(RNS) — For eight decades, Qatar has positioned itself as a promoter of peaceful coexistence, mediating some of the world’s most fraught conflicts, including participating in efforts to defuse the ongoing war between Iran and the United States. Yet in the past few weeks, it has inexplicably risked its global standing by sharply escalating a campaign of harassment and arbitrary deportations targeting its own tiny, peaceful and ethnically diverse Baha’i community. Qatar’s marked discomfort with Baha’is — a community of only a few hundred in the country — is not new. Although the Qatari Constitution includes a freedom of religion or belief provision, Baha’is have been denied legal recognition and citizenship. This is despite many Baha’i families having lived in the region for generations, dating back to before Qatar’s recognition in 1971. Since its creation, Doha has repeatedly reminded the Baha’is, by intermittently and arbitrarily detaining and deporting them, that they do not belong.  Recently, in 2025, the case of Wahid Bahji drew international attention. Born and raised in Qatar and a member of the National Spiritual …