Ethnic Iranians are seen as being Muslim, and carrying out any Christian activities in their Farsi language is illegal. An Iranian man who leaves Islam can be sentenced to death and a woman to life imprisonment, although such sentences haven’t been carried out for more than 20 years. However, in 2017 over a dozen Christians – most of them converts to Christianity – were given prison sentences of between 10 and 15 years for “acting against national security”. According to religious freedom watchdog Article 18, such political charges attempt “to avoid international outcry at religiously motivated charges”. Several imprisoned Iranian Christians have undertaken hunger strikes in protest.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confiscates Christian literature as ‘publicity stunt’
Photographs released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard showing large quantities of confiscated Christian materials were a “publicity stunt” that reflected the Iranian regime’s fear of Christianity, says religious freedom advocate Mansour Borji. Borji, from advocacy group Article 18, told World Watch Monitor that the photographs, which were initially released in July, […]
Christian children in Iran told: ‘study Islam or leave school’
Christian children in two large Iranian cities have been told to either study Shia Islam or leave school. The children are members of the non-Trinitarian ‘Church of Iran’ denomination in the northern city of Rasht, near the Caspian Sea, and the historical southern city of Shiraz, respectively. Until recently the […]
Freed from prison after 4 years, Christian woman ‘banned from leaving Iran’
An Iranian Christian woman, who recently completed a four-year jail sentence for “violating national security” through her work with “house churches”, says she has been banned from leaving the country for six months. Maryam Naghash Zargaran, 39, who undertook several hunger strikes in prison to protest against being denied medical […]
Iran’s clerics concerned by spread of Christianity among youth
Christianity is spreading fast among young people in some of Iran’s most religiously conservative cities, causing concern among leading Islamic clerics, who blame foreign influence, according to Mohabat News. One high profile cleric, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, said recently that “accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom […]
Iran: wife of jailed pastor next in court, then their son
The wife of an Iranian pastor sentenced to 10 years in jail is due to appear before an Islamic Revolutionary Court on 21 August, where she will face charges of “participating in foreign Christian seminars” and “acting against Iranian national security”. Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, the wife of Victor Bet-Tamraz, was […]
Iranian Christian Maryam Naghash Zargaran released after four years in prison
After four years’ imprisonment for “violating national security”, Iranian Christian Maryam Naghash Zargaran was released from Tehran’s Evin prison last night (1 August). She was due to be released four days earlier, on 28 July, but, as Mohabat News reported, this was delayed without explanation. Naghash Zargaran, 39, a convert […]
Iranian Christian out on bail after 3-week hunger strike
An Iranian Christian sentenced to 15 years in jail has been released on bail, three weeks after writing an open letter to the authorities, asking what he had done to “make you hate me this much” and declaring that he had decided to “terminate my life slowly” through a hunger […]
Jailed Christian on hunger strike to protest against treatment of Iranian converts
Another imprisoned Iranian Christian has begun a hunger strike to protest against the recent rash of sentences against Christians in Iran. Ebrahim Firouzi, 30, who has five years left of his own sentence for “acting against national security”, followed fellow convert to Christianity Amin Afshar-Naderi in writing a statement criticising […]
‘Thousands’ of Iranians claiming asylum in Europe as converts to Christianity
Thousands of Iranian asylum-seekers across Europe are turning to Christianity, though observers are not convinced that all claims of conversion are genuine. A BBC documentary, Praying for Asylum, tells the story of a number of Iranian asylum-seekers in the Netherlands who say they have become Christians and would be exposed […]
New Anglican bishop tells of Iranian persecution and exile
Firsthand experience of persecution has returned to the top levels of the Church of England with the appointment of a bishop whose brother was murdered and whose parents were attacked in their bed during the Iranian Revolution. Guli Francis-Dehqani was last week (11 July) named the Bishop of Loughborough with a […]