Intel: Trump’s religious freedom envoy ‘pleased’ with Yemen Houthi release of Baha’is

May 15, 2020

President Donald Trump’s envoy for international religious freedom commended Iran and Yemen’s Houthi rebels for releasing some Baha’i political prisoners in a bid to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading throughout densely populated prisons.

“In Yemen, I was very pleased about the Baha’i release that took place,” Ambassador Sam Brownback told reporters Thursday. “We continue to have concerns about how Baha’i are treated there and in, unfortunately, a number of different countries around the world, and most particularly Iran. Although Iran did release a number of Baha’i from prison — and I was very pleased that they were willing to do that — but they’ve had a lot of heavy persecution against Baha’i in unfortunately a number of different countries around the world.”

Why it matters: Iran has a long history of harsh discrimination against the Baha’i faith, a minority religion that originated in 19th-century Persia. Tehran released some 20 Baha’is last month as part of a furlough to depopulate the overcrowded Iranian prison system as the coronavirus sweeps through the country. Although Iran has released more than 50,000 prisoners on furlough, an estimated 50 to 100 Baha’is still remain in jail.

“Because of the general prison conditions in Iran, we are extremely concerned about the remaining prisoners,” Baha’i international community chief representative Bani Dugal told VOA Persian last month.  “We don’t know whether any of them have contracted the virus, because those details are hard to ascertain. But I’m sure they are vulnerable.”

Additionally, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels released all Baha’i prisoners in March while pardoning Hamed bin Haydara, who had received a death sentence that the Baha’i community had condemned as religiously motivated.