Tag: Iran

Convert in Sweden tells of ‘nightmares every night’ amid fears of deportation and Iranian jail

June 8, 2018 Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Converts, Iran, Sweden

Iranian convert, Aideen Strandsson, is still waiting for an appeal hearing after her asylum request in Sweden was rejected. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An asylum-seeker stuck in legal limbo in Sweden has said she has “nightmares every night” that police are following her in order to arrest her and deport her to Iran, where her conversion to Christianity could land her in prison. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who took a Swedish surname when she . . . Read More

Assessment of religious conversions as genuine or asylum-motivated dismissed as naïve

June 8, 2018 Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Denmark, Europe, Finland, Germany, Iran, Kurds, Middle East, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sweden

Revd Mark Miller of St Thomas' Church, Stockton, in north-east England, The Priest-in-Charge of St Thomas’s, Stockton-on-Tees, the Revd Mark Miller, has had up to 100 Persian asylum-seekers in his congregation

Attempts by Western politicians and media to judge whether Iranian migrants and asylum-seekers who ask to be baptised are either genuine or are doing so to boost their chances of being granted asylum are “naïve”, according to an academic who has carried out extensive research among Iranians who profess to . . . Read More

Four Iranian Christians set to begin ten-year prison sentences

June 6, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, House churches, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Religious freedom, Saheb Fadaie, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

From left: Saheb Fadaie, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi.

The four Iranian Christians who saw their ten-year prison sentences upheld by an appeal court earlier this month are expecting to have to report to prison any day now. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, and fellow Church of Iran members Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi could receive a call . . . Read More

US religious freedom report shows ‘no progress’ in Myanmar

May 30, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Aung San Suu Kyi, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kachin, Middle East, Mike Pompeo, Minorities, Mohammad bin Salman, Myanmar, Prisons, Refugees, Religious freedom, Rohingya, Sam Brownback, Saudi Arabia, USA

Displaced Kachin residents cross the Malikha river on 26 April to escape the fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government troops. (Photo: ZAU RING HPARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Iran are among the countries criticised for their religious-freedom records in the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, launched yesterday (29 May) in Washington DC. The report references the violence against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, whose situation is still . . . Read More

Temporary release for one Iranian Christian, court hearings for others

May 14, 2018 Iran Converts, Evin Prison, Iran, Karaj, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

An Iranian Christian imprisoned last year for actions against national security has been granted “a few days” leave of absence, according to London-based advocacy organisation Article 18. Sevada Aghaser, a choir leader in an Armenian Orthodox church in the capital Tehran, is serving a five-year sentence in the capital’s notorious . . . Read More

Brunson’s trial highlights Turkey’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ tactic

May 4, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Human rights, Iran, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

On the eve of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s second court hearing in Turkey, growing international comment has focused on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s transparent “hostage diplomacy” tactic, one of several issues seriously souring his nation’s relations with the United States. The upcoming 7 May hearing near Turkey’s third-largest . . . Read More

Iranian Christians’ jail terms ‘increasing’

May 3, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Prisons, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

An appeal court in Iran has upheld the ten-year prison sentences handed down to four Christians for “promoting Zionist Christianity” and running house churches. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi received notification from the court through their lawyer yesterday (2 May), said Middle East Concern. . . . Read More

Iran: appeal heard by judge with ‘poor track record in dealing with Christians’

April 26, 2018 Iran Ahmed Shaheed, Amin Afshar Naderi, Assyrians, Blasphemy, Converts, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Proselytism, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

Four Iranian Christians each sentenced to at least ten years in prison had their first appeal hearing yesterday (25 April). In the hearing, initially scheduled for February but postponed, a judge heard the case of Christian converts Hadi Asgari, Amin Afshar-Naderi, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi and Assyrian pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz. At least . . . Read More

North Korea, China, Russia and Iran ‘forces of instability’

April 24, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Andrew Brunson, Chechnya, China, Human rights, Iran, Liberia, Mexico, Myanmar, North Korea, Rohingya, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Uyghurs, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Tibetan Buddhists as well as Uyghur Muslims are among the minority groups that Chinese authorities are clamping down on. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has called North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran “forces of instability” in its latest set of country reports on human rights, saying they “violate the human rights of those within their borders on a daily basis”. The 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published on . . . Read More

Iran: do non-Muslims have the right to hold elected public office or not?

April 20, 2018 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Khomeini, Elections, Iran, Minorities, Sepanta Niknam, Sharia, Yazd, Zoroastrians

In Iran, which is 90-95 per cent Shia Muslim, the passing of a date set for a decision over whether a non-Muslim can hold an elected public office is significant for the country’s religious minorities and their rights. The date, April 5, passed without that decision being made for a . . . Read More

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