Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her Iranian counterparts on recent reports of six Baha’i women facing imminent imprisonment for their beliefs in Hamadan, Iran.

The UK Government and our Ambassador in Iran regularly raise our human rights concerns directly with the Iranian Government and in international fora. We are deeply concerned by the heightened threat currently faced by Baha'is in Iran.

On 23 September 2025, at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), UK Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization and UN, Kumar Iyer, highlighted the recent targeting and scapegoating of marginalised groups during and following the 12-day war, including Baha'is. On 25 March 2025, at the UNHRC, we called out Iran's escalation in the arrest and detention of Baha'i women, which was an effort to suppress their religious identity and autonomy as women. We were integral to the delivery of an Iran human rights resolution, adopted by the UNHRC on 3 April 2025, which renewed the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, and renewed and expanded the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission, to establish the facts, circumstances and structural causes of ongoing and recent human rights violations, including discrimination on grounds of religion or belief.