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Changes between two versions

What changed between the resolution motion and the resolution motion joint

From · resolution motion· 24 Nov 2025

B-10-2025-0541

on On the escalating repression of Baha’is in Iran

To · resolution motion joint· 26 Nov 2025

RC-10-2025-0528

on the escalating repression of the Baha’is in Iran

These two texts have too little in common to compare paragraph by paragraph: they are different documents rather than versions of one (for example one group’s motion and the joint text that was adopted).

Changes to the text itself, in document order. Cover page, citations and punctuation-only edits are left out; they are under “Every difference”.

The changes · 1

Change 1

Removed:whereas Baha’is are Iran’s largest unrecognised religious minority facing state-backed persecution since the 19th century;

Added:A. whereas the Baha’i community, comprising 300 000 members and lacking constitutional recognition, faces systematic persecution under the 1991 Iranian memorandum, including arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, forced disappearance, denial of dignified burial, property confiscation, denial of education and employment and incitement to hatred by state-controlled media;

Removed:whereas international organizations including Human Rights Watch conclude that the systematic repression of Baha’is represents crime against humanity of persecution, involving arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, property confiscation, education and employment denial, and refusal of dignified burial; whereas Baha’is, alongside other religious minorities in Iran, Muslim and non-Muslim, are frequently imprisoned without due process and with their whereabouts unknown;

Added:B. whereas Iranian authorities have continuously intensified repression against the Baha’i community through mass detentions, expedited trials and false accusations of espionage and collaboration with foreign entities;

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Removed:whereas the 1991 memorandum of the Iranian Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council outlines state policy expelling Baha’is from jobs and to “block their progress” by restricting their educational, social and economic opportunities; whereas additional policies lead to shutting down of Baha’i-owned businesses and confiscation of hundreds of Baha’i properties, causing economic strangulation of the community;

Added:C. whereas in 2024, approximately 1 200 Baha’is faced legal proceedings or imprisonment, with women representing two thirds of detainees and 16 women in Hamadan and Isfahan sentenced to a combined 129 years and subjected to torture and severe violations of due process;

Removed:whereas the Iranian government has for years engaged in a mass state-sponsored campaign to incite hatred and violence against the Baha’is; whereas several weeks ago, the government has confiscated the livelihoods of the Baha’is in Isfahan, in a gross misuse of Article 49 of the Iranian Constitution; whereas at least 35 Baha’is have been arrested, detained, sentenced, or imprisoned since the beginning of September 2025, marking a clear escalation in the Iranian authorities’ persecution of the community;

Added:D. whereas authorities have desecrated Baha’i cemeteries, including in Tehran, Ahvaz, Rafsanjan, Kerman and Hamadan;

Removed:whereas many violations concerning religious minorities in Iran in recent years explicitly targeted Baha’i women including Leila Adalati and Nahid Behrouzi, as well as six other women sentenced on grounds of “organizing illegal Baha’i classes and groups”; whereas many men including Afshin Heyratian und Farhad Fahandej were also targeted;

Added:1. Strongly condemns the escalating persecution of the Baha’i community and systemic suppression of all religious and ethnic minorities and women; calls on Iran to immediately cease all discrimination, harassment, detention, property confiscation and fundamental rights violations;

Removed:Strongly condemns the Iranian authorities’ systematic persecution of Baha’is and women in particular; urges them to recognize Baha’is as a religious minority, to end all discriminatory policies and guarantee them full legal and constitutional protection;

Added:2. Urges Iran to immediately release all individuals detained for their religion or belief and defending human rights, and on faith-related blasphemy or national security charges, and to cease harassment and violence against religious communities;

Removed:Calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all Baha’i members held on bogus charges, to halt the confiscation of Baha’i property, return them to their rightful owners, provide restitutions to those victimized and to repeal discriminatory policies denying Baha’is access to education, employment and pensions;

Added:3. Expresses deep concern over the targeting of Baha’i women, facing religious and gender-based persecution and accounting for two thirds of Baha’is imprisoned;

Removed:Calls on the EU and its Member States to impose targeted human-rights sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans, on Iranian judges, prosecutors and intelligence officials credibly implicated in the persecution of Baha’is;

Added:4. Demands that the Iranian authorities overturn the convictions of Fariba Kamalabadi, Roya Sabet, Anisa Fanaian, Leila Adalati, Nahid Behrouzi, Mahvash Sabet and the six Baha’i women in Hamadan, Zarrindokht Ahadzadeh, Farideh Ayyoubi, Noura Ayyoubi, Neda Mohebbi, Jaleh Rezaie, and Atefeh Zahedi; calls for the release of Afshin Heyratian and Farhad Fahandej;

Removed:Reiterates its call on the Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation and extend EU sanctions on its members.

Added:5. Firmly condemns the rise in executions in Iran; reiterates its strong opposition to the death penalty and urges Iran to halt its use as a tool of political and religious repression;

Removed:Emphasises that EU-Iran engagements must be founded on tangible progress on democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the release of all political, religious and other prisoners of conscience;

Added:6. Strongly condemns the desecration, destruction and confiscation of Baha’i cemeteries and obstruction of funeral rites;

Removed:Calls on the EU to strengthen its monitoring of religious freedom in Iran and provide support to civil society documenting the situation;

Added:7. Urges Iran to repeal the 1991 Memorandum and allow Baha’is access to education, employment and basic services and to halt property confiscations, return all seized assets and provide legal remedies and compensation to victims;

Removed:Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Government of Iran, the VP/HR, the Commission, the Member States and the United Nations.

Added:8. Calls for the EU and Member States to raise the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, notably religious freedom violations, in all dialogue with Iran, and to impose sanctions on Iranian judges, prosecutors and intelligence officers persecuting Baha’is;

Added:9. Reiterates its call on the Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation and extend EU sanctions to all its members and those responsible for human rights violations;

Added:10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Office of the President and the Office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.