Remembering the women in Iran hanged for their beliefs

Martin Luther King once said that “there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for.” There are people in Iran today who believe that to be true

The 10 Bahá'í women hanged in Shiraz, Iran, for teaching Sunday School in 1983. Picture: Bahá'í International Community/WikiCommons

June 18, 2023, will mark the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Bahá'í women in the city of Shiraz, Iran. These courageous women were hanged in a city square for their steadfast refusal to renounce their faith, which advocates principles such as gender equality—a value the Iranian authorities do not embrace.

In a cruel attempt to make them abandon their beliefs, the women were killed individually, with each being forced to witness the execution of the next woman. Among the victims was a 17-year-old (the last to ascend the gallows); the majority were in their 20s. A mother and daughter were hanged, one after the other.