Imagine this: an elderly man publicly and peacefully shares his faith in Morocco — a country where freedom of speech should be protected under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations. Yet Fateh Benaiss, a 57-year-old member of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, now lies in a psychiatric hospital, where he is forcibly confined after arrest by police simply for peacefully sharing his beliefs.

On the 10th of April, 2025, the official Gazette of the Sarawak State Government, Malaysia, has published a document called Fatwa Ruling on the Teaching of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light. The contents of the fatwa are essentially identical to the contents of the 2024 fatwa issued by the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs of Malaysia (MKI) Muzakarah Committee.

Raised in a Shia Muslim background, Mursal embraced in March 2025 the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, a minority religious movement that has drawn followers from various countries. Like many believers who joined this faith, he did not take up arms, organize protests, or incite violence. He simply shared his beliefs peacefully on his personal social media accounts. But what followed was not peaceful dialogue. What followed was punishment.

I was a soldier in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and I was very afraid that they would find out I had changed my religion. I have suffered many injustices because of this. I tried to flee Iran by air on December 9, 2022, but the Ministry of Intelligence had banned my exit. My passport was confiscated at the airport, and I was given a paper telling me I had to appear before the Religious Court.

I have been subjected to harassment and persecution by both the government and my family because of my faith in the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light. In Iran, there is no freedom of belief, and in the Islamic Republic, anyone who changes their religion is considered an apostate. Public expression of this belief may result in imprisonment and, in some cases, execution.

History was made on March 13th 2026, 03.13.2026, when a protest organised by the members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light took the Egyptian embassies around the world by storm in a humiliating exposure of their abuses of basic Human Rights according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Egypt is a signatory to since the 10th of December 1948.

Today, Iran is a different place than it was on the 25th of February. In less than one month, the instability that started at the end of December and intensified throughout January, as previously documented, with protests on the streets against the government and violence erupting as reported in the global news press, culminated in the airstrike that ended the life of Ali Khamenei on the 28th of February.

My name is Nima Esfandiari. I was born on February 28, 2005. I took my oath of allegiance in the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light in 2020 in Iran. I was threatened with arrest by various authorities such as the Basij and the Ministry of Intelligence. They repeatedly targeted me on Telegram and other social media platforms, where I was peacefully inviting people and promoting the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light. They sent me threatening messages many times.

In Iran, anyone who leaves Islam is considered an infidel, and their blood is considered permissible (halal). After many threats and arrests of members of our religion, and realizing that I could no longer practice my faith in Iran, because I was being threatened daily, I decided to leave the country. I took steps to leave, but at Imam Khomeini Airport, after purchasing a ticket, paying the fees, and passing through inspection, my name was called over the loudspeaker.

The Malaysian persecution of believers in the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light continues unabated, with a new twist now being utilised to bring additional pressure and abuse. The Divine Just State magazine highlighted the case of Security Guard Mohammad Shahirman on the 13th of February 2026. This innocent man was forced to pay a fine of RM2500, worth around a month and a half of his wages, simply for possessing materials in his home about the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and