Tag: Iran

EU Parliament pleads for Christian safety

October 12, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country All Saints Church, Blasphemy, Churches, Iran, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom, Saeed Abedini, Syria

The European Parliament has gone on record condemning violence against Christians in several countries. In a resolution passed on Thursday, Oct. 10, the parliament: Condemned militant attacks on Christians in Syria, and called for protection of monasteries and humanitarian support for nuns and orphans; Condemned the Sept. 22 bombing attack . . . Read More

Don’t speak, act, Rouhani told

September 19, 2013 Iran Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Minorities, Protestants, Saeed Abedini

Religious minorities continue to face repression in Iran, despite new President Hassan Rouhani’s moderate persona, reports Al-Monitor. Al-Monitor says the new President should speak with actions, not words, as he prepares to address the UN General Assembly in New York next week. “Since Rouhani’s election in June, there has been . . . Read More

Retired pastor tried in Tehran

September 11, 2013 Iran Iran, Mostafa Bordbar, Proselytism

The trial of a retired Iranian-Armenian pastor started on September 7 at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, nine months after his arrest, reports Mohabat News. Vruir Avanessian, 61, is accused of “action against national security” and “proselytising Farsi-speaking citizens”. His trial took place behind closed doors. Avanessian, who suffers from . . . Read More

Jail then exile for Iranian convert

August 20, 2013 Iran Ebrahim Firouzi, Exile, Iran

Iranian Christian convert Ebrahim Firouzi, 28, has been jailed for one year for “evangelism activities [which are] considered in opposition to the regime of the Republic Islamic of Iran”. (Source: Mohabat) Firouzi, who was arrested in March and could not afford a lawyer, will then spend two years in exile . . . Read More

‘Your wife arrested, your father dead’

August 19, 2013 Iran Converts, Farshid Fathi, Iran, Prisons

An imprisoned Iranian convert to Christianity has spoken of the “mental torture” he has experienced since his arrest in December 2010. Mohabat News reports that Farshid Fathi, who is serving a six-year jail term for being the “chief director of a foreign organisation in Iran and raising funds for [them]”, . . . Read More

Iranian convert jailed for 10 years

August 6, 2013 Iran Converts, Iran, Mostafa Bordbar

Mostafa Bordbar.World Watch Monitor Mostafa Bordbar, an Iranian convert to Christianity, has been jailed for 10 years (Source: Mohabat News). Bordbar, 27, who was arrested last year, was sentenced to five years for membership of an “anti-security organisation” and five years for partaking in “gatherings with intent to commit . . . Read More

All change again in the Middle East

July 7, 2013 Andrew Bennett, Baghdad, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Canada, Copts, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, London, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, Religious freedom, Saddam Hussein, Syria

Middle Eastern Christians are experiencing one of the most significant periods in their history, according to religious and political leaders meeting in London last week. Regime changes in Egypt and Iran, and sectarian violence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, have presented an opportunity for the Christian minority to speak out, . . . Read More

‘Freed’ Asseriyan sworn to silence

July 4, 2013 Iran Assemblies of God, Iran, Robert Asseriyan, Tehran

Robert Asseriyan, the Iranian pastor arrested during a church service on May 21, has been freed, Mohabat News reports. Asseriyan, of the Assemblies of God Church in Tehran, was reportedly released on bail on July 2. Mohabat says the condition for his freedom is for him to remain silent, after . . . Read More

Rouhani victory ‘not free nor fair’

June 19, 2013 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Elections, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Tehran

Iran’s elections were neither free nor fair, according to Mansour Osanloo, former President of the Tehran Bus Driver’s Union, writing for the New York Times. Hassan Rouhani won the June 15 election, but the real power, Osanloo said, still lies with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Gender-based violence ‘wielded mercilessly’ in Muslim countries

June 13, 2013 Angela Merkel, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sharia

Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaWorld Watch Monitor The conclusion of a new report by the US Hudson Institute researcher Lela Gilbert is clear and unequivocal: gender-based violence plays a key strategic role in the plans of those who wish to eradicate Christians and Christian belief from Muslim lands. Gender-Based Violence as . . . Read More

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