Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Payman Sobhani

About

Age: 15
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Baha'i
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: April 28, 1986
Location of Killing: Saravan, Sistan Va Baluchestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Other extrajudicial method
Age at time of alleged offense: 15

About this Case

At the time of Payman Sobhani's death, there was no designated burial site for Bahá'ís in Saravan. Through the efforts of Peiman's mother, a plot of land was set aside for the burial of deceased Bahá'ís. Payman Sobhani was the first Bahá'í to be buried in the Bahá'í cemetery in Saravan, known as "Golestan Javid".

Information regarding the extrajudicial execution of Mr. Payman Sobhani, son of Ruh al-Amin and Tahereh Bi-Azar, was gathered from the Baha'i Persecution Documents website (April 28, 1986), IranWire (May 15, 2022), Radio Zamaneh (August 27, 2013, and December 21, 2013), Aasoo (October 6, 2015), Baha'i News (January 9, 2017), Los Angeles Times (May 14, 1986), and the blogs Khorafeh (May 16, 2020) and Shabahang (October 17, 2022).

Payman Sobhani (Azabadi) was born on March 13, 1971, to a Bahá'í family living in Sistan and Baluchestan. His family moved to the province when his father was 13 years old with the stated purpose of promoting the Bahá'í Faith, and they remained there for 25 years. During this time, the Sobhani family ran a small cloth shop in the towns of Souran and Saravan in the same province. (Bahá'í Persecution Documents website, April 28, 1986; IranWire, May 15, 2022)

Mr. Ruh al-Amin Sobhani, Payman's father, married Mrs. Tahereh Bi-Azar, a Bahá'í from Yazd, while living in Souran. Some time later, Mrs. Bi-Azar moved to Souran to join her husband. Payman Sobhani was the family's fourth child. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

After living in Souran for several years, Payman's family moved to Saravan, another city in the same province. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

Following the tightening of restrictions on the Bahá'í community, including the intensification of bans on education, Mr. Parviz Sobhani, another son of Mr. Ruh al-Amin Sobhani, traveled to Pakistan to continue his education and reside there temporarily until he could relocate to a third country. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

In 2008, the Bahá'í International Community released the names of 221 Bahá'í citizens who had been killed or executed in Iran over the previous three decades because of their religious beliefs. The youngest of these was Payman Sobhani Azabadi, a Bahá'í teenager from Saravan, Baluchestan, who had lived only 15 years. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

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*- 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.**

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 local authorities have not issued arrest warrants. But documentation, evidence, and traces obtained through investigations conducted by local police and judicial authorities confirm the theory of state committed crimes. In some instances, these investigations have resulted in the expulsion or arrest of Iranian diplomats. In a few cases outside Iran, the perpetrators of these murders have been arrested and put on trial. 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 that 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.

Threats and Extrajudicial Execution of Payman Sobhani

The dead body of Mr. Payman Sobhani was found on April 28, 1986, near Saravan, in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan. (IranWire, May 15, 2022) According to available information, Mr. Sobhani was kidnapped and subsequently killed in the spring of 1986 by a radical group allegedly encouraged by religious authorities in the Saravan region of Sistan and Baluchestan. (Baha'i News, January 9, 2017; Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1986; IranWire, May 15, 2022)

According to Bahá'í sources, on the day of the murder, a male customer visited Payman's father's shop to purchase carpet wool and asked them to deliver the purchased goods to a location near the shop. Payman was a teenager at the time. He accompanied his father and the customer in a pickup truck to the designated location. On the way, the customer stopped the vehicle on the pretext of picking up two of his friends. However, as soon as the vehicle stopped, two armed men, along with the client, forcibly blindfolded and tied the hands of the father and son and took them to a remote desert area. Once there, the assailants, with the help of another person, beat Mr. Ruh al-Amin Sobhani and threw him off the edge of a mountain. (Baha'i Persecution Documents, April 28, 1986) According to some sources, based on accounts from family members, the assailants blindfolded and tied the hands of Mr. Sobhani and his son before taking the car keys and driving away. When Mr. Sobhani asked where they were being taken, the armed men replied, "We are taking you to Pakistan to be reunited with your eldest son, Parviz. After several hours of driving, the perpetrators stopped and removed the blindfolds from the victims. They told Ruh al-Amin Sobhani, "We have been ordered to execute you after you confess to being a Bahá'í. Mr. Sobhani pleaded with them to spare his son's life and take only his own, but the assailants refused, stating that the boy had already seen them and could not be released. One of the assailants told Mr. Sobhani that they had been ordered to kill their victims in one of three ways: by running them over with a vehicle, by decapitation, or by throwing them off a cliff. When the option of shooting was rejected by the assailants, Mr. Sobhani agreed to be killed by being thrown off a cliff. The assailants tied his hands and feet and threw him off the mountain in front of his young son. Mr. Ruh al-Amin Sobhani later recounted in his memoirs that at that moment he forgot to say goodbye to his son, Payman. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

According to Bahá'í sources, 18 hours later, a truck driver found the injured and unconscious body of Ruh al-Amin Sobhani and took him to a hospital. Two days later, police found the body of his son, Payman Sobhani, in the desert. His hands and feet were tied, and his body had been severely beaten and mutilated. (Baha'i Persecution Documents, April 28, 1986)

Due to the severity of his injuries, Ruh al-Amin Sobhani was later transferred from Saravan to Tehran. After two months, he was finally released from the hospital. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

At the time of his death, Payman Sobhani was only 15 years old. (Baha'i Persecution Documents, April 28, 1986)

Bahá'í sources, citing the testimony of Paymaneh Sobhani, another child of the family, reported that the body of Payman, who was "killed because of his faith," was buried according to Bahá'í funeral rites. "At the time of Payman's death, there was no designated burial site for Bahá'ís in Saravan. Through the efforts of Payman's mother, a plot of land was allocated for the burial of deceased Bahá'ís. Payman Sobhani was the first Bahá'í to be buried in the Bahá'í cemetery in Saravan, known as Golestan Javid. (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

The exact date of Payman Sobhani's death remains unknown. For this reason, Bahá'í sources have recorded April 28, 1986, the day his body was found, as the official date of his death. (IranWire, May 15, 2022) The assailants fled after injuring the father and murdering the son.(Radio Zamaneh website, December 21, 2013)

Payman's parents had been "summoned and arrested several times" before their son's murder. "On one occasion, while boiling water was poured over Payman's younger brother, burning his back, their mother was arrested and not allowed to stay by her newborn's side." (Shabahang Blog, October 17, 2022)

Official’s reaction

There is no available information regarding the response of Iranian government officials to the murder of Payman Sobhani. According to available reports, after Payman's remains were found, gendarmes threw his decomposing body, which had been placed in a sack, in front of his family's home and left.

Upon witnessing the scene, Payman's mother lost consciousness. Because she was pregnant, she could not be given any medication. "They repeatedly slapped her face and poured water over her until she regained consciousness, only to scream and faint again." (Khorafeh Blog, May 16, 2020)

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States' Reaction

In May 1986, Robert Henderson, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, recalling the killing of nearly 200 Bahá'í citizens over seven years, reported that "a 15-year-old Bahá'í boy in eastern Iran was beaten and stoned to death by a group of Shi'a Muslims encouraged by religious authorities." (Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1986)

Family’s reaction

Payman Sobhani's family attempted to pursue their son's murder through legal channels within Iran. According to Bahá'í sources, "Although Ruh al-Amin Sobhani had seen his son's killers, the law enforcement authorities never found any trace of those who ordered or carried out the crime. Over the years, Mr. Sobhani was repeatedly summoned to court and law enforcement agencies to talk about the killers. The authorities insisted that since the perpetrators had not been found, the case should be closed. After 15 years of fruitless efforts, Ruh al-Amin Sobhani, who had lost all hope in the justice system, finally agreed to the closure of his son's murder case." (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

Impact on family

There is no detailed information about the impact of Payman Sobhani's murder on other members of his family. However, the 15-year-old Bahá'í boy had witnessed unidentified assailants attempting to kill his father just hours before his own death. When Payman's body was discovered on the other side of the mountain from where his father had been thrown, he was found bound at the hands and feet, his body completely mutilated. "The severity of his injuries was such that his pregnant mother was not allowed to hold her son's body one last time. Even the person who washed and wrapped Payman's body suffered psychological distress for months after the burial." (IranWire, May 15, 2022)

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* ‘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.
** 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.

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