Forty years ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran hanged 10 Baha’i women in a single night in a square in the city of Shiraz. Their crime was refusing to renounce their beliefs in a faith that promotes the principles of gender equality—absent and criminalized in Iran to the present day.
To maximize the horror and in attempt to persuade the women to recant their faith, the women were hanged one by one, starting with the eldest. The youngest was 17 while most were in the twenties.
Few incidents are more shocking – or revealing of the religious basis of the persecution against Bahá’is and the courage with which they faced it – than the group hanging of ten Bahá’i women in Shiraz on 18 June 1983 (BIC) global campaign.
Ranging in age from 17 to 57, the ten Bahá’i women were led to the gallows in succession. Authorities apparently hoped that as each saw the others slowly strangle to death, they would renounce their own faith.
But according to eyewitness reports, the women went to their fate singing and chanting, as though they were enjoying a pleasant outing.
Each of these women was violently coerced several times in the effort to get them to deny their faith and to convert to Islam, to escape execution, but none of them agreed to sign the statements authorities prepared for them. On 18 June 1983, they were secretly taken to Chowgan Square and hanged one by one and in front of each other. Their families were not even notified of their deaths, their bodies were not returned to their families, and they did not receive dignified burials with religious rites. It is believed that they were buried in the Baha’i cemetery in Shiraz, Iran, by the authorities, which was later demolished (link is external) and made into a “cultural and sports building” in 2014.
Let us stand together, united by our shared experiences of resilience and our collective efforts and sacrifices for Iran, to show that we are inextricably linked regardless of faith and background. We hope that remembering the execution of these 10 women will illuminate and reinforce conversations around justice and gender equality in Iran. Our story is one and we will raise our voices until our shared ideals are realized.
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The women hanged on 18 June 1983 were: Izzat Janami Ishraqi, 57; Nusrat Ghufrani Yalda’i, 47; Tahirih Arjumandi Siyavushi, 30; Mahshid Nirumand, 28; Zarrin Muqimi-Abyanih, 29; Shahin Dalvand, 25; Simin Sabiri, 25; Akhtar Thabit, 25; Ruya Ishraqi, 23; Mona Mahmudnizhad, 17.
See The 10 Baha’i women of Shiraz, at the Baha’i International Community’s site: https://www.ourstoryisone.bic.org/10-bahai-women-of-shiraz
Postscript: See the entire coverage by Parvaz TV: youtube video
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