Convert begins prison sentence for ‘promoting Christianity’ 4 June 2021 News An Iranian Christian convert has begun serving his nine-month prison sentence for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic by promoting evangelical Christianity”. Reza Zaeemi, 40, handed himself in to the authorities at the Karaj Central Prison on Wednesday, 2 June, after receiving a summons last month. He initially went to the prison a week earlier, but was told to come back another time, as no judge was available to receive him. Reza was arrested on the street outside his home on 27 November 2020. He was blindfolded and handcuffed, then taken to an unknown location, where he was interrogated for four hours, before being transferred to a detention centre belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. After two days, he was taken to the prosecutor’s office, where the charge of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” was read out to him. Reza was then taken back to the Revolutionary Guard detention centre for a further eight days, before being transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. A week later, he was released on bail of 60 million tomans (around $2,750). He was not allowed to call his family for the first eight days of his 17 days in detention. On 25 January 2021, Reza was sentenced to 18 months in prison at the 4th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, but on 25 April an appeals court reduced his sentence by half. He also faces a two-year travel ban following his release. Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, said: “It is quite clear from the charges against Reza that he is being sent to prison only because of his religious beliefs, in spite of the regime’s repeated claims that ‘no-one is imprisoned on account of their beliefs in Iran’. “We call on the Iranian government to immediately revoke this sentence and to explain why, contrary to its claims, Christian converts and other unrecognised religious minorities continue to be prosecuted and imprisoned for no other reason than their personal beliefs, in violation of the international covenants to which Iran is a party, and also of Iran’s constitution, which states that ‘no-one may be molested or taken to task for holding a particular belief’.” A second Christian convert was also arrested and sentenced alongside Reza but did not want to publicise his case.
Christian convert recognised as refugee, can’t be sent back to Iran 3 June 2021 News Bigan Farokhpour Haghighi with his wife, Marzieh, and their 17-year-old son Sina. An Iranian Christian convert who was facing the threat of imminent deportation from Turkey has been granted protected status as a recognised refugee. Bigan Farokhpour Haghighi, who will celebrate his 49th birthday on Sunday, was yesterday released after more than a month’s detention in a camp in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, from which it was feared he would be forcibly flown back to Iran. But yesterday the asylum-seeker was informed that he had been granted protected status, following his interview with immigration officials the day before, and this morning he received his new identity card, confirming his new status as a refugee. In coming to this decision, the Turkish immigration authorities stated that they recognised Bigan’s life could be in danger were he to return to Iran. Bigan has previously spent nine months in prison because of his conversion to Christianity and subsequent membership of a house-church, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. He has been in Turkey since 2018, when he, his wife Marzieh, and their 17-year-old son, Sina, who is a paraplegic, applied for asylum with the UNHCR. They have since been based in Denizli, 220km northwest of Antalya, but in December 2019 Bigan was told he was to be deported because of an alleged failure to sign in at his local police station for three consecutive months. Bigan denied the claims and even asked the officials to check the cameras on the dates he had attended, but they refused and his three subsequent appeals were rejected – including, most recently, by Turkey’s Supreme Court. A month after the deportation order, Bigan told the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center that he had only been released from prison on the condition he never returned. “You have to leave Iran or we will arrest you again,” Bigan was told. “… We know your family is in Turkey. We even know which city they’re in. We know all this. If you leave the country, you won’t have a problem, but if you stay and make a mistake, we will sentence you to prison many times over. Let this be a reminder! We accept your conditional release on these terms! Sign it!” In the same interview, Bigan said he was scared of what may happen to his wife and paraplegic son were he to be deported. For the last month, he has been separated from them, and fearing deportation any day. Now, he can finally return home to be reunited with them and celebrate his birthday together on Sunday. One new challenge has arisen, however; though his family reside in Denizli, Bigan has been told he must make the three-hour trip to Antalya every month to renew his refugee permit. But, for now, he and his family are counting their blessings. Bigan and Marzieh told Article18 simply: “We thank all the people who have cared for us at this difficult time, and praise God for them.”
Prison deadline looms for Parkinson’s sufferer and wife 27 May 2021 News An Iranian Christian convert with advanced Parkinson’s disease and his wife have been told they must submit themselves to Tehran’s Evin Prison by 15 June. Homayoun Zhaveh, 62, and Sara Ahmadi, 43, face two and eight years in prison, respectively, for belonging to a house-church. Christianity is a recognised minority religion in Iran, but converts like Homayoun and Sara aren’t recognised as Christians and are prohibited from attending the services of Iran’s recognised ethnic Armenian and Assyrian Christians. As a result, Iran’s converts, of whom there are believed to be at least several hundred thousand, have to choose between practising their faith alone at home, or taking the risk to join a house-church, which the Iranian regime refers to as “enemy groups” with “anti-security purposes”. (In reality, house-churches look very similar to the “house groups” Christians around the world belong to, simply providing a place for Christians to meet together to worship and pray.) It is within this context that Homayoun and Sara were sentenced to prison in November 2020. They were also banned from foreign travel or membership of any social or political group for two years after their release, and given six months’ community service at a centre for the mentally disabled. Sara was in fact sentenced to 11 years in prison in all – eight years for leadership of the church, and three years for membership – but in December 2020 an appeal-court judge ruled that Sara must serve only the longer sentence of eight years and not also the three-year sentence. (The judge was enforcing a legal norm in Iran whereby if a person faces two charges of a similar nature, for the same action, only the one with the higher penalty stands.) Sara and Homayoun received a summons to begin their sentences back in March, but their lawyer filed for a retrial with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court acknowledged receipt of the letter, but this did not mean their case would necessarily be heard. And on 16 May, those responsible for securing the couple’s release on bail received a written warning that if Sara and Homayoun did not appear at Evin Prison within 30 days, the property deeds they had submitted as collateral would be forfeited. Sara and Homayoun’s bank accounts have since been frozen. The couple’s only hope now is that the Supreme Court takes on their case, or at least agrees to allow Homayoun to pay a fine instead of going to prison, owing to his ill health. But even were this to happen and Sara still had to go to prison, Homayoun would lose not only his wife but also his primary carer. Article18’s advocacy director Mansour Borji said: “We call on the Iranian authorities to overturn this cruel and unjust sentence. We also call on the international community to be the voice for this Christian couple, and to apply maximum pressure on the Iranian regime until it ceases to persecute innocent citizens like Homayoun and Sara for the peaceful practice of their beliefs.”
Christian converts charged under Iran’s newly amended ‘propaganda’ law 12 May 2021 News Left to right: Milad Goodarzi, Amin Khaki, and Alireza Nourmohammadi. Three Christian converts in Fardis, near Tehran, have become the first known examples of Christians being charged under the contentious recent amendments to the Iranian penal code. Amin Khaki, Milad Goodarzi and Alireza Nourmohammadi, who have already spent time in prison for their Christian activities, have been charged in the past two weeks with “engaging in propaganda that educates in a deviant way contrary to the holy religion of Islam” – wording lifted directly from the newly amended Article 500 of the penal code. They were each forced to submit bail of 250 million tomans (around $12,000) and told they must report weekly to the intelligence branch of Iran’s police force for the next six months. The fresh charges against Amin, Milad and Alireza follow coordinated raids by intelligence agents on their homes, and on the homes of nine other Christian families in Fardis, in November 2020. None of the Christians were arrested at that time, but many of their personal belongings were confiscated – including phones, laptops, Bibles, Christian literature and anything else to do with Christianity. The Christian items have not been returned. Then in the space of two weeks in January and February 2021, a member of each family was summoned for interrogation and ordered to sign commitments to refrain from meeting together – either in person or online. As Article18 noted at the time, Iranian Christians are routinely asked during interrogations to sign commitments to refrain from gathering together in house-churches, but this was the first known example of intelligence officials demanding they sign a commitment to have no further social engagements together at all, including online. And once again, it was a direct result of the newly amended Article 500, which prohibits “psychological manipulation” or so-called “mind control” by members of “sects” – in the “real or virtual sphere”, i.e. in person or online. When the Christians refused to sign the commitments, they were threatened with long prison sentences and told it would be better for them if they left the country. And while only Amin, Milad and Alireza have so far been officially charged, the other Christians have also been threatened with imprisonment or other ramifications, such as employment restrictions. Background The controversial amendments to Article 500 and also 499 – which relates to membership or organisation of “anti-security groups” – were ratified by Iran’s Guardian Council in March, having been signed into law by President Hassan Rouhani in February. They were initially proposed in Iran’s parliament in May last year, but were twice rejected by the Guardian Council, which must approve all bills. Ever since the amendments were proposed, rights groups including Article18 warned they could be used to further clamp down on unrecognised religious minorities, including Christian converts, as the two articles were already routinely used in the prosecution of converts. ARTICLE 19, an organisation dedicated to the protection of freedom of speech, called the changes to Article 500 in particular “a full-on attack on the right to freedom of religion and belief”. And Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, labelled both amendments “a catastrophe” and “disservice to justice”, which will “bring more ambiguity to an already ambiguous set of charges … and decrease the chance that a judge may act in a more tolerant way towards house-church members, by providing greater scope within the law to bring charges on these vaguely-defined grounds”. He added that the new amendments would be “celebrated by Iran’s intelligence agencies, who are always in the background in court cases against Christians, pressuring judges to impose the harshest possible sentence”. Human rights lawyer Hossein Ahmadiniaz had previously warned that the amendments would “facilitate the repression and punishment of Christian converts and others belonging to unrecognised religious groups”. Meanwhile, Hamid Gharagozloo from the International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights (IOPHR) cautioned: “By making it a crime to be part of a sect, and banning a group as a ‘sect’, it gives them an open hand to crush any form of uprising or dissatisfaction with the government… Any form of defiance will be labelled as a ‘sect’, and then it will be punishable by law.”
Foster mother to 12 girls forced out of Iran for ‘leading them away from Islam’ 8 May 2021 Features Bita and the 12 girls she looked after for over a decade and who she still refers to as her “daughters”. Foster mother Bita Rezaee was known as “auntie” to the 12 girls she had looked after for over a decade when she was arrested in April 2015. Her only biological child, Sam, was asleep when five agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence stormed into their home in Shahin Shahr, near Isfahan, and took Bita away. It was the day before Sam’s fifth birthday, and he was so traumatised by the incident that he was still visibly affected weeks later. And why was his mother arrested? Because Bita is a Christian convert, who had set up a refuge for vulnerable young girls – aged between six and nine when they first arrived – which the intelligence agents alleged had been purchased with the help of “foreign Christians”, with the “aim of leading the girls away from Islam”. Bita strongly denied the claims, telling the agents she had “introduced the girls to the way of Christian forgiveness and love, without mentioning the name of Jesus Christ”, but her protestations fell on deaf ears. The refuge was forcibly closed and the girls – abused or rejected daughters – were sent into state care, from which several of them later ran away. Meanwhile, Bita spent much of the next year in prison, while Sam had to live with her estranged husband. Bita and Sam are now seeking asylum in Germany. Bita was initially detained for three months – half of which was spent in solitary confinement – in the notorious “A.T.” ward of Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison. And during this time, Bita told Article18 she “endured a lot of psychological pressure”. “For example, in the middle of the night a man wearing only underwear would come into my cell and throw a blanket into the room,” she explained. “I was very scared that he was going to abuse me. “I was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, for interrogation. They kicked me hard in the chair several times, and I fell to the ground. “I was interrogated for long hours. Because I didn’t have a watch, I didn’t know exactly how long they were interrogating me, but the interrogation started early in the morning, then at around noon, when I was extremely tired, they left the interrogation room to rest and I was left alone. Then they returned and the interrogations continued. “They kept asking the same questions, loudly and violently. And when I didn’t give the desired answer, they increased the pressure. “They wanted to get me to confess that I had ‘apostatised’ the children, preached and taught Christianity, and received financial support from other countries. “Sometimes a question was repeated 20 times and I had to write the answer 20 times.” Bita was eventually released on bail, but a week later she was detained again – this time in Isfahan’s Dolatabad Prison, where she was held for a further three months, mostly in solitary confinement. “The interrogators wanted to know more about how I’d set up the refuge, and where I’d got the money,” she explained. “They thought we were funded by churches in America.” Finally, one day, Bita’s name was surprisingly read out among the prisoners who would be released that day, but before the year was out, in December 2015, Bita was imprisoned for a third time – again in Dolatabad Prison – for another three months. “During all this time I was not allowed to get a lawyer,” Bita explained. “But anyway the lawyers I spoke to about my case were reluctant to accept my representation because my case was a ‘security’ case and the prosecutor was the Ministry of Intelligence.” Bita was finally released in March 2016, having been forced to sign a commitment to refrain from engaging in any kind of work – whether involving children or not – ever again. For the next two years, Bita was regularly summoned for interrogation, asked about her activities, and warned that she was being watched. “They asked me about a particular Christian pastor,” Bita told Article18. “I was asked to contact this person and take the names of Persian-speaking believers from him and pass them on to the intelligence agents. Basically, I was asked to spy on my faithful brothers in church. I didn’t accept their offer, and they threatened to detain me again if I didn’t cooperate.” During one interrogation, when Bita was blindfolded, the agent kicked the chair from beneath her feet, and her head smacked against the wall, leaving her with a nasty eye injury. When her father saw the wound, he told her it was time for her to leave Iran. Though Bita initially resisted, she explained that even after the case against her was closed and her bail returned to her, “the security agents kept calling me regularly and asking various questions: ‘Where are you now? What are you doing?’ And they repeatedly warned me that ‘You are not allowed to do any work or activity, not even as the secretary of an office, until you return to Islam and prove that you are a Muslim.’” Finally, in April 2018, three years after her initial arrest and just a few days before Sam’s eighth birthday, Bita and Sam flew to Germany, where they are now seeking asylum. Sam is now 11 and is excelling in his new school, while Bita is now “auntie” to the children of many other refugee families. Their asylum claims have not yet been accepted, but Bita is hopeful that she and Sam can forge a new life for themselves in Germany. Perhaps in time she may even be able to work with children again. But Bita is often tearful as she talks about the “daughters” and beloved homeland that she was forced to leave behind. “After my release, I had to hide my Bible somewhere every night, so that if the agents came to arrest me, they wouldn’t be able to find it,” Bita explained. “I couldn’t do any work or any other activities. “Because I was constantly under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, I finally forced myself to leave Iran.”
Iranian Christian convert faces deportation from Turkey, separation from paraplegic son 7 May 2021 News Bigan Farokhpour Haghighi with his son, Sina, who is 17 years old. An Iranian Christian convert faces imminent deportation from Turkey, which would separate him from his wife and paraplegic son and risk his re-arrest and imprisonment. Bigan Farokhpour Haghighi, who is 48 years old, is currently in a camp in Antalya, southwest Turkey, awaiting deportation, having failed with his appeals to two Turkish courts. He was taken to the camp on Thursday last week, 29 April, even though he still awaits the result of a third appeal – to the Supreme Court in Ankara – against the December 2019 verdict. The deportation notice was served because of Bigan’s alleged failure to sign at a local police station in their resident city of Denizli for three consecutive months – something he denies. His wife, Marzieh, told Article18 that Bigan had even asked the officials to check the cameras on the dates he attended, but that they responded that they could not do so. Bigan and Marzieh have been together in Turkey with their son, Sina, who is 17, since 2018, when they applied for asylum with the UNHCR as a result of the persecution they had faced in Iran as Christian converts. They initially applied for asylum years earlier, with Bigan facing a three-year prison sentence for his membership of a house-church. But when they learned that the lawyer defending Bigan was going to have his licence revoked, and that the elderly couple who had paid for Bigan’s bail were going to lose their house, Bigan felt compelled to return. “I returned to Iran because of my humanity and faith,” he explained in a January 2020 interview with the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. “It was not right in God’s sight for me to want to stay with my family in Turkey and have the house documents of an old man and woman, who were really not in a very good condition. If I stayed in Turkey, their house would be 100% confiscated.” So Bigan returned to Iran and submitted himself to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz. He was released on parole nine months later on the condition that he leave Iran immediately. “You have to leave Iran or we will arrest you again,” Bigan was told. “Like your other friends who were arrested again. You will face heavier sentences and deportation!” “We know your family is in Turkey,” his interrogators added. “We even know which city they’re in. We know all this. If you leave the country, you won’t have a problem, but if you stay and make a mistake, we will sentence you to prison many times over. Let this be a reminder! We accept your conditional release on these terms! Sign it!” So Bigan did sign, received his parole, left the prison – and Iran – and joined his family in Denizli. Bigan with his wife, Marzieh, and their son Sina. But now he faces the threat of another enforced separation from his family and return to Iran, and all the dangers that may entail, including Bigan’s promised re-arrest and imprisonment. Bigan has gone on the record as saying he converted to Christianity because of the “suffocating” pressure of the Iranian regime, and he has already been sentenced to 50 lashes for his conversion – a sentence that was eventually changed to a hefty fine. The judge who sentenced him in 2013, at the revolutionary court in Shiraz, Seyed Mahmood Sadati, even told him explicitly that Christian converts like Bigan must be “stopped”, and threatened him with a 10-year sentence. “We have no problem with those who inherit religion from their parents being in our country,” Judge Sadati said. “But not those who leave Islam and join other religions. We have a problem with these people, and we must help them and guide them and prevent them from deviating in this way! They are being misled and they are misleading others! “That is why we must stop them – from now on – so that they do not cause others to deviate. The imprisonment of these people and the flogging of this gentleman [Bigan] should be an example for the rest of those who like to change their religion for any reason – that this is not something we can change!” And because Bigan is from a family of direct descent from the prophet Muhammad, the judge mandated that his 50 lashes should be carried out with maximum force, and that his sentence should not be repealed. “The government of the Islamic Republic is completely opposed to those who change their religion … and either become Baha’is, or Christians, or Jews, or Zoroastrians,” Bigan explained in his 2020 interview. “For this reason, the government infiltrates or pursues these converts, in an attempt to destroy them or prevent them from further meetings, because the repetition of these meetings, and the addition of new members to each group, is in a way to the detriment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. That’s why [agents] come and arrest these converts – to put pressure on them, harass them, take their belongings, their money, their jewellery, or anything. And no-one can complain.” Bigan, who was a handicraftsman in Iran, had many of his personal belongings confiscated when he was arrested, including several tools handed down to him by his father, from whom he learned his trade. The tools were never given back, and after his release Bigan’s work permit was revoked, while the medical centre where his son went for treatment refused to care for him any longer. “I was told, ‘Your license has been revoked and you cannot work at all!’” Bigan explained. “I said, ‘So what should I do?’ And the agents said: ‘You can go and buy a taxi!’ I said that I work at home and I love my job and want to continue. They said, ‘If you continue, you will get into trouble again!’” The threat of deportation has been hanging over Bigan since he first arrived in Turkey. In his 2020 interview, Bigan said: “In 2014, I had to send my wife and paraplegic child to Turkey to seek asylum. In my absence, they suffered a lot. If I am deported now, what will be their fate now? “We have many problems in Turkey. Our asylum insurance has been terminated and we do not have a work permit. Wherever they find out that we are Christians, they treat us badly. On the other hand, we are under pressure from the Islamic Republic not to return. We are asking for help.” A petition to stop their deportation has been created through change.org. “Extradition of a political refugee to the country from which he or she fled is prohibited under Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” human rights lawyer Hossein Ahmadiniaz told Article18. “As a member of the United Nations, Turkey is a signatory of this and other international conventions and is bound to comply with its rules. If the deportation goes ahead, Turkey should face prosecution by the European Court of Human Rights.”
Convert faces prison for ‘promoting evangelical Christianity’ 30 April 2021 News An Iranian Christian convert is awaiting a summons to begin a nine-month prison sentence for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic by promoting evangelical Christianity”. Reza Zaeemi, who lives in Karaj, was initially sentenced to 18 months in prison following his arrest in November 2020, but on Sunday, 25 April, an appeals court reduced his custodial sentence by half. The 40-year-old also faces a two-year travel ban following his release. The news of Reza’s case, which has not been made public until now, follows the sentencing earlier this month of another Christian convert, Hamed Ashoori, to 10 months in prison – also because of alleged “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Both were tried at the 4th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj. The case against Reza began with his arrest by plainclothes agents on 27 November 2020, on the street outside his home. Reza was blindfolded and handcuffed, then taken to an unknown location, where he was interrogated for four hours, before being transferred to a detention centre belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. After two days, Reza was taken to the prosecutor’s office, where the charge of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” was read out to him. He was then taken back to the Revolutionary Guard detention centre for a further eight days, before being transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. A week later, he was released on bail of 60 million tomans (around $2,750). Reza was not allowed to call his family for the first eight days of his 17 days in detention. Reza was sentenced on 25 January, but on Sunday, 25 April, though Reza’s appeal was dismissed, his prison sentence was reduced by half. He can now expect a summons to serve his sentence at any moment. Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, gave this reaction: “It is quite clear from the charges against Reza that he is being sent to prison only because of his religious beliefs, in spite of the regime’s repeated claims that ‘no-one is imprisoned on account of their beliefs in Iran’. “We call on the Iranian government to immediately revoke this sentence and to explain why, contrary to its claims, Christian converts and other unrecognised religious minorities continue to be prosecuted and imprisoned for no other reason than their personal beliefs, in violation of the international covenants to which Iran is a party, and also of Iran’s constitution, which states that ‘no-one may be molested or taken to task for holding a particular belief’.”
Christian converts released on condition they stop meeting together 27 April 2021 News Left to right: Alireza Varak-Shah, Hojjat Lotfi Khalaf, Mohammad Ali (Davoud) Torabi, and Esmaeil Narimanpour. (MEC) Four Christian converts arrested by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence in the southwestern city of Dezful last week have been released without charge but only after they were ordered to sign commitments to have no further involvement in any Christian activities. Hojjat Lotfi Khalaf, Esmaeil Narimanpour, Alireza Varak-Shah, and Mohammad Ali Torabi, also known as Davoud, were released on the evening of 21 April after two days in detention. They were told to expect another summons for interrogation at any time. According to Mohabat News, 10 to 15 other Christian converts have been interrogated over the past week in Dezful and ordered to sign such commitments to refrain from further Christian activities. During the interrogations, the Christians were asked about their political views, and told they must vote in the upcoming presidential elections. (Iran is often accused of having a democracy only in name, and higher voter turnout can help paint the picture of a truly democratic society.) Mohabat News reports that some of the Christians, including Esmaeil, were beaten, and that all of them were told to be ready to appear for further interrogation at a moment’s notice. Article18 understands that their interrogations took place in a local school due to pressures on other facilities as a result of a spike in Covid-19 cases. There are also suggestions the four detained Christians were released earlier than intended as a result of the outbreak. Davoud was detained for over a month after his previous arrest, in October 2017, before being released on bail of 200 million tomans (around $60,000).
Christian convert given 10-month sentence for ‘propaganda against Islamic Republic’ 27 April 2021 News An Iranian Christian convert has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Hamed Ashoori, who is 31 years old and lives in Fardis, west of Tehran, was verbally informed of the verdict on 12 April following his final court hearing on 7 March at the 4th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj. Hamed has received no written confirmation of the verdict, which he intends to appeal, nor has he at any stage been given any information about the names of any of his arresting officers, interrogators or judges. The case against Hamed, which was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, actually dates back to February 2019, though it has not been reported until now. Hamed was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents as he left his home on the morning of 23 February 2019. The intelligence agents proceeded to raid his home and confiscate all Christian items, including Bibles and other literature, as well as computer hard drives. He was then taken to Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj, where he was held in solitary confinement for 10 days, before being transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison, also in Karaj, for another two days. During interrogations, Hamed was offered a large monthly salary if he “cooperated” by becoming an informant against other Christians. When he refused, he was beaten. Hamed was finally released on bail after submitting guarantees in the form of payslips. Hamed and another family member were then forced to attend “re-education” sessions with an Islamic cleric. After four such sessions, Hamed refused to participate in any more, and it was then that the court proceedings against him began.
How Hassan Rouhani failed to deliver on his election promises to religious minorities 26 April 2021 Analysis This is an English translation of an article first published in Persian on the website peace-mark.org. As the next Iranian presidential election approaches, Christian convert Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi interviewed Article18’s Kiaa Aalipour about the situation of religious minorities, especially Christians, during President Hassan Rouhani’s two terms in office. Embed from Getty Images On the eve of every election, Hassan Rouhani has come up with a range of popular slogans. Please can you give us some examples of the promises he has made regarding religious minorities, and assess how consistent these pledges were with his performance? On the eve of the 2013 elections, Hassan Rouhani issued a 10-point statement, promising to address the demands of religious and ethnic minorities. In this statement, he called Iran “a fragrant garden of different climates, languages, religions and sects” and promised that, if elected, he would establish a government that would provide all Iranians with “hope” of a “free” and “prosperous” society. After winning the election, Mr Rouhani created a new position within the government – for the first time since the revolution – of Special Advisor on Ethnic and Religious Minority Affairs – and then he proceeded to appoint Ali Younesi, the former Minister of Intelligence, to this position. The reality is that eight years on, unfortunately, no measures have been taken to solve the problems of minorities, and all the hopes that existed have been dashed. These promises remained only election slogans, and the repression of religious and ethnic minorities intensified. Regarding ethnic minorities, I must point out that the number of arrests and executions of ethnic minorities have unfortunately increased significantly compared to previous years. And regarding religious minorities, as this is focus of our discussion, unfortunately I must say they continue to be repressed and continue to face organised and structured religious persecution and discrimination. One of the promises Rouhani made to religious minorities in his statement was “the elimination of undue discrimination in all its dimensions and forms”, but this promise also remained only an election slogan. Hassan Rouhani did fulfil one of his election promises during the last months of his first term of office, when he signed the Charter on Citizens’ Rights. But from the very beginning many believed this charter had no legal power, and over time this has been proven true. In reality, this charter has done nothing to alleviate the problems of religious minorities. For example, Article 10 of the Charter states: “Insulting, degrading, or inciting hatred towards different ethnicities and followers of different religions, sects and social and political groups is prohibited.” And yet we have often heard regime officials using phrases such as “Zionist Christianity”, “Baha’i heresy”, and accusations of “spying”, and many other cases of incitement to hatred – and many members of religious minorities have been arrested, insulted and humiliated simply because of their beliefs. So، despite all these promises of the government for “freedom” and “hope”, religious minorities continue to face a lot of legalised discrimination in the Iranian civil code, for which no solution has been devised. Please can you provide examples of this legalised discrimination? Here are a few examples: 1. Employment Religious minorities are not allowed to hold governmental positions, such as judge, ambassador, minister, president, and many other occupations, and these discriminatory laws restrict these positions to Muslims only. However, the Sunnis are also deprived of many of these jobs. To become a teacher, regardless of one’s education, there are special conditions set by the Ministry of Education that make employment impossible for religious minorities. Among these conditions, we can mention the belief in Islam and in velayat-e faqih (the office of the Supreme Leader). And when applying for jobs within any government-run institution, including education, a person’s religion is also asked. 2. Marriage According to Article 1059 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman, but the opposite is not allowed. It is not possible for a non-Muslim man to marry a Muslim woman. Marriage of Christian converts, Baha’is, and other unrecognised religious groups is also not recognised unless performed in accordance with Islamic law. 3. Adoption Members of religious minorities are not allowed to adopt a child born to Muslim parents. A recent case in point is the bitter story of Lydia, a two-year-old girl. According to a Bushehr judge’s ruling last year, her Christian-convert adoptive parents, Maryam Falahi and Sam Khosravi, should not be permitted custody of Lydia, just because she is considered a Muslim, and should return the child to an orphanage after two years as her parents. This was despite the judge noting in his verdict that there was clearly “a strong emotional tie” between the child and the couple, and that with the return of this sick child to an orphanage an “unknown future” awaits Lydia, and the probability that another family will adopt her, because of her health problems, is “zero”. In October of last year, more than 120 lawyers, civil society and child rights activists wrote an open letter to the head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, calling for the Bushehr court to overturn the decision, but the judiciary has not yet responded to this request. 4. Military service Non-Muslims are not recruited into the Iranian armed forces, but non-Muslim men must still do military service. Many religious minorities were killed in the war with Iraq, and sacrificed their lives for their country, Iran, but this discriminatory law still persists. 5. Retribution Article 310 of the Islamic Penal Code provides for retribution in kind (qisas)for the murderer if the victim is a Muslim, but if the victim is a non-Muslim, they are not entitled to retribution. I oppose executions and retribution, but this article still highlights the difference in the right to life between Muslims and religious minorities in Iran. 6. Hijab Islamic hijab is mandatory for all Iranian women, including non-Muslims. 7. Inheritance Another legal article that is very strange and shows the Iranian government’s view of religious minorities is Article 881 of the Civil Code. According to this article, “an ‘infidel’ [non-Muslim] cannot inherit from a Muslim, and if there is a Muslim among the heirs of a deceased ‘infidel’, the heirs of the ‘infidel’ will not inherit, even if they are superior to the Muslim in terms of class and rank”. Aside from the fact that this article of the law is very discriminatory and encourages religious minorities to convert to Islam for financial reasons, it shows that even the “People of the Book”, i.e. Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, are considered “infidels”. In an interview with Euronews, Koroush Niknam, a Zoroastrian cleric and former representative of Iranian Zoroastrians in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, said: “I asked them to add a note to this article mentioning that at least the legally recognised religious minorities are not infidels, but they didn’t write that. It means they see us as infidels. Although they don’t attack our wives and children, still we are not first-class citizens. We are not even second- or third-class citizens. We are considered infidels.” 8. Belief Article 23 of the Iranian Constitution states that the “investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no-one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief”. Unfortunately, this principle is not observed. In democracies, even questioning the religious beliefs of another can be considered a kind of investigation and interference into private affairs, but in Iran, members of society are divided into first-, second- and third-class citizens based on religious identity. Twelver Shiite Muslims can be considered first-class citizens, if they do not object to the religious reading of the Iranian government and have the characteristics that the government seeks. According to the 13th article of the Constitution, Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians – and of course here they mean Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent – are the only religious minorities recognised in Iran. But given the discrimination that I have highlighted, even these recognised religious minorities are at best second-class citizens, while unrecognised minorities like the Baha’is and Christian converts are third-class citizens and therefore under a lot of pressure. I must also point out here that if recognised Christians help and support Christian converts, they too will be prosecuted and, in practice, become third-class citizens like Christian converts. As examples, I can mention the cases of Iranian-Armenian Christian Sevada Aghasar and the Iranian-Assyrian Christian couple Victor Bet-Tamraz and Shamiram Issavi and their son Ramiel Bet-Tamraz, who were sentenced to prison only for this reason and suffered a lot. What types of harassment and pressure has the Christian community in Iran experienced during Rouhani’s eight years in office? Ethnic and recognised Christian communities, namely Assyrians and Armenians, are permitted a degree of freedom to worship, although, as I said, they also suffer restrictions and discrimination on a large scale. Meanwhile, Armenians and Assyrians do not have the right to hold church services in Persian and must worship in their own language. The growing community of Christian converts are not allowed to attend official churches. They are forced to attend house-churches, accepting the risk of arrest and imprisonment. Many Christian converts do not publicly profess their beliefs for fear of religious persecution. In recent years, many Iranian Christians have faced prison sentences ranging from one to 15 years on trumped-up charges of “acting against national security”. These political accusations are made in order to prevent the international community from protesting against accusations that have a religious basis, such as attending a peaceful worship meeting in a private home, or “apostasy”. In the past decade since Ahmadinejad’s presidency, almost all official Persian-language churches have been forced to close their Persian meetings or close the church altogether. The publication of the Bible and Christian books in Persian is also prohibited. Those who have such books or Christian educational materials, especially if they have a sufficient number so as to be available to others interested, can anticipate harsh consequences and prison sentences. Of course, I must point out that the Iranian government has published a limited number of Bibles for research purposes only, which are available to specific individuals. Christians in Iran, particularly Christian converts, have faced prison, exile, deprivation of education, dismissal from work, raids on house-churches, flogging, confiscation of property, sexual assault, and even deprivation of the right to have an adopted child. Iranian Christians continue to witness the conversion, destruction and confiscation of their religious properties. At least 19 Christian citizens in Iran are currently in prison or exile, and more are awaiting trial and sentencing. Every year, Article18 publishes a detailed report on the situation of Christians in Iran. To clarify the situation of the Christian community, I will refer to some statistics related to the year 2020: Last year, 115 Christians were arrested in Iran.Of these, 38 were arrested and detained.Christians were forced to pay a combined sum of $1 million in bail.A total of 44 Christians were sentenced to more than 150 years in prison and five years in exile.Two Christian converts also received a combined 160 lashes. Each of these numbers represents an individual and family who have suffered a lot just because they have a different belief. We should not allow any of them to become just a number. Christian convert Saheb Fadaie is one such example. His job was as a painter-decorator, and he also played the guitar very well. In May 2016, Saheb Fadaie – along with fellow Christian converts Yousef Nadarkhani, Yousef’s wife, Mohammad Reza (Youhan) Omidi and Mohammad Ali (Yasser) Mossayebzadeh – were arrested by security agents as they participated in a Christian service at a private home in Rasht. In one of the cases later brought against this Christian convert, Saheb was sentenced to 80 lashes in a court in Rasht. In the other case, which was filed against him on security charges, he was tried in Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. In July 2017, Judge Ahmadzadeh, head of Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, sentenced Saheb, Yousef, Youhan, and Yasser to 10 years in prison for “forming a house-church” and “promoting” so-called “Zionist Christianity”. In the autumn of last year, Saheb and Youhan each received 80 lashes for drinking wine as part of the Christian ritual of Holy Communion, where Christians eat bread, wine, or grape juice in remembrance of Jesus’ “Last Supper” with his disciples. The government of the Islamic Republic does not recognise Christian converts as Christians, and Christian converts who drink alcohol are therefore tried as though they were Muslims. In house-churches, Christians worship in a completely peaceful way, according to their beliefs. Equality before the law is undeniable. The Christian New Testament and Bible they read are the same books that Armenian and Assyrian Christians read in their churches and in their own language. So there is no criminal activity in these house-churches. How is it from the legal point of view that house-churches are criminal, but house-mosques and house-meetings of Shiite Muslims are allowed? Last year, an appeals court reduced Yousef and Saheb’s sentenced from 10 to six years, and Youhan’s from 10 to two years in prison. The right to freedom of religion and belief must be for all citizens, regardless of their beliefs. Another example is the Christian couple Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh, who have been sentenced to eight and two years in prison, respectively, for their peaceful ideological activities. Homayoun suffers from Parkinson’s disease and his wife takes care of him. The church and freedom of religion and belief should be the right of all Christians, whether converts or born into Christian homes. The closure of churches, seizure of church property, detention of Christians, and preventing people from going to church are all clear violations of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding freedom of religion and belief. It should also be noted that Iran is one of the signatories of this global declaration. Iran’s failures in this regard have been met with strong criticism from the international community. For example, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution last autumn, condemning “grave violations” of human rights in Iran – including violation of women’s rights, torture of prisoners, and violation of the rights of religious minorities – and called on the government of the Islamic Republic to end the immunity of perpetrators of crimes against religious minorities. Iran is ranked eighth in the world in terms of persecution of Christians in the annual list of the international watchdog on the persecution of Christians, Open Doors. Last year, Iran was ranked ninth in the world, and during the entire period of Rouhani’s rule, Iran’s ranking has never been outside of the top 10 persecutors. So, we have not seen any improvement in this regard. It should also be noted that the difference between Iran’s overall “score” for persecution and those even higher up on the list is very small. To what extent is determining the type and intensity of pressure on the Christian community in Iran influenced by the president’s decisions? Can a change of president be expected to reduce persecution of Christians, or is there an overriding clear and systematic plan against this community? As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of legalised discrimination in Iranian law which is in serious conflict with international human rights standards. Unfortunately, the Iranian government, in a structural way and with hate-speech and false “security” accusations, normalises the violation of the rights of religious minorities, especially unrecognised religions such as the Baha’is and Christian converts, and this is one of the macro-policies of the regime. At times the repression of religious minorities has intensified, but in practice this policy has been pursued since the beginning of the revolution. Religious minorities are persecuted, pressured, and prosecuted by the Iranian government solely for practising their own beliefs through peaceful activities. An arrangement such as holding a private Christmas party or setting up a house-church can have serious consequences. But the Iranian judiciary refers to these acts, which should be a fundamental right of every citizen, as “acting against national security” and “illegal church activities”, and even the incomprehensible term “Zionist Christianity”. Iran’s presidents since the revolution haven’t alleviated the suffering of religious minorities or prevented the pressures against them. So, in answer to your question, I have to say that, in Iran, positive changes in the field of human rights are usually very slow, and I do not think we will see fundamental changes with a change of president. But of course we can still hold on to hope and do our best to help effect change in this regard. Our goal as human rights defenders is to raise awareness, and to support people so as to reduce human suffering, and we will continue to work to this end. To what extent is the president responsible for human rights violations during his presidency? Can he claim to be the main decision-maker and shirk the burden of accountability? Although in Iran not all authority is in the hands of the president, and parallel security organisations operate, nevertheless the president and his officials, especially the commanders and agents, as well as their managers and lobbyists inside and outside the country, as part of this system, all must be held accountable for violations of human rights in Iran. Rouhani’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has claimed that religious minorities in Iran were free and said: “We do not imprison anyone in Iran for their beliefs.” On the other hand, about two years ago, Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence of the Rouhani government, for the first time revealed the actions of this ministry and its cooperation with seminaries to counter the spread of Christianity in the country. Mahmoud Alavi also acknowledged in his speech that “people tend to become Christians who are ordinary people in society – for example, their job was to sell sandwiches and the like, and they become Christian families”. These statements by the Minister of Intelligence are in stark contrast to the security allegations made by the revolutionary courts against Christian converts, who are described as “seasoned agents” and “spies” of Western countries. Given the numerous violations of the rights of religious minorities during the Rouhani era, which have been coordinated and implemented by his ministries, there is no doubt that the president, as head of the government, is fully responsible for and must be held accountable for blatant human rights violations. The Iranian government must recognise all religious minorities, including the “unrecognised” religions and Persian-speaking Christians, as full citizens before the law, and release all prisoners of conscience unconditionally so that they too can enjoy their most basic human rights. Iran belongs to all Iranians, regardless of ethnicity, race or belief. Hopefully one day we will not have first- and second-class citizens in Iran. In the words of the Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlu: “I look forward to that day, even if I will not be here to see it.”