Tag: Iran

Iranian church closed, cross torn down

May 24, 2019 Iran Armenians, Assyrians, Crosses, Iran, Minorities

The cross was removed from the church's tower. (Photo: Article 18)

An Assyrian church in northwestern Iran has been closed down and the cross removed from its tower, reports advocacy organisation Article 18. A “large number” of agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and EIKO, an organisation presided over by the Supreme Leader, reportedly stormed the 100-year-old-church on 9 May, changed . . . Read More

Iran continues to arrest Christians, on eve of 40th anniversary of revolution

February 13, 2019 Iran Church of Iran, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Ayatollah Khomeini spoke about human rights and religious freedom when he returned to Iran 40 years ago. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Iran’s security officials have arrested three Christians who were leading a house church in the absence of their pastor who is serving a ten-year jail sentence, reports Article 18. In the latest raid on a non-Trinitarian “Church of Iran” on Sunday, 10 February, in the northern city of Rasht, officers . . . Read More

Iranian officials interrogate 65-year-old Christian woman for 10 days, day and night

February 1, 2019 Iran Evin Prison, Iran, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz

Some Christians end up in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison, referred to as "the world's most brutal prison". (Photo: Getty Images)

Iranian authorities continue to arrest Christians, among them a 65-year-old woman who was held in detention and interrogated for ten days, day and night. Security officials raided Ruhsari Kamberi’s home in Karaj, 50km west of the capital Tehran, a few days before Christmas while she was there with four other . . . Read More

Iran: Crackdown on Christians continues with reports of beatings

December 19, 2018 Iran Ahwaz, Converts, House churches, Iran, Karaj, Khuzestan, Mashhad

Christian leaders in Iran have said that pressure on Christians increases every year around Christmas but that this year it is particularly severe. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

At least seven Iranian Christian converts have been arrested in Iran in the last two weeks, including two sisters who allegedly have been beaten. Shima Zanganeh, 27, and her sister, Shokoufeh, 30, were arrested by Intelligence Service officials in their homes in Ahvaz, capital of Iran’s western Khuzestan province, on 2 . . . Read More

Pakistan joins US list of worst religious freedom violators

December 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, China, Comoros, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan is among the ten countries that appear on the US State Department’s latest list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced in a press statement on Tuesday, 11 December. China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and . . . Read More

UK parliamentary group calls out 27 countries for ‘significant’ religious freedom violations

December 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Ahmed Shaheed, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Human rights, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tariq Ahmad, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

A church in Bartella, a town near the Iraqi city of Mosul, after Islamic State militants left the area in October 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A “Commentary on the Current State of Freedom of Religion or Belief” presented by a group of British parliamentarians today, 10 December, highlights 27 countries where people’s religious freedom has been denied and abused in the past year. The report, presented by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International . . . Read More

70 years since universal declaration, human rights ‘ignored and abused all over the world’

December 7, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Andrew Brunson, China, Colombia, Dalits, Don Ossewaarde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Human rights, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Myanmar, New York, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey, UN

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Monday, 10 December, rights group ADF International has called for “recommitment” to the founding principles, which it says are being “consistently ignored and abused … all over the world”. Chief among those rights, ADF notes, is the . . . Read More

Iran: ‘staggering’ number of Christians arrested – 114 in a week

December 5, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Christmas, Ebrahim Firouzi, Evin Prison, Iran, Karaj, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons, Proselytism, Rajaei Shahr Prison, Tehran

Over 100 Christians have been arrested in Iran in the past week and nearly 150 in the past month, as part of the government’s attempt to “warn” Christians against proselytising over Christmas, according to the advocacy director of religious freedom charity Article 18. Mansour Borji called the number of arrests . . . Read More

Two Iranian converts arrested and taken to unknown locations

November 21, 2018 Iran Converts, House churches, Iran, Karaj, Mashhad, Rajaei Shahr Prison

Behnam Ersali and Davood Rasooli were arrested last week Friday, 16 November. (Photo: Mohabat News, Facebook)

Two Iranian Christian converts were taken by Iran’s security agents in two separate raids on houses in Karaj and Mashhad on Friday, 16 November, reports Middle East Concern (MEC). Behnam Ersali and Davood Rasooli had agreed to meet in Mashhad on Friday when they were both arrested. It is believed . . . Read More

Iranian Christians sentenced, verdict says ‘claiming Jesus is Lord is attack against Islam’

October 2, 2018 Iran Church of Iran, Converts, House churches, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Two Iranian Christians have been given prison sentences for “spreading propaganda against the regime”, reports Middle East Concern. Saheb Fadaei and Fatimeh Bakhteri, who belong to the non-Trinitarian “Church of Iran”, were sentenced to 18 and 12 months, respectively. Middle East Concern noted that in the verdict it was written . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye