(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.