He was born into a Bahá’í converted family. His father's family was Muslim, and his mother's family was Zoroastrian, but both families converted to the Bahá’í religion.

Information about the life and extrajudicial killing of Mr. Farhang Amiri, son of Hedayatollah, has been obtained from the websites of Iran Students News Agency or ISNA  (September 27, 2016), Iran Wire (September 19, 2016), Bahá’í World Community (October 25, 2016), Human Rights Activists News Agency or HRANA  (November 1, 2016, May 4, June 13, and July 26, 2017), Archive of Bahá’í Persecution in Iran (October 28, 2016), Center for Human Rights in Iran (October 31, 2016), Bahá’í News (July 5, 2017) and Melliun Iran (July 26, 2017).

According to available information, Mr. Amiri was born into a Bahá’í family. His father's family was Muslim, and his mother's family was Zoroastrian, but both families converted to the Bahá’í religion.

Mr. Amiri was born in Hormozak village, Yazd, and was 63 years old. He was married and had four children. In 1955, during the reign of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, in the village of Hormozak in Yazd, following the incitement of an ayatollah against Bahá’ís, several Muslims attacked the residents of this village, the majority of whom were Bahá’í, killing a woman and six men, all relatives of Mr. Amiri, including his father and uncle.

Following his father’s death, he and his younger brother lived through difficult times. At a young age, they entered the labor market and, with hard work, opened an eyeglass shop, which after a while turned into two branches. After the revolution, their shops were shuttered. Their efforts to reclaim the shops failed. After some time, they entered the transportation business and bought a few pieces of land and houses. After their property was confiscated for the second time, Mr. Amiri started a small farm around the Hormazak village in Yazd and lived with his family in the old Qassemabad neighborhood of Yazd.

Mr. Amiri retired in 2015. "In reality, from the beginning of the revolution, when they confiscated his and his father's property, he had no choice but to work freelance jobs to earn a living" (Center for Human Rights in Iran).

A senior representative of the Bahá’í community commenting on Mr. Amiri says: "He worked as a driver and also as a farmer; he lived a humble and honorable life. He was known among his neighbors for his kindness, gentleness, wisdom, and humility. He did not fight with anyone. His family environment was characterized by love and kindness, and he encouraged his four children to be honest and trustworthy (HRANA, May 4, 2017).

According to an informed source, Mr. Amiri never promoted or proselytized the Bahá’í religion. But he and his family were very well known in the Qassemabad neighborhood, and everyone knew them as Bahá'ís (Center for Human Rights in Iran).

The Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Background

The authorities of the Islamic Republic have subjected the members of the Baha'i religious community of Iran - the largest religious minority, with approximately 300 thousand members in 1979(1)- to systematic harassment and persecution, depriving them of their most fundamental human rights. The Baha'i religion is not recognized under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, and Iranian authorities refer to it as a heresy. As a result, the Baha'is have been denied the rights associated with the status of a religious minority; they cannot profess and practice their faith, and are banned from public functions. Discrimination under the law and in practice has subjected them to abuse and violence.(2)

Persecution of Baha’is in Iran is not specific to the time of the Islamic Republic but it was in this era that it was amplified and institutionalized. During the Revolution itself, supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini attacked Baha’i homes and businesses and in certain instances, even committed murder.

On the eve of his return from France to Iran, in response to a question regarding political and religious freedom of Baha’is under the rule of an Islamic government, Ayatollah Khomeini stated: “They are a political party; they are harmful and detrimental. They will not be acceptable.” The interviewer asked another question: “Will they be free to perform their religious rites?” The Ayatollah responded: “No.” Khomeini had previously “spoken of the Baha’i threat to the Shah’s regime, Islam, national unity, and national security” in various speeches. (Asoo website, October 6, 2015).

Background of Extrajudicial Killings by the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of politically motivated violence in Iran and around the world. Since the 1979 Revolution, Islamic Republic operatives inside and outside the country have engaged in kidnapping, disappearing, and killing a large number of individuals whose activities they deemed undesirable. The actual number of the victims of extrajudicial killings inside Iran is not clear; however, these murders began in February 1979 and have continued since then, both inside and outside Iran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has so far identified over 540 killings outside Iran attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dissidents have been assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic outside Iran in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Europe; and the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. In most cases there has not been much published and the local authorities have not issued arrest warrants. But documentation, evidence, and traces obtained through investigations conducted by local police and judicial authorities confirm, however, the theory of state committed crimes. In certain cases, these investigations have resulted in the expulsion or arrest of Iranian diplomats. In limited cases outside Iran, the perpetrators of these murders have been arrested and put on trial and the evidence presented, revealed the defendants’ connection to Iran’s government institutions, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Iran’s Minister of Information.

The manner in which these killings were organized and implemented in Iran and abroad, is indicative of a single pattern which, according to Roland Chatelin, the Swiss prosecutor, contains common parameters and detailed planning. It can be ascertained from the similarities between these murders in different countries that the Iranian government is the principal entity who ordered the implementation of these crimes. Iranian authorities have not officially accepted responsibility for these murders and have even attributed their commission to internal strife in opposition groups. Nevertheless, since the very inception of the Islamic Republic regime, the Islamic Republic officials have justified these crimes from an ideological and legal standpoint. In the spring of 1979, Sadeq Khalkhali, the first Chief Shari’a Judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, officially announced the regime’s decision to implement extrajudicial executions, and justified the decision: “ … These people have been sentenced to death; from the Iranian people’s perspective, if someone wants to assassinate these individuals abroad, in any country, no government has any right to bring the perpetrator to trial as a terrorist, because such a person is the implementing agent of the sentence issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. Therefore, they are Mahduroddam and their sentence is death regardless of where they are.” More than 10 years after these proclamations, in a speech about the security forces’ success, Ali Fallahian, the regime’s Minister of Information stated the following regarding the elimination of members of the opposition: “ … We have had success in inflicting damage to many of these little groups outside the country and on our borders”

At the same time, various political, judicial, and security officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have, at different times and occasions, confirmed the existence of a long term government policy for these extrajudicial killings and in some cases their implementation. 

Read more about the background of extrajudicial killings in the Islamic Republic of Iran by clicking on the left hand highlight with the same title.

Mr. Farhang Amiri’s Death 

According to available information, Mr. Amiri was killed by stab wounds to his chest on Monday, September 26, 2016, in front of his house in Yazd city. The news of this murder was reported to the 110 police (equivalent to “911” in the United States) command of the province at 8:30 in the evening.

Based on the available information, on Sunday, September 25th, 2015, two unknown individuals visited Mr. Amiri's house and asked his son if they were selling their car. Mr. Amiri's son gave a negative answer. The next day, at around eight o'clock in the evening, these two people again went to Mr. Amiri's house, and this time, they rang the doorbell of Mr. Amiri's mother, who also lived in the same building. She opened the door without asking who was there. The mother asked her son to check behind the door. But a few minutes later, Mr. Amiri’s yell was heard. His wife and daughter left the house. His wife saw him covered in blood. His daughter saw two men running away in the middle of the alley and yelled for help from the neighbor. One of the attackers was arrested by a neighbor and local businessman and handed over to the police, and the accomplice was also arrested by the police. The ambulance arrived half an hour later, but Mr. Amiri died on the way to the hospital.

The two detained suspects were brothers. According to an informed source: "The murder was committed by one of the two brothers, and according to the forensic pathologist report and the confessions and Investigating Judge’s findings, the younger brother had no role in the murder and only grabbed Mr. Amiri's mouth and stabbed him in the face with a small knife" (Bahá’í News).

According to the informed source, Mr. Amiri and his family members had not been threatened. "He had no enemies, and his family did not know these two murderers at all, and now they are completely in shock." However, the World Bahá’í Community statement states: "Last year [2015] government agents searched the businesses and homes of Mr. Amiri's children, confiscating their laptops, phones and other belongings. In addition, in early August of this year, during another Bahá’í’s interrogation in Yazd, [that Bahá’í individual] was told that there were people in the city who wanted to kill Bahá’ís" (Bahá’í World Community).

According to a report, the father of the two brothers had filed a complaint against a member of the clerical class who caused his sons to become extremists. In this regard, the father said that “[his] children are too radical, and he and his wife had felt for some time that they were planning to do something. Since they were unable to prevent their actions, they went to the Intelligence Department and asked them to put some thought into this issue" (Bahá’í News).

Mr. Amiri's body was buried in Golestan Javid cemetery. Mr. Amiri's tombstone was repeatedly attacked and destroyed.

Officials’ Reaction

Based on available information, the authorities' account of this incident was far from the truth. The social deputy of Yazd police command said about the murder of Mr. Amiri: "A financial dispute of 200 million tomans (approximately $47,500 US) was the motivation for the murder of a 63-year-old old man in Qassemabad, Yazd." He further said that in the initial investigation by the police, a physical conflict and a financial dispute of 200 million tomans over a Nissan automobile were the cause of this crime, and the police officers arrested the 23-year-old murderer. On Wednesday, two killers were taken to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime scene (ISNA).

Branch Seven of the Investigation Unit of the Yazd Prosecutor's Office investigated Mr. Amiri’s murder. On May 3, 2017, the first trial for two accused of murder was held behind closed doors. However, the judge adjourned the session due to a lack of time. Despite the two defendants’ confession to the murder of Mr. Amiri, they were released from Yazd Central Prison on May 28, 2017, with a bail of 200 million tomans. According to an informed source, the confessions of the defendants in Yazd Revolutionary Court on July 10, 2017, are attached to the file: "They said we killed infidels and therefore did a good deed. They have said that one of the verses of the Quran considers killing an infidel as halal, and so we killed an infidel Bahá’í. These confessions are recorded in their file" (Center for Human Rights in Iran).

The court sentenced the first-tier defendant to 11 years in prison and two years of exile for the crime of intentional murder of Mr. Amiri, and the second-tier defendant was sentenced to half of this sentence. Regarding this ruling, the court said: "According to the Islamic Penal Code and according to the retribution ruling, the accused and the victim do not have equal rights." Because according to this law, the value of a Muslim man is more than that of a Bahá’í person.

The Bahá’í Community Reaction

Based on the available information, the World Bahá’í Community issued a statement that the two accused of murder killed Mr. Amiri because of his religious beliefs.

The representative of the Bahá'í World Community at the time also said about the murder of Mr. Amiri: "The Bahá'í World Community is outraged by the murder of Mr. Amiri. This community is deeply concerned about the ongoing and unrelenting persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran, which is the background for such acts of violence." He went on to say: "In the city of Yazd alone, there have been several cases of persecution in the past few years, including dozens of illegal arrests and imprisonments, as well as a large number of raids on Bahá’í residences and businesses" (HRANA, June 13, 2017).

The Bahá’í World News Service wrote about the conviction of two brothers accused of murder: "Such a sentence exposes the nature of the Iranian authorities' false claims that all citizens are equal before the law and openly encourages violence against the Bahá’ís, who are the largest religious minority in Iran. We want Iranians to reflect on how Iran can develop and progress when its legal system, which should promote justice, is the executor of such obvious injustices” (HRANA, July 26, 2017).

Family’s Reaction

A source close to Mr. Amiri's family says regarding the two million toman financial dispute: "Mr. Amiri had no intention of selling the car for the price difference to arise. Even though they were told that the car was not for sale on the first night, the two attackers came again on the following night with the same excuse. Assuming these two people were the buyers, would someone carry a knife with them if they wanted to negotiate for a car?" (Iran Wire).

Also, "Mr. Amiri's family wants a fair hearing in this case and hope that the case will take its legal course. The Bahá’í religion does not have retribution, but we want severe punishment in a different way" (Center for Human Rights in Iran).

Impacts on Family

There is no information available about the effects of Mr. Amiri's extrajudicial killing on his family.

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 1- ‘Slow Death for Iran’s Baha’is’ by Richard N. Ostling, Time Magazine,20 February 1984. Also see ‘The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran, 1844-1984, by Douglas Martin, Baha’i Studies,volume 12/13, 1984, p. 3. There is no information about the current number of Baha’is in Iran.

2- The Islamic Republic Penal Code grants no rights to Baha'is, and the courts have denied them the right to redress or to protection against assault, murder, and other forms of persecution and abuse. In so doing, the courts have treated Baha'is as unprotected citizens or "apostates," citing eminent religious authorities whose edicts are considered to be a source of law equal to acts of Parliament. The Founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, made execution a punishment for the crime of apostasy and decreed that a Muslim would not be punished for killing an apostate.