Between September 30 and October 3, 1998, immediately after the first batch of BIHE graduates got admitted into Master's level studies in a Canadian University, members of the Iranian Government's intelligence agency, the Ministry of Information, started a large-scale crackdown, when officials raided over 500 Baháʼí homes, confiscated teaching materials and arrested more than 36 faculty members. Those who had been arrested were asked, while in custody, to sign a document declaring that the BIHE had ceased to exist and that they would no longer cooperate with it. They refused to sign any such declaration. Most of those who were arrested were released soon afterwards, but four were given prison sentence ranging from three to 10 years. The faculty, administrators and the students were all determined to continue the pursuit of knowledge against all odds.