Yazd Revolutionary Court sentences Baha'i couple Flora Samadani and Ahmad Jafari Naeimi to prison

Branch 1 of the Yazd Revolutionary Court has sentenced Flora Samadani and her husband Ahmad Jafari Naeimi, two Baha'i citizens living in Yazd, to a combined three years, six months and two days in prison solely because of their religious beliefs. The verdict was issued on 12 October 2026.

According to Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), Flora Samadani, born in 1969/70, was sentenced to three years and one day of ta'zir imprisonment on the charge of "deviant propaganda activity contrary to the sacred sharia of Islam through promoting Baha'ism". Ahmad Jafari Naeimi, born in 1967/68, received six months and one day of ta'zir imprisonment on the charge of "aiding" that same offence. The court cited Article 500 bis of the Islamic Penal Code and Articles 126 and 127 of it. The hearing in the case had been held in the same branch in late September.

Arrest of the Baha'i couple in Yazd

Flora Samadani was arrested by security agents in Yazd on 3 May 2026. She was held for about a week in the detention facility of the Yazd Intelligence Department and then transferred to Yazd prison, and was released on 20 June after posting bail. Her husband Ahmad Jafari Naeimi was arrested on 13 June after appearing at Branch 6 of the Yazd Prosecutor's Office and was released from Yazd prison on 4 July on bail of one billion tomans. He had previously also been arrested and tried because of his religious beliefs.

Flora Samadani's arrest came in a wave that, since the Dey (December–January) uprising, has targeted a number of Baha'i citizens in various cities across Iran.

Continuing repression of Baha'is in the Islamic Republic

Article 500 bis, added to the Penal Code in recent years, has become the main tool of the Islamic Republic's judiciary for punishing Baha'is and Christian converts. According to HRANA's annual reports, over the past decade Baha'is have been the target of security and judicial measures more than any other religious minority, and last year, on average, 62.41% of reports of violations of the rights of religious minorities concerned them.

The verdict follows other cases of Baha'i citizens in recent weeks, including the detention without trial of Behzad Yazdani, a Baha'i translator, in Adelabad prison in Shiraz and the enforcement of Iman Rahmatpanah's five-year prison sentence with an electronic ankle monitor.

The Islamic Republic's judiciary has sentenced a Baha'i husband and wife to prison solely because of their religion.