‘Deplorable conditions, degrading treatment’ in Iran’s overcrowded prisons – report 27 February 2020 News Photo: Flickr / CC / سبزفوتو Iran The “deplorable conditions” inside Iran’s overcrowded prisons and “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” of prisoners is the focus of the latest report by the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Iran. Javaid Rehman’s report notes that Iran’s prisons were 27.7% above capacity – at 189,500 overall – even before the arrest of at least 7,000 protesters in November and after the release of some 61,000 prisoners to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the revolution. He notes that overcrowding “leads to situations in which detainees are required to live for long periods in often deplorable conditions, unsuitable for human dignity and existence”, and provides a “source of infections and ill-health” and the “spread of infectious and communicable diseases”. These comments seem particularly prescient given Iran’s current challenge to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus, amidst reports that the virus has already infected several prisons, and calls for political prisoners to be provided with furloughs to protect them. Assyrian Christian Ramiel Bet-Tamraz was just yesterday unexpectedly released from prison three weeks ahead of schedule, while there have been reports of several other prisoners on short-term sentences being released early in an attempt to lessen the overcrowding and mitigate concerns over the potential spread of the virus. Mr Rehman’s report notes that the conditions for, and treatment of, prisoners convicted of national security-related “crimes” – including the majority of political prisoners and other prisoners of conscience – are especially challenging, including the denial of furloughs. Jailed human rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi, whose case is cited in the report, recently went on hunger strike to protest against his denial of furlough to see his young daughter. The report also highlights the beating and torture of prisoners, denial of medical care, lack of access to a lawyer of one’s choosing, prolonged solitary confinement, forced confessions – and the broadcasting thereof – and substandard food and water. ‘Many such stories’ Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, welcomed the report, noting that “Article18 has heard many stories from Christian prisoners of conscience of such mistreatment and deplorable conditions”. One Christian prisoner of conscience, Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi, recently reported being beaten so badly during her detention that the bruises were still visible on her body three weeks later. Mary, who is due to appear in court on Monday, was also strip-searched twice by female officers, who told her that if she refused to remove her clothes, they would rip them from her, and forced to sit in a yard, for hours, in extremely cold weather and opposite the toilets. Mr Rehman said he had received reports of “torture including beating, kicking, punching, slapping and suspension by the arms and legs”, and one former detainee saying he had been shown a “‘medical bed’ where prisoners were tied, tortured and subjected to a mock execution by hanging”. Many Christian former detainees have detailed the many days they spent in solitary confinement. Mr Rehman’s report notes that although the government claims it is used only in “rare instances” and for a “maximum of 20 days”, he received several testimonies from former prisoners saying they had been held there for much longer – in one case for as long as four months. This is in line with many of the testimonies Article18 has heard – for example of Ramiel Bet-Tamraz’s father, Victor, who was held in solitary confinement for 65 days, even though Iranian state media recently claimed he had not even seen the inside of a prison. Article18 has also heard many testimonies of prisoners in solitary confinement reporting similar treatment to the examples cited in Mr Rehman’s report, including lights being kept on for 24 hours and denial of regular access to a toilet. Mr Rehman said one female detainee was allowed to go to the toilet just twice in a 24-hour period and had to press a button to ask permission, but would often be left waiting for hours. “As a result, she tended not to drink,” Mr Rehman noted, adding that she has never recovered from the impact on her kidneys and digestive system, despite being treated. ‘Serious impediment to due process’ Article18 has also reported several instances of Christians being denied access to a lawyer of their choosing – most recently in the case of Mary Mohammadi, while last year five Christian converts from the northern city of Rasht had their bail increased tenfold when they insisted on choosing their own lawyer. Mr Rehman notes that prisoners charged with national-security crimes – including all current Christian prisoners of conscience – are only permitted to choose a lawyer from a list approved by the head of the judiciary, in line with article 48 of the Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure. Mr Rehman said article 48 “undermines the independence of the legal profession” and is a “serious impediment to due process and the right to a fair trial”. He added that a proposed amendment to the article would allow the authorities to delay legal representation for 20 days to detainees facing charges related to national security offences, terrorism or financial corruption, and that this period could even be extended. The denial of medical care is also something Article18 has reported on frequently, such as in the cases of Zaman (Saheb) Fadaie, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Maryam Naghash Zargaran. Mr Rehman highlights the concerning case of human rights defender Arash Sadeghi, whom he notes has been “repeatedly denied medical care” after being diagnosed with cancer. Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh was among a number of fellow prisoners of conscience who in November demanded urgent medical care for Mr Sadeghi. What else does the report say? Another focus of the report is Mr Rehman’s “shock” at “the number of deaths, serious injuries and reports of ill-treatment” of those partaking in the November protests. As Article18 reported, an Assyrian Christian – believed to have been no more than an innocent bystander – was among the at least 304 confirmed killed. Mr Rehman also bemoans the reported pressure being placed on families of human rights defenders, such as the arrest of a family member of prominent women’s rights defender Masih Alinejad. Article18 noted in its latest annual report how 2019 was the year in which Iranian intelligence agents began to harass family members of Iranian Christian converts who had fled the country, even though they may not be Christians themselves, such as in the case of Vahid (Nathan) Roufegarbashi and his wife Mahsa, both of whose parents were harassed. Mahsa’s father, Esmaeil Maghrebinezhad, was arrested and charged with “propaganda against the state and insulting the sacred Iranian establishment”. He was recently sentenced to three years in prison. Mr Rehman also said he remains “highly concerned” about the denial of education to members of religious minorities. Article18 reported in December how, before her arrest, Mary Mohammadi was kicked out of her university, without explanation, on the eve of her exams. Mr Rehman said he had continued to receive reports of discrimination against minorities and expressed concern about a mooted parliamentary bill that would criminalise members of groups the government considers to be “misguided”. He noted that the bill “could make it a criminal offence to follow certain religions” – for example the Baha’i Faith – while it would also almost certainly provide further weight in cases against members of house-churches. Recommendations Among two pages of recommendations, Mr Rehman calls for protection for religious and ethnic minorities, and for Iran to “address all forms of discrimination against them and [to] release all those imprisoned for having exercised their right to freedom of religion or belief”. He calls for “persons accused of any crime” to be given access to a lawyer of their choosing “during all stages of the judicial process, including during the initial investigation and interrogation stage”, and provided with legal aid as needed. And he calls for medical care to be “urgently provided” to detained individuals who need it, “without discrimination on grounds of political or legal situation, ethnicity, religion, political opinion, gender, sexual orientation or other status”. Among many other recommendations, he calls for reductions in overcrowding; for prisoners to be provided with food of “appropriate nutritional value, quantity and quality”; and for furlough and family visitation rights for all prisoners.
Assyrian Christian Ramiel Bet-Tamraz released from prison 27 February 2020 News Ramiel Bet-Tamraz with his parents, Victor and Shamiram. Dabrina Bet-Tamraz has informed Article18 that her brother, Ramiel, an Assyrian Christian and son of pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, was released from prison yesterday. Ramiel was serving a four-month sentence for his participation in house-churches. He had already served a month of his sentence before he was summoned, in January, to serve the remainder of his sentence. Article18 had already reported on Tuesday that Ramiel was set to be released slightly early, on 22 March, for the beginning of Persian New Year. But Ramiel has now been released even earlier, Dabrina confirmed to Article18, and he will not have to return to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. A number of other prisoners serving short-term sentences of less than three months have also reportedly been released, as Iran seeks to combat the spread of the coronavirus, amidst concerns that its overcrowded prisons could experience an outbreak. Dabrina told Article18 before her brother’s release that he was in good spirits and that he had had the opportunity to pray with fellow Christian prisoners such as Yousef Nadarkhani and Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh. Background Ramiel was arrested in August 2016 alongside four other Christians enjoying a picnic in Firoozkooh, in the Alborz Mountains northeast of Tehran. Ramiel and the other Christians were detained and held in Evin Prison, Tehran, for several weeks. Initially, Ramiel was accused of supporting the activities of his father, and holding “illegal church meetings”. He was eventually sentenced in July 2018 to four months in prison for “propaganda against the system” through membership of a house-church. The entire Bet-Tamraz family has been placed under intense pressure in recent years. Pastor Victor has been sentenced to ten years in prison and his wife, Shamiram Issavi, to five years. They have been on bail, awaiting the outcome of their appeals, for more than two years in Shamiram’s case and nearly three in the case of her husband. A succession of court cases have been scheduled and then postponed, the latest on Monday when a new judge said the proceedings could not take place because a summons for a Christian convert sentenced alongside them, Hadi Asgari, had not been sent. Previous excuses for postponements include the court being “too crowded” and a previous judge’s confusion as to why the couple’s case had not initially been combined. Pastor Victor was convicted of “conducting evangelism” and “illegal house-church activities”, among other charges amounting to “actions against national security”. Shamiram Issavi was convicted of “acting against national security establishing and managing house-churches, participating in Christian seminars abroad, and training Christian leaders in Iran for the purposes of espionage”. Victor Bet-Tamraz was pastor of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Tehran, the last Iranian-Assyrian church to hold services in the Persian language before its forcible closure in 2009. After that, pastor Victor and his wife began holding services in their home.
Coronavirus concerns for Iranian Christians at home and in prison 25 February 2020 News Embed from Getty Images There are growing concerns in Iran about the potential for coronavirus to spread quickly within Iran’s overcrowded prisons, where at least 17 Christians are currently incarcerated as a result of the peaceful practice of their faith. There have already been reports of infections in at least three prisons within the country. IranWire reported that a Gonabadi dervish – another oppressed religious minority – said that he and eight other political prisoners had been taken to a tiny cell to make room for a quarantine area. This comes as the coronavirus crisis continues to deepen in Iran, with Iran’s deputy health minister and an MP among the high-profile figures to have been infected. Article18 reported yesterday on its Persian-language site that after the price of face-masks shot up, several Christian groups took it upon themselves to buy and distribute them to low-income families. Article18 was also informed that a number of house-church meetings had been cancelled and that much attention is being paid to hygiene standards – for example through compulsory use of hand-gels – even in groups within cities that have not yet reported any instances of the virus. The Ministry of Health has promised to ensure masks are available to all those in infected areas, such as the conservative religious city of Qom, which is at the centre of Iran’s outbreak. Embed from Getty Images But the Iranian government has been criticised for being slow to react and accused of a cover-up. The MP for the southern city of Shiraz, Bahram Parsaei, said warnings from the World Health Organization “were not taken seriously” and that “negligence was very clear”, noting how one Iranian airline had continued operating flights to China. Meanwhile it is only in the past few days that Iranian officials admitted the presence of coronavirus in Iran, despite news of the outbreak first emerging over two weeks ago. Iranians have released videos on social media, highlighting the lack of medical facilities available in Iran to deal with the spread of the crisis, which is now known to have infected a number of health professionals. Another MP, Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, noted that health professionals had not being provided with the required protective clothing. The coronavirus, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, has now spread to 34 countries around the world. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, more than 80,000 people have been infected worldwide, and 2,700 people have died. Iran has reported 61 confirmed cases, and 12 deaths. The virus is also known to have been transmitted by travellers to Iran to several other countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain and Canada, while six neighbouring countries have closed their borders with Iran. The coronavirus is believed to be transmitted through close person-to-person contact. Although most people only develop mild flu-like symptoms, in some cases, particularly in vulnerable groups such as the elderly and infirm, it can develop into pneumonia, kidney failure and even death.
Christians’ appeal hearing postponed again over procedural issue 25 February 2020 News Left to right: Victor Bet-Tamraz, his wife Shamiram, Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi, Amin Afshar-Naderi, and Hadi Asgari. Once again an appeal hearing in the case of five Christians sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison has been postponed. Assyrian Christian pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and his wife, Shamiram Issavi, who are facing ten and five years in prison respectively, turned up to court yesterday alongside their lawyers – who also represent the other three Christians – only to be told their cases could not be heard because a summons for one of the Christians, Hadi Asgari, had not been sent. Even though Hadi’s lawyer was present – he also represents Shamiram – the procedural mistake could not be overlooked and the hearing was postponed. It is now nearly three years since the sentencing of pastor Victor, Hadi and fellow convert Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi to ten years in prison, and another convert, Amin Afshar-Naderi, to 15 years. It is also more than two years since Victor’s wife, Shamiram, received her own five-year sentence. And in those years, the same pattern has repeated itself, again and again. A court hearing is scheduled, the Christians and/or their lawyers show up, and they are then promptly sent away again and told another hearing will be rescheduled in due course. Each time there’s a different excuse. At the last hearing, in November, the court was “too crowded”. Previously, the presiding judge could not understand why the cases for pastor Victor and his wife had been separated, and ruled that they ought to be heard together, before promptly rescheduling. This time, there was a new judge in charge at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. It seems the notorious Hassan Babaei andAhmad Zargar have been reassigned. The Christians’ lawyers didn’t know the new judge, but are reported to have been pleased with his approach. He is reported to have remarked that the case has dragged on for “too long”, and that, therefore, he will rule on the matter at the next hearing. For pastor Victor and Shamiram’s daughter, Dabrina, who has been a constant advocate for her parents and other Christians in Iran, such closure would bring relief, but with the finality of a verdict also comes nerves. “On the one hand I’m relieved that they have a different judge, who is actually dismissing and cancelling many charges of other people, which is positive, and his behaviour with my family was positive,” she told Article18 by phone today. “The impression from the lawyers was also positive, but you never know, right? Are they lying? Are they showing their true face, or not?” She added: “I can’t say I’m disappointed [at the postponement]. I would of course be delighted when the whole thing is over and my family can go free, but on the other hand we don’t want them to go to prison…” Cause for celebration Ramiel Bet-Tamraz, pictured with his parents Meanwhile, Dabrina shared happier news in the case of her brother, Ramiel, who is currently serving a four-month sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Dabrina told Article18 that her brother was told only yesterday that he is set to be released for the beginning of Persian New Year, on 20 March. This will mark a slightly early release for Ramiel, who submitted himself at Evin Prison on 7 January. Dabrina shared that her brother is in good spirits and that he has enjoyed daily phone calls with his parents and weekly visits on Tuesdays. She added that he has greatly appreciated the chance to pray and worship with the other Christians currently incarcerated in Evin Prison, including Yousef Nadarkhani and Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh. He told Dabrina that they each take it in turns to give a short sermon, and that tomorrow is his turn and he is hoping to retell one of his father’s old sermons, if he can remember it. “He’s a very positive guy,” Dabrina said. “He’s an extremely lively, happy person. He takes everything lightly; he’s not very serious, so he makes the best out of it all. So even in prison he’s fine, he’s happy, he’s making jokes and laughs, and trying to make the best out of it – mainly for my parents, so they won’t be too troubled.” Dabrina added that the conditions in prison are “not too bad – for a prison”. “They can cook, they can eat well,” she said. “They are free to move and talk to each other; they have time where they can go for a walk outside for fresh air, they have a telephone so they can make phone calls with their families every day, and once a week meet family members – on Tuesdays.”
Turkey’s health insurance denial ‘increases asylum seekers’ desperation’ 20 February 2020 Analysis Embed from Getty Images The Turkish government’s decision to stop providing free health insurance to asylum seekers has added to the “desperation” many feel, according to the regional manager of Article18’s partner charity Middle East Concern. Rob Duncan told Article18 that since the decision was published by Turkish state media on Christmas Eve, the frequency with which he has been receiving messages from concerned asylum seekers has increased. Among Turkey’s estimated four million asylum seekers are around 40,000 Iranians, many of whom are Christians converts. Article18 has reported on the desperation of convert asylum seekers like Maryam Bateni Nia, Reza Mousavi and their eight-year-old son Daniel, who have been waiting to be resettled in a safe country for six years. Another couple, Sohrab and Fereshteh, haven’t even had their initial interview with the UN’s refugee agency yet, and they’ve been in Turkey for five years. Mr Duncan explained that it is the perpetual uncertainty that is most draining. “It’s a chronic situation,” he said. “It’s a little bit like being in prison. If you know how long you’re going to be in prison for, then you can cope, psychologically, so much better. When you don’t know how long it’s going to continue for, it’s psychologically extremely damaging, it’s traumatising.” Asylum seeker Reza Mousavi put it this way when speaking to Article18 last year: “For us the timing itself is not an issue. We’ve been here for too long, but at least if we knew the direction we were heading in, then we could manage the time.” Maryam Bateni Nia, Reza Mousavi and their eight-year-old son Daniel Mr Duncan cited the example of an Iraqi family he knows who have been waiting for resettlement for 13 years. He acknowledged that it is unusual for cases to take quite so long, but at the same time he said the family had a “very, very good case”. ‘Vulnerable’ Under the new directive, asylum seekers over 18 years of age are now eligible for only one year’s free health insurance, except in “special circumstances” where the asylum seeker can prove they are deserving of continued medical care. For those asylum seekers who are over 18 and have already been in Turkey for at least one year, should a medical emergency arise they will now have to pay for their own treatment. Mr Duncan said the directive has increased the vulnerability of an already vulnerable group of people, and that since many asylum seekers struggle financially, the cost of healthcare is only going to add to a heavy burden. “It certainly puts people into a very vulnerable position,” he said. “And it’s also going to mean that… Let’s taken an extreme example: perhaps they’re showing symptoms where something could possibly be a cancer, but they’re not going to have it checked out, are they? They’re going to delay it. So anything that’s potentially extremely serious and where early diagnosis is going to be important, it’s going to delay that.” Adding to the vulnerability is the “legally grey area” asylum seekers find themselves in. The majority of asylum seekers are employed via unofficial channels, with the authorities generally willing to turn a blind eye, Mr Duncan said, but as a result he said that in every church across Turkey, there are “dozens” of examples of converts who have been dismissed without being paid – and were they to protest it would be them, and not the employer, who would be blamed. ‘Vague’ Mr Duncan said the “very vague” directive can be “applied by different officials in different ways”, and is open to abuse. He gave the example of the travel-permit system, whereby asylum seekers, who are designated a city of residence, must seek permission to travel, noting that in one city he had been told of an official who had begun charging a fixed price. It is all part of a “more or less official policy” to “ratchet up the pressure on refugees” and to “pressure other countries to offer opportunities for resettlement”, he said. This has coincided with a rise in Turkish nationalism, which has increased the feeling among asylum seekers that they are unwelcome. Late last year, around the same time as the new directive was issued, “nationalists were going around, harassing and physically attacking some people they thought to be Syrians”, Mr Duncan said. (The vast majority of asylum seekers in Turkey are Syrian.) He said he had heard many “horror stories” of the children of converts receiving “all sorts of threats from their own classmates”, while some converts have even faced violence from fellow asylum seekers – though not usually Iranians. One couple spent months in prison after someone complained that they had been evangelising to them, even though evangelism is not a crime in Turkish law, Mr Duncan said. He acknowledged that Turkey is hosting a “massive” number of asylum seekers – the largest such population in the world – but pointed out that Turkey has also been given billions of euros from the European Union to care for them, while at the same time taking advantage of them through the use of cheap labour and counting on the Syrian population, for example, for votes. Embed from Getty Images ‘Here for healthcare’ Mr Duncan said one of the drivers for the new directive may be the oft-cited claim that many asylum seekers only came to Turkey for the free healthcare. He gave the example of one Christian woman, who fled Iran because her son was being beaten by her husband, and even more so since her conversion to Christianity. “The Turkish authorities have been saying time and time again, ‘No, you’re not here out of any religious persecution grounds, you’re here just to get free healthcare for your boy,’ when all she gets, actually, is a little bit of money for his diapers,” Mr Duncan said. Although he acknowledged that some have claimed asylum on grounds of persecution “when it hasn’t been the case at all”, he said this has decreased and that “fewer people are coming for the sake of ‘finding a better life’, because the UNHCR process just isn’t working properly these days, so only the most desperate are actually going through that now”. Call for sponsors Mr Duncan called on countries like the United States to reconsider their policies on asylum seekers, saying it was “hypocritical” to speak so frequently and fervently about religious freedom while at the same time “denying people access to a safe situation – for genuine cases of religious persecution”. He said the situation was “hardest for families with children” and called on churches able to sponsor refugees to come forward. “These are people who have experienced persecution on account of their faith, and in good faith they went to Turkey thinking that it was just going to be a couple of years before they will be able to be moved to a third country and to start a new life, with a future for their children. But none of that has happened,” he said. “The years are passing, the children are getting older, and it’s only really countries like Canada and Australia offering a degree of hope to such people by making resettlement possible through their humanitarian programmes. “Sponsors are needed. If churches have that opportunity to be able to sponsor a refugee family, then they should get in touch with Article18.”
Confirmed: Mary Mohammadi is in Qarchak Prison 12 February 2020 News Article18 can now confirm that Christian convert Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi is being held in Qarchak detention centre, south of the Iranian capital Tehran. It is a month today since Mary was arrested, as protests took place in central Tehran following the Iranian government’s admission of guilt in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Since that time, there has been no word from Mary, although last week the Persian-language HRANA news agency reported that she was being held in Qarchak Prison. At that time, Article18 was unable to verify this, but a reliable source has now confirmed that Mary is indeed being held there and that her bail has been set at 30 million tomans (around $2,250). Mary’s family have been able to put together the amount, even though it is equivalent to more than the annual salary for Iranians, under the country’s current economic challenges. However, Article18’s source explained that during the time it took for the family to obtain the amount, “Mary’s case was transferred from the prosecutor’s office to the court, which will now decide whether or not to grant her temporary release from prison”. Mary has been charged with “disturbing public order by participating in an illegal rally” and provided with a lawyer not of her choosing. She has been able to call home a few times to reassure her family that she is OK. As the Iranian government has held celebrations to mark the 41st anniversary of the revolution, the legal system has slowed. With the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) only a month away, it is not clear whether there will be sufficient time for Mary’s family to secure her release before the holidays, or whether she may be forced to remain detained for longer still. Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, said that he was “extremely relieved” to know that Mary is OK, and hopes soon to be able to confirm her release – “albeit temporary” – from prison. Who is Mary Mohammadi? Mary’s case has captured the world’s attention, with even the US President, Donald Trump, citing her arrest during his recent National Prayer Breakfast speech. Mary is a rare example of a Christian activist still living in Iran and, prior to her current detention, had already served six months in prison for her Christian activities, for which she was convicted of “action against national security” and “propaganda against the system”. Last July, Mary faced fresh criminal charges relating to her “improper” wearing of hijab. Those charges, which were eventually quashed, were brought against her after she initially went to police to complain of an assault. Then in December, Mary was kicked out of her Tehran university, without explanation, on the eve of her English-language exams. Just a few weeks later, on 12 January, Mary was arrested as protests took place in Azadi Square. Beaten HRANA reports that, during her detention, Mary has been beaten so badly – by male and female officers – that the bruises were visible for three weeks. After her arrest, HRANA reports that she was taken to the Vozara detention centre in Tehran, where she was forced to sit in a yard, for hours, in extremely cold weather and opposite the toilets. She was then interrogated by three officers, who gave her forms containing 30 questions. Mary refused to answer the questions in the absence of a lawyer. Mary was not given any food until 24 hours after her arrest and her handcuffs were put on in a cross-shape, making them very uncomfortable. Mary was also strip-searched twice by female officers, who told her that if she refused to remove her clothes, they would rip them from her. The next day, she was taken to Evin Court, where she was charged. Her case was then transferred to the General and Criminal Court of Tehran. Mary is now one of around 2,000 women prisoners in the overcrowded Qarchak Prison, which is considered the worst women’s prison in Iran and has been sanctioned by the US for “gross human rights violations”, including abuse, arbitrary beatings, little drinking water and “creating an environment for rape and murder”, noted Open Doors. This article was updated on 13 February to include the new information from HRANA.
Fatemeh Mohammadi reported detained in Tehran prison as Trump highlights arrest 7 February 2020 News US President Donald Trump highlighted Iran’s detention of 21-year-old Christian convert Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi as part of a high-profile annual presidential address yesterday, as reports claimed she is being held in a prison on the outskirts of Tehran. “Weeks ago, a 21-year-old woman, who goes by the name of Mary, was seized and imprisoned in Iran because she converted to Christianity and shared the Gospel with others,” Trump said at the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC. It is now nearly four weeks since Mary’s disappearance, when she was reported arrested in Azadi Square, Tehran, as protests took place following the Iranian government’s admission of guilt in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Until this week, there had been no news of her whereabouts and growing concern for her safety and wellbeing, as international news outlets reported her disappearance. Then on Wednesday, Persian-language HRANA website reported that Mary was being held in Qarchak Prison, south of Tehran. Article18 has not yet been able to independently verify these claims, and Advocacy Director Mansour Borji said he remains “deeply concerned” about Mary and called on the Iranian authorities to provide information about where she is being detained and on what charges. Who is Mary Mohammadi? Mary is a rare example of a Christian activist still living in Iran and had already spent six months in prison as a result of her Christian activity, for which she was convicted of “action against national security” and “propaganda against the system”. In July last year Mary faced fresh criminal charges relating to her “improper” wearing of hijab. The charges, which were eventually quashed, were brought against her after she initially went to police to complain of an assault. Then in December, Mary was kicked out of her Tehran university, without explanation, on the eve of her English-language exams. She told Article18 she believed she had been expelled as a result of her prior conviction and human rights activism. Mary said she believes not enough is known about the situation of Christians in Iran – particularly converts – compared to the significant amount of publicity and advocacy work relating to other rights issues. Earlier this week fellow Christian activists Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh also called for more noise to be made about the situation of Christians in Iran. Dabrina specifically highlighted Mary’s case, saying: “She’s a young girl and nobody has any idea where she is right now. She’s been taken away for over three weeks now. We’ve called on every organisation to raise awareness and ask the [Iranian] government… [to] make them accountable, responsible for what they’ve done.” Dabrina said she feared that if not enough noise was made about the situation of people like Fatemeh, someone like her may “go missing, and die, and nobody will ever talk about it”.
‘We’re too quiet,’ say Iranian Christian survivors of persecution 6 February 2020 News Left to right: Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour. Three Christian women survivors of persecution in Iran have called upon the international community to make more noise on behalf of persecuted Christians in Iran. “My fear is that we’re too quiet,” said Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, whose brother, Ramiel, is currently in prison in Tehran because of his Christian evangelism, and whose father, Victor, and mother, Shamiram, will appear in court later this month to appeal against their own convictions on similar charges. Dabrina highlighted the case of Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi, a 21-year-old Christian convert who was reported arrested over three weeks ago and has not been heard from since. “She’s a young girl and nobody has any idea where she is right now,” Dabrina said. “She’s been taken away for over three weeks now. We’ve called on every organisation to raise awareness and ask the [Iranian] government… [to] make them accountable, responsible for what they’ve done.” Dabrina said she feared that if not enough noise was made about the situation of people like Fatemeh, someone like her may “go missing, and die, and nobody will ever talk about it”. Dabrina was speaking yesterday at a live-streamed discussion about the situation of Christians in Iran, hosted by the US-based Family Research Council. She shared the stage with fellow survivors Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh, who spent nearly nine months in the same prison where Dabrina’s brother is now incarcerated: Evin Prison in Tehran. Marziyeh said Christians in Iran today need the support of the international “more than [at] anytime”, to shine a light on the abuses they face and sanction the individuals responsible. Marziyeh shared how, when she and Maryam were in prison, pressure from international actors including Pope Benedict led to them being treated more humanely in prison and, eventually, released. She said this proved that advocacy worked and called upon international organisations to do more to bring awareness to the human rights violations Iranian Christians are experiencing. “Publicising the cases can at least protect prisoners from being physically tortured and coerced to [make] false confessions,” she said. Marziyeh also called on the US to relax its controls on asylum-seekers – at least in “severe cases” – and to “encourage” its allies in Europe and at the UN to “hold the Iranian regime accountable for violations of human rights and ignoring the rights of religious minority”. ‘Raise awareness, speak about it’ Fatemeh Mohammadi has been missing for over three weeks. The three women also called on Christians around the world to help raise awareness about the persecution of Christians in Iran and elsewhere. “We would like to encourage each one of you to give more attention to the Iranian human rights situation and the issues of religious persecution,” Marziyeh said. “We hope for a day when all Iranian people from any religion or ethnicity can live together in peace, without having the fear of getting harassed.” Dabrina added: “Raise awareness, speak about it. You are the voice of persecuted brothers and sisters today in prison in Iran and all across the world.” Maryam and Marziyeh spoke about how encouraged they were when they found out that they had been sent hundreds of letters in prison, even if the guards never let them read them. Maryam encouraged Christians to “just write hundreds and thousands of letters, send them to prison, because that makes them [the authorities] angry”. Maryam added that Christians in the West must not forget that their freedom is a “precious gift”. “As people who came from a country where you cannot even sing for God with a loud voice, you have to be cautious about everything… This freedom that you have in this country is a precious gift. But we also believe that you have to use this freedom. You can’t just leave your freedom and enjoy this freedom. We have to be a voice for those people who do not have this freedom. “One day persecution may come to the free countries and we might need help from that part of the world. So please stand up for your brothers and sisters and be their voice.” All three women talked about how the trauma of their experiences remain with them. Dabrina said that after years of being followed by government agents, it took her eight years after leaving Iran before she stopped “looking in the mirror to see if there was a car following me or not”. Maryam added: “Today, after 10 years, it is still hard for us to forget the tortures and execution of our best friend, and many other injustices we witnessed inside Evin Prison.”
Iranian Christians granted early release from prison 3 February 2020 News Asghar Salehi (left) and Mohammad Reza Rezaei (Middle East Concern) Three Iranian Christian converts have been granted early release from prison, reports Middle East Concern. Asghar Salehi was released from Eqlid Prison yesterday after serving two months of his six-month sentence. Mohammad Reza Rezaei and a third convert known only as “A.T.” are due to be released on Saturday. Article18’s Advocacy Director, Mansour Borji, notes that the men will only have been granted conditional release on the proviso that they don’t repeat their “offences”. The three men were convicted in September 2019 of “propaganda against the system through promoting Zionist Christianity”. They were taken to prison in December, having failed with their appeals. Background The three Christians were first arrested, alongside four others, during raids on their homes in September 2018. Following their arrests, Asghar was interrogated for three days, during which he was kept blindfolded for most of the time, then taken to Eqlid Prison for a further eight days. He was then released on bail after providing his business license as a guarantee. The men were then brought before Branch 101 of Eqlid Criminal Court in April 2019 and charged under Article 500 of the penal code, which provides for up to a year’s imprisonment for anyone found guilty of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran or support of opposition groups and associations”. Asghar was refused permission to speak during the hearing, warned that he was being monitored and told not to engage in any further Christian activities. He was also reported to be suffering from “potentially serious health issues”.
First he was forced out of his city, then his country 30 January 2020 Features Sohrab was forced to leave Tehran after being fired from his job – because he was a Christian. Two years later, he fled the country. An Iranian convert to Christianity and his wife have been in Turkey for nearly five years now, and they are still waiting for their interview with the UN’s refugee agency. The couple, who we’ll refer to as Sohrab and Fereshteh, fled their home in western Iran in early 2015 and haven’t been home since. The reason? For two years, Sohrab had been leading an underground house-church, and this caught the attention of the authorities. At first Sohrab was threatened. Just six months after starting the meetings, Sohrab received a call from a private number, and a man “invited” him to meet him at his office the next morning at 10am. The man then proceeded to tell Sohrab that it would be better for him if he accepted the invitation as, if he didn’t, “we will have to come and get you, and that’s not going to look good in front of your neighbours or friends”. Sohrab was told to write down the address of the office, and when he arrived the next morning he saw that it belonged to the intelligence branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Sohrab was led inside the building and relieved of his watch, phone, car keys, belt and even the laces to his shoes, then shown into a pitch-black room, where he was left alone for the next hour. Eventually, two men entered the room, put a hood over Sohrab’s head and took him outside, then drove him to an unknown location around an hour’s drive away. During the drive, Sohrab says he feared he was being taken away to a jail he had heard others talk about on the outskirts of his city: “I was thinking, ‘What’s going to happen to me? Are they going to put me in jail without any court hearing, without any judge?’” Once the car stopped, Sohrab was led inside another building, where he was placed in another room and left alone for several hours. During that time, Sohrab said he heard what sounded like screams from another detainee, and then laughter. He said at one point the air conditioning came on and he became very cold; then the next moment it was unbearably hot. “I didn’t know whether it was torture, or they just wanted to scare me,” he said. Eventually, Sohrab heard two people enter the room and what sounded like the thud of a briefcase landing on a desk. “I thought maybe they are reading my story,” Sohrab said. “And then one of them said: ‘OK, Sohrab, are you a member of an Assemblies of God Church in Tehran?’ I said, ‘Yes’. And they said, ‘So what are you doing here?” Sohrab explained to his interrogators that he had been forced to leave Tehran after being fired from his job – because he was a Christian. “OK, but why have you started to gather Christians here?” they asked. When Sohrab attempted to skirt around the issue, he was told: “I’ve asked you politely. Answer me truthfully or you’ll see my other side!” Sohrab was told that his new city wasn’t like Tehran, Shiraz or Isfahan, where news may be distributed about someone being arrested. “Here it’s silent, it’s not on the news,” they said. “And you came here to cause us trouble. Stop what you are doing or you are responsible for what will happen to you, to your family or the members of your group.” Terrified, Sohrab agreed to stop the meetings, and for six months after his release he did as he promised. But Sohrab says he was regularly asked by his members why the meetings had stopped, and he feared that without his support the other converts would lose heart and faith, so at Christmas 2013 he decided to start again. Just two weeks later, he received another call. It was the same man who’d called before. “Sohrab, you didn’t heed our advice,” the man said. “If something happens to you, we told you that that is your responsibility. So if in the evening or at night when you are asleep, if something happens to you or to your wife, we wash our hands of it.” Sohrab says the fear he felt following that call was worse than if he’d been imprisoned. “At least then you’d know you will be in jail and you cannot go outside, but there is no fear that something will happen to you or your family, because they’ve already punished you. But at that time, believing every day, especially in the evenings, after sunset, when everywhere is dark, maybe someone will attack you from behind and put a knife in you and you will die and no-one will understand who killed you … Every day I was scared. I knew something will happen to me, but when? Is it today, it is tomorrow, or is it tonight while we are asleep?” Sohrab says he is still traumatised, and finds that even now he will wake up at night and check whether the windows and doors are locked. For the next year, Sohrab was in this agitated state of knowing he would be targeted, but not where or when. And then on a Friday morning in early 2015, he called a meeting in a park where he knew many others would have gathered, so it shouldn’t draw too much attention. But after singing just one song together, Sohrab recalls that “around ten motorcycles, each carrying two passengers, drove around us and then came at us with these electroshock weapons and small knives”. The group dispersed in different directions, and Sohrab fled in his car, which had had its windows and lights smashed in. When he got home, Sohrab recalls his wife screaming and asking him what happened. But before he could answer, the telephone rang. It was Sohrab’s brother-in-law, who worked at the mayor’s office. “He asked my wife, ‘Where is Sohrab?’ And she answered, ‘He arrived right now,’ Sohrab recalls. “Then he told my wife, ‘You have to leave your house quickly.’ My wife asked why, but he said, ‘You don’t have time, I cannot explain, just leave, come to my house and then I’ll tell you what happened.’” Sohrab says he didn’t even have time to wash his face or change out of his bloodied clothes, and that when they arrived at his brother-in-law’s house, he was told: “Sohrab, you have to leave.” “I said, ‘Where should I go?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, you just have to leave.’” So that night, Sohrab and his wife drove back to Tehran, and the very next day they flew to Turkey. Nearly five years on, it is there they remain, and while Sohrab says he is grateful for the community he has found at their new church, where around 200 Iranian Christians gather freely, his heart remains in Iran. Sohrab is one of the leaders at the church and helps new refugees when they arrive, if, like him, their assets are frozen in Iran. But it is to the future that he looks. “I’m sure God has a plan for Iran,” he says. “At the Assemblies of God Church I went to in Tehran, there were 500 members. Now they closed that church, all the members are living in different cities or countries. Some moved to the United States, Canada, Australia, or Europe. I’m here in Turkey. Sometimes I think God wanted to equip us to be ready for when, one day, Iran becomes free and all of us go back and start to serve there. We should be ready for that time.”