Tag: Iran

Jailed Iranian Christian asks authorities: ‘Why do you hate me?’

July 11, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Converts, Evin Prison, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

An Iranian convert to Christianity, sentenced last week to 15 years in jail, has written an open letter to the authorities, asking what he has done to “make you hate me this much” and declaring that he has decided to “terminate my life slowly” through a hunger strike. Amin Afshar-Naderi . . . Read More

Third Iranian convert given lengthy sentence alongside pastor

July 7, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Evin Prison, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Victor Bet-Tamraz

More details have emerged about the sentencing of four Iranian Christians earlier this week. On Wednesday (5 July)*, World Watch Monitor reported that three Christians – a pastor and two converts to Christianity – had been given lengthy jail terms, but now it emerges that a fourth man, another convert, . . . Read More

US Commission urges Trump administration to prioritise international religious freedom

May 18, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Abune Antonios, Andrew Brunson, Central African Republic, China, Donald Trump, Eritrea, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Iran, Mike Pence, Myanmar, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

An influential US government commission that monitors religious freedom around the world is urging President Donald Trump and his new administration to take concrete steps to make advocacy of universal religious rights a priority in American foreign policy. “Our foreign policy should not simply be about US self-interest – you know, . . . Read More

Churches evacuate and shelter migrants after fire devastates Dunkirk camp

April 11, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, France, Grande-Synthe, Iran, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees, Sub-Saharan Africa

Local churches in Dunkirk helped to evacuate terrified migrants late last night (10 April) as a devastating fire spread through their camp in northern France. La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkirk, housed an estimated 1,500 migrants, including a handful of Christian converts, but has now been reduced to “a . . . Read More

Croatian government urged not to expel Iranian Christians

April 5, 2017 Asylum seekers, Calais, Converts, Croatia, Europe, Iran, Islamic extremism, Youcef Nadarkhani

Iran is not a safe place for those who have converted to Christianity. Photo: Open Doors Netherlands

Activists and representatives of the Croatian Baptist Church are urging the state not to deport Christian asylum-seekers to Iran, saying they could face serious consequences because of their faith, reports Balkan Insight. Iran is known to be a country where living as a Christian is difficult, especially for those who . . . Read More

Iranian converts: one needs urgent care, another denied chance to see mum with cancer

March 27, 2017 Iran Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Evin Prison, Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons

The health of Iranian Christian convert, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, continues to decline, sources told Mohabat News. It was reported that over the past week her condition worsened and she is again in need of urgent medical care. According to a prison mate, Zargaran is also suffering from severe weight loss. The stressful . . . Read More

Accounts surface of persecution of Christians in Dunkirk migrants’ camp

March 15, 2017 Afghanistan, Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, France, Grande-Synthe, Iran, Iraq, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees, Shiraz, Syria, Vietnam

Outside the windswept port of Dunkirk, in northern France, sits a migrants’ camp called La Linière. Home to around 1,400 people, it lies 25 miles from Calais and the now-demolished camp that became known as the “Jungle”. La Linière opened a year ago, with the collaboration of Médicins sans Frontières . . . Read More

Inside a migrant camp in northern France

March 15, 2017 Calais, France, Grande-Synthe, Iran, Iraq, Kurds, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees

Armed police amass outside as the day draws to a close at La Linière migrant camp in Grande-Synthe, northern France, which has just celebrated its one-year anniversary. There was an incident last night and there’s every chance another could follow tonight. This camp may boast a new, prettier face, but . . . Read More

Iran’s hidden Christians are becoming visible in the migrant camps of Europe

March 15, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, Grande-Synthe, Iran, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees, Shiraz, Zoroastrians

A pastor in northern France has described her church’s ministry to Middle Eastern migrants in a nearby camp as “the mission field coming to you”. The church’s leader, Pastor Lydie Granger, said that among the estimated 1,400 migrants living in the camp outside Dunkirk were around 40 Iranians who had . . . Read More

Helping Dunkirk’s migrants – God’s will or collusion in illegal entry?

March 15, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Iran, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees

Iranian migrants line up for prayer alongside other members of the congregation at the Dk Live church in Dunkirk

Reaching out to the migrants who arrive in the north of France presents the Church with a weighty dilemma. The migrants have generally paid smugglers several thousand pounds to help them to cross Europe, and have their eyes – and their hearts – set on reaching England, which will mean . . . Read More

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