On February 15, Iranian psychologist Fariba Kamalabadi was released from Evin Prison and granted a pardon. She had served 3½ years of a 10-year prison sentence in connection with her Baha’i faith.

In July 2022, Ms. Kamalabadi was arrested and accused of being involved in espionage, propagating Baha’i teachings, and infiltrating educational institutions. Previously, she was imprisoned for 10 years in connection with her peaceful efforts as a Baha’i community leader and a psychology teacher at the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). (The BIHE is an alternative academic institution created and run by the Baha’i community to provide higher education to Baha’i students who are prohibited, because of their religious faith, from attending Iranian universities.) In late 2022, she was convicted of “managing the unlawful [Baha’i] administration” and sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with her peaceful exercise of internationally protected rights as a member of the Baha’i faith, educator, and former leader of the Iranian Baha’i community. At her trial, the judge reportedly rebuked her, telling her she had failed to learn from her previous incarceration.

The Baha’is, Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority, have long been subjected to severe government persecution. Their religion is not recognized, and they are deprived of many internationally recognized human rights.