Summary
Mona Mahmudnizhad (1965–1983) was a seventeen-year-old Iranian Baháʼí schoolgirl from Shiraz who, on 18 June 1983, was hanged together with nine other Baháʼí women — all of them refusing to recant their faith — for the "crime" of teaching Baháʼí children’s classes. Her case is documented by the United Nations Human Rights Committee and by Amnesty International, and is the subject of the 2008 docudrama Mona’s Dream and a Geneva-based annual commemoration.
Early life
Mona was born in Yemen in 1965 to Iranian Baháʼí parents; her father, Yadollah Mahmudnizhad, served as the secretary of the Baháʼí community of Shiraz. The family returned to Iran in 1969. She attended ordinary public schools and, like most Baháʼí teenagers, ran weekend children’s classes — the Baháʼí community having been banned from operating its own schools and universities since the early years of the Islamic Republic.
Arrest
On 23 October 1982, Revolutionary Guards arrested Mona, her father and ten other Baháʼís in Shiraz. She was sixteen. They were held in Adel Abad Prison; her father was hanged on 12 March 1983. Mona herself was repeatedly interrogated and tortured. Witnesses report she was offered her freedom in exchange for recanting her faith and converting to Islam — she refused at every interrogation.
The ten women of Shiraz
On the night of 18 June 1983, Mona and nine other Baháʼí women — aged between 17 and 57 — were taken to Chowgan Square in Shiraz and hanged one by one. Mona was the last. According to other prisoners who witnessed the executions, she asked to kiss the noose before placing it around her own neck. The youngest of the ten, she had just turned seventeen.
International response
The hangings drew formal condemnation from the U.S. Senate, the Canadian Parliament, the European Parliament and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. They are cited by the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (A/HRC/55/67, 2024) as part of the early-1980s pattern of religiously-motivated executions of Baháʼís. Iran has executed over 200 Baháʼís since 1979 — a campaign that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Iran has repeatedly described as "persecution amounting to a crime against humanity".
Frequently asked questions
Who was Mona Mahmudnizhad?
A seventeen-year-old Iranian Baháʼí schoolgirl hanged by the Islamic Republic in Shiraz on 18 June 1983.
Why was Mona Mahmudnizhad executed?
She was charged with teaching Baháʼí Sunday-school children and with refusing to recant her faith and convert to Islam.
How old was Mona when she was hanged?
Seventeen.
How many Baháʼí women were hanged in Shiraz that night?
Ten. Their ages ranged from 17 to 57. They were hanged one by one — Mona was the last.
How many Baháʼís has Iran executed since 1979?
Over 200, according to the Baháʼí International Community and Iran Human Rights — alongside thousands of dismissals, imprisonments, and confiscations of property.
Sources
- U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (A/HRC/55/67, 2024)
- Baháʼí International Community — situation in Iran
- Amnesty International — Iran, the deteriorating human-rights situation (1985)
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