Vienna, August 15, 2025 – In Isfahan, Iran, houses, property and even vehicles of more than 20 Bahá’í were confiscated solely because of their faith. The authorities refer to Article 49 of the Iranian constitution – originally created in order to attract illegally acquired goods – and abuse it in order to collect legal property, to freeze bank accounts and to block everyday transactions. Many affected people only learned about this via SMS – without any legal proceedings.
These measures are controlled by the special court for Article 49 – a branch of the Revolutionary Court, which Executive headquarters of Imam Khomeini command (Eiko, Persian “Setad”). This authority is officially responsible for supposedly illegally acquired assets, confiscated and either return to its rightful owners or, if no owner can be determined, to be transferred to the state treasury. According to Iranian law, property that is collected in accordance with Article 49 is made available via which Eiko made available to the top guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In practice, however, Bahá’í’s targeted expropriations flow directly to institutions that are subject to its immediate control.
“Article 49 of the Iranian constitution was created to give back stolen property, not to take citizens their houses and livelihoods!” Explains Isma Forghani, human rights officer of the Bahá’í community in Austria. “What we see here is state -organized theft – by SMS! Discriminatory, illegal and with the aim of driving a religious minority into poverty.”
The procedures according to Article 49 are led in secret, without official registration in the central “Sana” system of the judiciary and without inspection for lawyers. Without any proof of an illegal appropriation, families are proven with dispositions that ban the sale or transfer of property, freeze bank accounts and even confiscate vehicles during routine controls.
Simin Fahandei, representative of the international Bahá’í community at the United Nations in Geneva, asks: “How can a government justify it morally, legally or even according to her own religious teachings, to withdraw people and vital possessions? Who is responsible for the countless goods that have been taken away from the Bahá’í since the revolution?”
These practices are not isolated cases, but part of a pattern of state -organized expropriations against the Bahá’í since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Over the years, sacred sites, cemeteries and thousands of private houses, farms and companies have been confiscated. Courts also confirmed the expropriation of land in villages such as Ivel and Kata, where in 2022 irrigated arable land was confiscated by 27 Bahá’í – another example of the continued character of these expropriations.
Reports speak of a climate of intimidation. Judge Morteza Barati, chairman of the special court for Article 49 in Isfahan, is said to have openly declared to a Bahá’í to want to “take away” their property to all Bahá’í, and threatened: “If the dish meets, we will destroy their lives.” Those affected were announced that telephone calls are already considered to be prayers. They were also threatened with arrest warrants – even if they were under electronic surveillance or were in medical treatment.
This method of confiscation is often used in parallel to current procedures. In October 2024, ten Bahá’í women in Isfahan: Negin Khademi, Yeganeh Agahi, Yeganeh Rouhbakhsh, Neda Badakhsh, Mojgan Shagezaie, Shana Shoghifar, Arezou Sobhanian, Parastou Hakim, Bahareh Lotfi and Neda Emadi were sentenced to a total of 90 years. Almost a year later, they received the announcement that a new procedure according to Article 49 had been opened against them. The transfer to this court has recently accelerated, sometimes only a few weeks after interrogation or house searches.
“For generations, Bahá’í families in Iran have been systematically deprived of their livelihood-through a state-controlled policy that discriminates against them in their work and denied them access to university education,” explained Isma Forghani. “Today, a single SMS work can destroy decades under already unbearable conditions. The abuse of Article 49 is targeted and deprived them of savings, property and even access to medical care. We are calling for the Iranian authorities to indicate the Bahá’í as equal citizens, to give them their own property, their own laws and international obligations immediately finish.”