Bahareh Zare Bahari is an Iranian woman known for fighting extradition and pleading for asylum in the Philippines.

Bahareh represented Iran at the 2018 Miss Intercontinental pageant in Manila. She has studied dental medicine in the Philippines since 2014.^[1]

On October 22, 2019, it was reported that Bahareh has been held for six days at the Philippines’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport after Iran slapped an Interpol Red Notice on her for alleged assault and battery charges.^[1][2] She was stopped at the airport as she returned from a two-week vacation to Dubai.^[2]

Bahari told The Telegraph that the charges are a "big lie" and that she is being targeted for her political activism and speaking out in support of women’s rights.^[1][2]

Markk Perete, undersecretary at the Philippine Department of Justice, said the alert issued by Iran for Bahari’s extradition stems from a claim that she assaulted a fellow Iranian citizen in the Philippines. But the country's authorities were unaware on the assault, which allegedly took place on their territory.^[2]

Currently, she is pleading for asylum in the Philippines as she fights extradition to her native country. Bahari’s asylum plea is now being considered by the justice department, with the help of a lawyer.^[1][2]

Earlier she angered Iran’s Islamist government by waving a photo of prominent government critic Reza Pahlavi at a pageant.^[4]