Bakhtiar Arefi

Noushin Jafari

Yasaman Ariani

Rahele Ahmadi

Sadegh Gheysari

Elaheh Mohammadi

Niloofar Hamedi

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani

Saba Kord Afshari

Unknown

Shahram Naderi

Mitra Bandi Amirabadi

Ataollah Melaki

Roya Melaki

Atieh Salehi

Arezou Mohammadi

Behnam Eskandarian

Milad Davardan

Anoush Rayeneh

Ali Sani

Afshin Bulbulan

Adel Naimi

Abdolreza Miraghasi

Mohsen Afrouz 

Died in Custody

Mahsa Amini Seyyed Sadrullah Fazeli Zare Yusef Mehrdad

Released (continued)