There have already been 25 convictions in 2022 compared to 15 in 2021. In the first six months of the year, 58 arrests were made (72 last year). Tehran uses false accusations of violating national security and espionage to “silence” minorities. Especially persecuted were converts from Islam and those who spoke Persian. The entry of new faithful to the communities has been prohibited.
Tehran () – Despite proclamations of religious freedom, in Iran the government’s repression against Christians (and others) is becoming harsher and this year there has been an escalation of arrests and convictions that already exceed at least partially the figures from previous years. In 2022, the judges imposed 25 sentences compared to the 15 registered in all of 2021. As for arrests, in the first half of this year the figures speak of 58 citizens questioned and imprisoned, with figures that are already close to 72 arrests totals from the previous year.
Human rights activists and NGOs appeal to the international community, which cannot “remain silent” as Tehran resorts to spurious accusations of “national security and espionage” violations to “silence minorities, expel them or force them to displace”. In the last decade, explains Article18, which specializes in documenting cases of violations of religious freedom in Iran, the government has closed almost all Persian-speaking churches and those that remain must prove that “their members were Christians before the revolution.” of 1979″. At the same time, the entry of new faithful is “strictly prohibited”.
The latest documented case concerns a 63-year-old man arrested in mid-August (along with his wife), suffering from Parkinson’s in an advanced stage, and two other people aged 58 and 48 in early September, all sadly locked up in the famous prison of Evin, on the outskirts of the capital. They are accused of professing the Christian faith, although the Iranian authorities acknowledge that only one of the four is a “true Christian”: Joseph Shahbazian, 58, of Armenian origin and therefore of “Christian ethnicity”. While the others (Homayoun Zhaveh, his wife Sara and Malihe Nazari) are Persian, born Muslim and, in the eyes of the government, remain so. No possibility of conversion, no freedom of worship.
If Iranians of Armenian (and Assyrian) origin can celebrate, at least partially, the rites of their faith in their respective churches, they cannot, however, teach in the local language or welcome into the community those who were born professing Islam. . This repression led to an escalation of arbitrary arrests and caused numerous activist and pro-rights groups to sound the alarm about the plight of Christians, Bahá’ís, Ganabadís and atheists in the country.
Figures for converts are difficult to verify, although according to some, at least a million Muslims have embraced Christianity. But the truth is that they do not have a place of worship to meet and are often forced to pray and hold celebrations in private homes (domestic churches), which were also the object of raids and searches by the police.
Even the supreme leader himself spoke in 2010 of the “house-churches”, calling them “false schools of mysticism” that must be destroyed and persecuted because they are “enemies of Islam […] and their goal is to undermine religion in society.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thus legitimized the subsequent waves of arrests undertaken by the authorities. Which is directly related to the case of Joseph, Malihe, Homayoun and Sara, the last Iranian Christians – one recognized, the others unrecognized – who were arrested and charged, and are currently in jail for participating in a house church. For this “crime” the former must serve up to 10 years in prison, Sara eight, Malihe six and Homayoun two.
Add Comment