Sister of convicted Christian converts detained by Ministry of Intelligence 16 September 2024 News A Christian convert arrested a week ago in the southern city of Shiraz is still being held in an infamous detention centre belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence. Mojdeh Falahi, 36, whose two older sisters were arrested five years ago for their Christian activities, was arrested on 9 September at the prosecutor’s office in Shiraz, and has not been heard from since. Article18 understands that she is being detained in the Pelak-e 100 detention centre, which is under the jurisdiction of Iran’s intelligence ministry. According to a source familiar with the case, Mojdeh, who is a hairdresser, had gone to the prosecutor’s office at around lunchtime at the request of a Christian friend, who had been arrested the day before, in order to provide him with some documents required for his release. However, once she arrived, Mojdeh was immediately detained and is now being held on charges filed under the titles of “Christianity” and “illegal Christian activities”. “Mojdeh has been a Christian for years,” Article18’s source explained, “though her activities have never been extensive.” Mojdeh’s family have visited the prosecutor’s office several times since her arrest and asked to see her, but they have not been permitted to, and neither has Mojdeh been granted access to a lawyer. Mojdeh’s sisters, Maryam and Marjan, were part of a group of eight Christian converts arrested in Bushehr, 300km west of Shiraz, in July 2019. A year later, Maryam and Marjan were fined 8 million tomans (around $400) and 6 million tomans (around $300), respectively. Meanwhile, Maryam, who is a nurse, was banned for life from working for any national institution, including the hospital she had worked at for 20 years. In a separate court case later that year, a judge ruled that Maryam and her husband, Sam Khosravi, could no longer keep custody of their adopted daughter, Lydia, because they were Christians and Lydia, being of unknown parentage, was considered to be Muslim. Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented: “Mojdeh’s mother, now in her 60s, was left deeply traumatised after enduring the arrest five years ago of two of her daughters for their Christian faith. She has never fully recovered from the pain and anguish of their detention, and now she is being forced to relive that nightmare after the arrest of her third daughter. “What the Iranian authorities fail to recognise is that every arrest they make shatters not just one life, but entire families. Each act of cruelty ripples through generations, leaving scars that may never heal, simply because of these people’s commitment to their Christian faith.”
‘No-one imprisoned for beliefs’ one of Iran’s ‘1000s of lies’ – Anoosheh Ashoori 6 September 2024 Features A British-Iranian who spent over four years in Tehran’s Evin Prison says claims by Islamic Republic officials that “no-one is imprisoned in Iran because of their beliefs” are “among the 1000s of lies they have said”. “This can be considered one of those many lies,” Anoosheh Ashoori said in an exclusive interview with Article18. “Because I met these people.” One such prisoner, alongside whom Anoosheh was detained and who remains in Evin Prison, is Christian convert Yasser Akbari. Anoosheh said it was for Yasser’s sake that he agreed to the interview, explaining how the two had become friends during the marquetry classes they took together inside prison. The former hostage described Yasser as a “kind” and “fantastic human being”, whose “pain was in fact more severe than others” due to the loss of his only son, Amir Ali, during their time together in prison. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Article18.en (@articleeighteen.en) “Amir Ali had many medical issues, and [Yasser] was not allowed to go and visit him,” Anoosheh explained, with tears in his eyes. “And even when his condition became critical, and he was there begging the authorities to allow him to go and visit his son in the hospital, they didn’t. “And after he passed away, it took quite a while before he was allowed to go to attend the funeral. “Even now, it is so crystal clear [in my mind], all of that pain that he was going through, and he’s still there [in prison].” Yasser Akbari said he carries the grief of the death of his son, Amir Ali, “like a suppressed cry and an unexpressed sorrow”. Anoosheh described Yasser and other imprisoned Christian converts as “prisoners of conscience”, adding: “When we are born, we haven’t chosen our names, and we haven’t chosen our religion … And when we grow up, it is up to us to decide what we want to be. Do we want to believe, or do we not want to believe. One has to have the freedom to choose [one’s] religion, and the freedom of thought. Unfortunately, in that country, that doesn’t exist.” Anoosheh added that the Iranian authorities’ insistence that the presence of several hundred churches for Armenian and Assyrian minorities displayed its “religious freedom” was another way in which the regime hides its “filth under a veneer of legality”. “You would look at it from the outside, and you would say, ‘Well, what is the problem?’” he said. “But you just need to get inside [the country] to see that filth – to see that rotten way of thinking that exists there.” Anoosheh was 63 years old when he was first detained, and said it pained him to hear that several current Christian prisoners of conscience are of a similar age, such as Iranian-Armenian pastor Anooshavan Avedian, who is 62, and Christian convert Mina Khajavi, who will turn 61 later this year. “It’s the time that you should retire, enjoy your life with your [spouse], with your family, perhaps with your grandchildren,” he said. “And then this happens [that you are arrested, and] for a lot of us in that situation, it is very difficult to find hope and to fight and go forward, hoping that you would be released one day.” Anooshavan Avedian, 62, is serving a 10-year prison sentence for leading a house-church. Anoosheh was released in March 2022, alongside fellow British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, after the UK agreed to pay back a longstanding debt to Iran. Anoosheh was never and remains not nearly so well known as his fellow British-Iranian, and acknowledged that this was difficult to deal with. “Of course, it is so,” he said. “Unfortunately, not only in Britain, but everywhere in the world, news must be attractive. I remember somebody told my wife or my daughter, when they actually complained about why we were not being also mentioned as frequently, and a journalist told them that ‘your news is not sexy enough’. “So then it becomes doubly difficult for you. And then, compare me with Yasser, whose name is so obscure, he’s not even being mentioned, and the reason I am here is to let Yasser know, to let people like Yasser know, that although I am free and am here in Britain, I have not forgotten about them. “One of the reasons one can survive in a prison like Evin is that they know that somebody is thinking of them. They know that they are not forgotten. And once you know that, that element of hope is there for you so you can carry on that little further, until your freedom arrives.” Mina Khajavi, who is serving a six-year sentence, will turn 61 in December. But Anoosheh said he could also understand why some choose not to publicise their cases. “It’s quite complicated,” he explained, “because they have got relatives, and the authorities don’t have any red lines. They can arrest relatives. They can threaten you. I mean, they threatened me that they would kill my family members. And when I told my interrogator that, ‘Look, they are in Britain, you cannot reach them,’ he told me, ‘Remember [assassinated former Prime Minister] Bakhtiar,’ and that was it, I got my answer. “So for many of the people who are silent, it’s because of the fear of harm coming to their loved ones because they’re still in Iran.” At the same time, Anoosheh said publicity “in a general form is a must, because social awareness is a must”, and the result of increased awareness may be the reason why, for example, those accused of apostasy are no longer executed, “because of the international repercussions”. “Otherwise [the Iranian authorities] would be exactly the same as the Taliban [and] execute any convert straight away,” he said. Anoosheh said that inside Evin Prison there was a famous saying that “days look like centuries, and years seem like days, because you go around seeing people and you ask, ‘how long are you here?’ And the other guy says ‘nine years’. Another one says ‘seven years’. But then, every second, every minute of spending time in that circle of hell, in itself, is quite a long time. You have to fill in those times by doing things; otherwise you would go insane.” And aside from the marquetry classes that he took with Yasser, Anoosheh devoted much of his time to exercise, with the dream of completing the London Marathon once he was eventually freed. Anoosheh has since completed three marathons to raise awareness about those he “left behind”, and says he plans to run the next one, providing his knees “don’t betray” him. You can watch the full interview here.
Misinformation and Disinformation: Implications for Freedom of Religion of Belief 2 September 2024 Reports The Iranian authorities’ “systematic” and “targeted” dissemination of disinformation about religious minorities, including Christians, has been highlighted in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The report, ‘Misinformation and Disinformation: Implications for Freedom of Religion of Belief’, released last month, says disinformation about Jews, Sunni Muslims, Gonabadi Sufis, Christian converts and Baha’is in Iran is “often” disseminated through state media. “Iranian state-linked media have claimed falsely or without evidence that … Christian converts from Islam are part of a ‘Zionist’ network that poses a national security risk,” the report notes, adding that “such false claims create a restrictive environment for FoRB [freedom of religion or belief] in Iran in the context of arrests, imprisonment and sometimes executions of Baha’is, Gonabadi Sufis, Christians, and members of the Erfan-e-Halgheh movement.” The report, which also includes examples from China, Russia, Pakistan and India, says the spreading of false claims about religious minorities represents a “global challenge to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), with social media and the Internet allowing the claims to “spread faster and wider than ever before”. USCIRF warns that government misinformation and disinformation can cause “profound harms” by “amplify[ing] intolerance from individuals who may believe the content of these campaigns and and harass, intimidate, or threaten the targeted religious groups”, “increas[ing] the risk of violence that targets religious minorities” and creating “an environment enabling violations of their international legal right to FoRB”. The false claims also “signal to targeted religious communities that governments will not ensure their freedom of religion or belief and may actively seek to restrict it,” USCIRF says, “… affect[ing] community members’ perception of how safe it is for them to teach, practice, worship, and observe their religious beliefs. Many may self-censor or otherwise shy away from exercising FoRB as a result.” The report concludes that governments are “increasingly using such tactics to threaten, harass, intimidate, and attack individuals and communities on the basis of their religious beliefs”, and calls on the US government to “collaborat[e] with like-minded governments … to develop strategies to counter governments using misinformation and disinformation to encourage or justify restrictions on FoRB”.
Iran’s ‘systematic’ disinformation about religious minorities risks ‘profound harms’ – report 2 September 2024 News Embed from Getty Images The Iranian authorities’ “systematic” and “targeted” dissemination of disinformation about religious minorities, including Christians, has been highlighted in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The report, ‘Misinformation and Disinformation: Implications for Freedom of Religion of Belief’, released last month, says disinformation about Jews, Sunni Muslims, Gonabadi Sufis, Christian converts and Baha’is in Iran is “often” disseminated through state media. “Iranian state-linked media have claimed falsely or without evidence that … Christian converts from Islam are part of a ‘Zionist’ network that poses a national security risk,” the report notes, adding that “such false claims create a restrictive environment for FoRB [freedom of religion or belief] in Iran in the context of arrests, imprisonment and sometimes executions of Baha’is, Gonabadi Sufis, Christians, and members of the Erfan-e-Halgheh movement.” The report, which also includes examples from China, Russia, Pakistan and India, says the spreading of false claims about religious minorities represents a “global challenge to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), with social media and the Internet allowing the claims to “spread faster and wider than ever before”. USCIRF warns that government misinformation and disinformation can cause “profound harms” by “amplify[ing] intolerance from individuals who may believe the content of these campaigns and harass, intimidate, or threaten the targeted religious groups”, “increas[ing] the risk of violence that targets religious minorities” and creating “an environment enabling violations of their international legal right to FoRB”. The false claims also “signal to targeted religious communities that governments will not ensure their freedom of religion or belief and may actively seek to restrict it,” USCIRF says, “… affect[ing] community members’ perception of how safe it is for them to teach, practice, worship, and observe their religious beliefs. Many may self-censor or otherwise shy away from exercising FoRB as a result.” The report concludes that governments are “increasingly using such tactics to threaten, harass, intimidate, and attack individuals and communities on the basis of their religious beliefs”, and calls on the US government to “collaborat[e] with like-minded governments … to develop strategies to counter governments using misinformation and disinformation to encourage or justify restrictions on FoRB”.
Over 300 Christian cases among hacked Tehran judiciary files 29 August 2024 News The case files of over 300 Christians who faced charges related to their faith and religious activities are among the over 3 million prosecutions leaked by hackers of the Tehran judiciary’s website over the past six months, a study by Article18 has revealed. The data, leaked in stages by Edaalate Ali since February, include the cases of at least 327 Christians prosecuted in the Tehran area between July 2008 and January 2023, including at least seven ordained ministers. Of the 327 individuals, the vast majority (around 90%) were converts to Christianity; 60% were male; there were eight foreign nationals; three dual nationals; and 22 Christians of Assyrian or Armenian descent – whose faith is recognised by the Islamic Republic, unlike that of converts. The most common charge, referenced in 86% of cases, was “propaganda against the state [by promoting Christianity]”, followed by membership (69%) or leadership (58%) of “anti-security” groups (house-churches). Other common charges included “insulting Islamic sanctities” (42% of cases) and “gathering and collusion against national security” (30%), while 34 individuals were charged with “disturbing public opinion”; 30 with “disrupting peace and order”; 28 with “insulting the Supreme Leader”; 26 with possession of satellite receivers; and 25 with “apostasy”. Two individuals were accused of “spying”, and in another case the managers of three online shops which sold Christian books were charged with “selling deviant evangelistic materials” and “hurting public modesty and morals through the display, promotion and sale of evangelistic books and items”. Other charges included: “Disobeying officers performing their duty” [because Iranian-Assyrian church leader Rev Sargez Benyamin resisted the forced closure of his church without a warrant]; “Acting against the country’s national security through the administration of illegal organisations of the Iranian Evangelical Council” [though the council was officially registered prior to the 1979 revolution and again afterwards]; and “Foreign trips and communicating and cooperating with evangelistic organisations and spy services” [for a senior pastor who travelled abroad to attend gatherings with other church leaders]. Given that the 327 cases relate only to the Tehran region, they represent a mere drop in the ocean of all convictions of Christians over the 15-year period, especially as Article18 documented a further 37 cases in the Tehran region over those 15 years which were not included in the leaked files, involving at least 96 individuals. It is also worth noting that the majority of cases (58%) in the leaked files were not previously known to Article18, highlighting the challenge of documenting cases that the individuals or their families choose not to publicise. What else does the data show? 1. ‘Propaganda’ terminology The most common charge against Christians, as noted above, was that they had engaged in “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic – essentially by being seen to “promote” a different belief system. Common terms used in court documents against Christians included “propaganda against the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran …” “in favour of its opponents”; “for the benefit of groups opposed to the system”; “through mis-propaganda activities in the form of evangelical Christianity”; or “that contradicts and disturbs the holy Islamic law”. “Publication of” or “spreading” “lies” was another way in which the accusation was framed, as in the case of Iranian-Assyrian pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, who was accused of “publishing lies through the publication of evangelical teachings”. Separately, four converts were accused of “spreading lies by promoting evangelical Christianity”, while another Christian was accused of “publishing lies with the intention of confusing the public mind”. 2. Vilification and delegitimisation of evangelicals The leaked documents also reveal the common practice of ordinary Christian worship being labelled “cultic”, “anti-revolutionary”, or a “security risk”, with the clear aim of stigmatising Christian groups that do not conform to government criteria of “acceptable Christians”. Prosecutors and judges frequently use labels such as “Zionists”, “evangelicals”, “deviant” or “illegal sects”, in a clear attempt to distinguish between converts to Christianity – whose change in faith is not recognised – and the tolerated Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent. One example is found in the indictment against a woman named A. Yazdani, a Christian convert, which is replete with such labels, as shown in the below extract: “Evangelical Christianity has targeted the foundations of the Muslim people’s faith in the interests of global [powers] and is weakening the foundations of families by spreading unruliness. This sect has attempted to conduct a soft revolution against the Islamic Republic by changing the Shiite beliefs of the people and promoting immorality… Evangelistic Christianity in Iran seeks to weaken the foundation of the family and diminish the Islamic teachings and promote sexual promiscuity and fight against the necessities of Islam, including the Islamic hijab, as well as cleansing the evils of America and especially the occupying regime of Israel.” The judge in the case goes on to specifically cite the famous October 2010 speech of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in which he warned that the spread of house-churches was among the ways in which the foundations of Iranians’ Muslim faith – and especially that of the younger generation – was intentionally “being shaken” by the “enemies of Islam”. The judge also quotes the words of another ayatollah, Vahid Khorasani, who said evangelical Christianity and house-churches were “causing an uproar” in Iran and that it was “the duty of the government to stand against them”. “Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani have also expressed their concern regarding the propaganda of the Evangelical sect and the activities of house-churches, and have warned the authorities,” he added. In another case, that of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani and three other converts sentenced to 10 years in prison, two letters from recognised church leaders were used to paint house-church members as “a Western-oriented, anti-religious and deviant scattered group”, who “by abusing the general title of ‘Christianity’ are forming deviant sects and congregations and working against the security of the country”. The judge uses these letters to suggest that “the official religions in the country, including Christianity … and the bishops of the churches who are active in Iran, did not accept this sect and do not recognise it”. Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, explains: “It should be noted that Evangelical Protestant churches, which were shutdown one after the other, especially since 2009, were all once officially registered and recognised churches. They came increasingly under pressure when they refused to abandon the national language of Persian in their worship services, allowing the opportunity for people from all other faith groups to join their congregation. There are still a handful of Evangelical Protestant churches operating with the full knowledge of the Iranian authorities, albeit now open only to ethnic Armenian or Assyrians.” 3. Bibles portrayed as criminal goods Another notable trend is the frequent reference in court documents to the Christian holy book as evidence of a crime. In one case, Bibles in the evangelical church of Iranian-Assyrian pastor Rev Sargez Benyamin are referred to as “unauthorised evangelical items”. In another case, they are termed “deviant books”, and in another “divisive books”. The “smuggling” of Bibles is listed among accusations in numerous other cases, termed a “propaganda activity against the regime”, while Christian literature sold online is described as “providing grounds for people’s corruption”. 4. Violations of Article 23 Article 23 of Iran’s Constitution states: “The investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no-one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.” There are clear examples of violations of this article in the leaked documents, such as in the text of one warrant, which specifically orders the investigating officers to probe the beliefs of a Christian convert, stating: “In the investigation, it should be determined from the accused: a) What religion and orientation did the accused believe in?” b) In what way has he converted to Christianity? c) What methods did he use to attract other people to Christianity? d) In which places has he organised house-church and preaching and teaching activities of evangelical Christianity?” This is while Iranian authorities repeatedly claim that “no one is arrested or detained for their faith or belief”. Meanwhile, a letter from another Christian included in another case file describes how he and his wife were made to confess their crimes on camera and ask for forgiveness, as well as being forced to participate in Islamic classes and break contact with other Christians. “From the beginning of the date recorded in the case until today, and at any other time, we have not and will not have any dealings with any of those people, and during all this time we had every necessary cooperation with the judicial authorities and the intelligence agents by attending the classes of Islamic jurisprudence,” the letter states. “We also cooperated in confessing in front of the camera, as requested by brothers in the Ministry of Intelligence. I implore you, respected authorities, given the fact that we have two children, and sick parents, to agree to our request and grant us pardon and forgiveness.” 5. Criminalisation of Christian rites and common practices Alongside accounts of the flogging of individuals for drinking Communion wine, “acquiring wealth through illegal means” is a term used against at least two church leaders for receiving tithes and offerings that were used to help those in need. In an indictment, it is stated: “The accused has led his son and daughter to the Evangelical sect and has organised Communion for them. The accused has been very devoted to the Evangelical sect in such a way that he used to pay her tithes regularly. At first, she paid her tithes to the Assemblies of God church.” 6. The example of Alex Finally, one stand-out case – that of a dual national by the name of Alexander B. – is so replete with examples of the above themes that we have dedicated an entire article to it, which can be read here.
The case of Alexander B. 29 August 2024 Features (Illustrative image) Of all the examples in the leaked Edaalate Ali files pertaining to Christians, one case stands out: that of a dual national by the name of Alexander B, who at nearly 80 years old was sentenced to five years in prison for attending a house-church. The court documents in the case are replete with examples of how Iran’s judiciary seeks to distinguish between the different branches of Christianity, as evidenced below. Who is Alexander B.? An Iranian-Armenian Christian, nearly 80 years of age at the time of the court case in 2022, who was born in Rasht, northern Iran, but emigrated to the US. His lawyers described him as “a dignified and calm man of faith, who aside from political issues loves Iran as his homeland and birthplace, and respects and adheres to the laws and systems of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. What was he accused of? The long list of accusations against Alex included: “membership in the community under the name of a home church of ‘Zionist Evangelical Christianity’, with the aim of disrupting the security of the country”; “gathering and colluding against the country’s security”; “disturbing the public mind and disrupting social order through Christian publications with the aim of attracting Muslims”; and “insulting Islamic sacred things”. What did the prosecutor say? The main points of Mohammad Nasirpour, head of the 33rd Prosecutor’s Office of Tehran, including quotes from Iran’s two Supreme Leaders, are outlined below: Supreme Leaders’ warnings “According to Imam Khomeini’s statements, ‘We have no enmity with Christians, Jews, and other nations, and we do not prevent [their] religious schools in any way, as long as they are for teaching and learning, but if we understand that these schools are different in Iran, they are to us the same as the ‘den of spies’ [US embassy] … and if we understand that in our Tehran, the centres of propaganda of the Church, Zionism, and Baha’ism have been created, which mislead people and distance them from the rules and teachings of Islam, isn’t it our duty to destroy these centres that harm Islam?’ “And according to the words of Imam Khamenei, ‘From the spread of unrestrained and immorality, to the promotion of false mysticism, to the promotion of Baha’ism, to the promotion of the network of house-churches, these are the things that the enemies of Islam are doing today with study, planning and foresight … to weaken religion in the society.’” Protestants a ‘security threat’ “Armenian and Assyrian Christians in the Catholic and Orthodox religions are aligned with the Islamic Revolution and are even considered an opportunity to advance the goals of the Islamic Revolution. However, Armenian and Assyrian Christians in the Protestant religion, with their evangelistic nature and the mission of Christianising Iran, are considered a security threat for the Islamic Revolution.” ‘Enemy’ “Persian-language, evangelical movements are supported by fundamentalist evangelical Christians and Zionists … [who] consider Shiism their biggest enemy and consider it their religious duty to fight against it. “Since American Zionist Christians consider the Islamic Republic as their enemy, they do not stop any hostile efforts against Iran, and they use the evangelistic activity in Iran as an action against the security of the Islamic Republic … by destroying and humiliating the dear Islam and promoting Islamophobia and casting doubts on the beliefs of Muslims, especially young people who are suffering for example from financial or emotional problems.” ‘Command centre’ in US “The main command and planning centre of this movement is located in the United States and is accompanied by the intellectual and financial support of the Zionist regime and England.” ‘Deviant sects’ “The formation of a house-church is contrary to the religious ceremonies of authentic Christians. These [house-]churches … are not approved by authentic Christians and are deviant sects. “These deviant branches of Christianity … are trying to expand by using all the tools, including the formation of house-churches, satellite networks, radio, publishing books and virtual space, and financial attraction in the form of secret and underground pyramid networks. Their propaganda umbrella is aimed at creating deviation in the minds of Muslims in order to tend to these sects. “Taking into account that the purpose of forming house-churches and evangelistic activities by these sects in the Islamic Republic of Iran is to attract Muslims to Zionist Christianity, and it is completely dependent on the international Zionist intelligence services, with people converting from Islam there will be no trace of the Islamic Republic system. Therefore, the act of forming a house-church, and evangelistic activity, is considered to be with the aim of disrupting the country’s security. ‘No need for secret churches’ “With more than 250 active, semi-active and historical churches in the country for the religious activity of Christians, there is no reason for secret and hidden activity and the formation of a house-church … And no license has been issued for the activity of these churches and associations.” How did his lawyers respond? Alex’s lawyers, Alireza Thaqfi and Mohammed Kialashki, were highly critical of the investigating officers in their long submission to the appeal court, including the following observations: House-churches ‘religious’, not anti-security “What is referred to as ‘membership’ [of an anti-security organisation] is only attendance at prayer meetings and gatherings of groups of friends … A ‘house-church’, as its name suggests, is a place to perform activities similar to what is done in a church, for the purpose of prayer and religious practices.” Misuse of ‘Zionist’ terminology “Giving the adjective ‘Zionist’ … is only for the purpose of condensing the case and to magnify and make his actions appear important, such that through this method an innocent person is accused and punished.” Disproportionate punishment “He was sentenced to five years in prison, which considering the age of the client … and his lack of any criminal record, and lack of knowledge about the prohibition of participation in friendly meetings and performing religious ceremonies [in a house-church] and the absence of specific malice, is very heavy.” Prisoner exchange the ‘ultimate goal’ “The repeated questions and interrogations [make] it quite clear that the motive of the prosecutor was only to add to the volumes of the case in order to make the charge appear big and the accused so valuable that he can exchange them with the prisoners wanted by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for exchange in America.” ‘So many illegalities’ “There are so many illegalities in the case that it is not possible to describe all of them in this text, and I invite the honourable judges to examine the questions and actions of the honourable interrogator carefully, recognising that the client is only an accused and not a criminal, and asking whether the law and criminal procedure – which are mandatory laws – have been followed in the investigation process or not.” ‘Pure lie’ “There are obvious interferences and false statements made against the client, and use of words such as ‘Evangelical visiting [pastor]’, attributing statements to the client which he has not uttered, adding the names of some countries and provinces as the client’s travel destinations to which he has not travelled… “The job of the client is mentioned as the ‘pastor of a house-church of Zionist Christianity’, while the job of the client is a driver … and the interrogator has no right to attribute a job to the client based on his imagination, which has nothing to do with the client and is a pure lie.” Regarding biblical prophecy of ‘establishing throne’ in Iran “The investigator of the case … [claims] the above contents are in the client’s handwriting, while the aforementioned contents are printed texts from the Bible.” ‘Goal to convict’ “The investigator of the case, who is neither an expert in Christianity nor has complete information about it, is trying to define the word ‘evangelism’, a word whose meaning can be understood with a simple reference to the dictionary, but he has made up his own definition – to fulfil his goal of convicting the client.” Regarding ‘acting against national security’ “The most important part of the charge is ‘gathering to disturb the security of the country’. What is the security of the country? What are the elements of a country’s security? What were the client’s limited actions related to the country’s security? How was this big accusation against the client confirmed? “From a legal point of view, there is no connection between the behaviour of the client and the disruption of the order and security of our beloved country and the Islamic system, and no reason has been presented in the case, except that the interrogator of the case, by collecting false terms … intends to incite such an accusation against the client in the reader’s mind. “Action against national security means actions that directly and knowingly target national security and intend to weaken it. “In this regard, firstly the client had no intention of such an action. Secondly, his action in participating in home meetings was just … to pray according to his religion. Therefore, the gathering of several people in one house does not mean an illegal organisation.” Regarding ‘aim of attracting Muslims’ “The irregular gatherings attended by the client were with his fellow believers and there were no Muslims … So far in this case there is not even a single example that a Muslim person was attracted to Christianity.” Regarding ‘insulting Islamic sacred things’ “It is not clear how this accusation was attributed to the client, while there is no statement or evidence of insulting the client against Islam, but the client, as a Christian believer, declared his [respect of] Islam in his statements in the case.” Regarding ‘acquiring illegal property’ “I am very sorry to have to say that there is no reason or evidence in the file regarding this, and the accusation is only because of the client’s statement that he received 600 dollars of aid from a church. While tithes are money that Christians pay to the church and not to a person.” Regarding ‘holding educational meetings, especially in Muslims’ homes’ “As the interrogator of the case does not find any Muslim among the mentioned names, he mentions these Christian people as Muslim-born to fill the said void with this title.”
Christian convert dies while awaiting result of appeal against prison sentence 28 August 2024 News Photo: Mohabat News One of the eight Christian converts recently sentenced to a combined 45 years in prison for their involvement in house-churches has died in a road traffic accident. Bijan Gholizadeh, who was a father to three daughters, was killed on Saturday, 24 August, while driving his truck on the Borujen Road south of Isfahan. According to Iranian Christian website Mohabat News, Bijan was only recently released on bail after nearly six months’ detention, including 20 days in solitary confinement. Bijan was one of at least 46 Christians arrested over the Christmas period. He was arrested on Christmas Eve in the city of Izeh, in Khuzestan province. On 27 May, Bijan was sentenced to five years in prison for “propaganda against the regime through the promotion of ‘Zionist’ Christianity” as a result of his membership of a house-church, which was labelled a “group that intends to disrupt national security”. The sentence was pronounced by Judge Mehdi Fathinia of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court. Seven other Christians were convicted as part of the same judgement, including Yasin Mousavi, who was sentenced to 15 years. Also sentenced were Hamid Afzali to 10 years; Nasrullah Mousavi and Iman Salehi to five years; two unnamed individuals to two years; and Zohrab Shahbazi to nine months. Another Christian convert, Esmaeil Narimanpour, was sentenced the following day to five years in prison for “acting against national security by communicating with Christian ‘Zionist’ organisations”. Earlier this year, another Christian former prisoner of conscience, Ebrahim Firouzi, died of a reported heart attack at the age of 37. Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented: “We at Article18 are deeply saddened at the news of the sudden passing of Bijan, who tragically lost his life in an accident. His death is a profound loss that echoes the grief we felt earlier this year with the passing of Ebrahim Firouzi, another brave soul who had endured much for his beliefs. “Bijan’s courage and resilience in the face of persecution will be remembered by the Iranian Christian community. As we struggle to cope with this second heartbreaking blow, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. We pray that Bijan’s legacy of faith and perseverance will continue to inspire many, even as we grieve his untimely departure.”
‘I still remember all their threats’ 7 August 2024 Features Maryam Jalili was 40 years old when she became a Christian, and by then had already been through so much. At the age of just 17, Maryam’s firstborn son, who had been born in the year of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, died after contracting meningitis. Then, while Maryam was in her late thirties, one of her sisters died in an accident on her way to a family wedding. At this point, Maryam says she questioned the “justice and wisdom” of God, and despite attending many Islamic ceremonies and gatherings, received “no clear answers” and “couldn’t find the peace and comfort I was desperately seeking”. So when a relative introduced her to the Bible and to Jesus’ promise of finding “rest”, she says she “felt such peace in my heart and it felt like I had finally found what I had been searching for, for years”. Yet, the road ahead was to prove anything but straightforward for the new Christian convert, especially in a religious city like Neyshabur, which is near Mashhad. Maryam was soon arrested, alongside four other Christians, including her daughter-in-law, and after being detained and questioned for eight days, was threatened that she must “leave the city” or face another arrest. Maryam decided to relocate to the city of Isfahan, which she described as “a city with more religious tolerance”, due to the presence of many Iranian-Armenian Christians. But here, too, Maryam found that her new faith got her into trouble, and after being summoned to the security department at the Isfahan governor’s office, she fled – first to Shiraz, and then, via Ahvaz and Kermanshah, finally to the capital, Tehran, where she joined the Central Assemblies of God Church, which at the time was still open to converts. Nevertheless, the pressure on converts was no less real, as Maryam was to find out at Christmas 2009, when she was one of a dozen Christians arrested and detained for nearly three months. During those months, Maryam says she was “constantly threatened” during many long interrogations, one of which she says lasted from 8 in the morning until 10 at night. One interrogator told her to look beneath her blindfold at a hole in the wall. “That was caused by the head of a detainee who didn’t cooperate,” she was told. “If you don’t cooperate, the same will happen to you.” In another interrogation, she was told: “I’ll put the noose around your neck and kick the stool from under you myself!” After Maryam was finally released on bail, she was sentenced to five years in prison for “gathering and collusion against the security of the state”. In the court proceedings, Maryam says “it was clear that their main concern regarded ‘promoting Christianity’. Other words and phrases were more to justify their opposition to our work in spreading the Gospel message. “For example, all our charges presented in the court session were summarised under one charge in the court’s verdict: ‘Acting against national security through forming an illegal group and running it to deceive Muslims and promote Christianity.’ “Elsewhere in the same verdict, the officially registered Assemblies of God church that we attended was also described as ‘one of the main centres for proselytising and promoting the distorted sect of Christianity’.” Maryam’s sentence was eventually reduced to two and a half years, which she served, before finally being released from the women’s ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison in September 2013. But even after her release, Maryam faced renewed threats of re-arrest and imprisonment. “A few months after my release, someone called me,” she recalls, “and said: ‘Congratulations on your release from prison. I’m the officer handling your case in Neyshabur. If you try to resume your previous activities, you’ll be dealing with me!’ “After this call, I saw clearly how easily I could end up in prison again. The Tehran case was closed, but the Neyshabur case was still pending.” Maryam adds: “In prison, an interrogator had told me: ‘Ms Jalili, you have now been arrested twice. There won’t be a third time. You’ll simply cross the street one day, and an iron beam will hit your head, or a motorbike will suddenly run into you.’ “I still remember all their threats. I always used to pass by construction sites with fear, afraid they would deliberately drop an iron beam on my head.” And so Maryam took the decision she says she had “never intended to”, and left Iran. After a few years in Turkey, in September 2018, exactly five years after her release from Evin Prison, Maryam was resettled in the United States. You can read Maryam’s full Witness Statement here.
Maryam Jalili 7 August 2024 Witness Statements For a summary of Maryam’s story, you can read our feature article here. Background 1. My name is Maryam and I was born in 1964 in Neyshabur [northeast Iran]. I had four sisters and two brothers. My father was a military man, and as a result he was extremely strict in raising his children. Our home was like a military base. I wanted to get away from that environment, so I decided to marry the first man who proposed, and married one of my mother’s relatives at the age of 13. 2. My first son was born in 1979, when I was just 15. When I was 17, my son contracted meningitis, and this illness led to his death. We buried him in January 1981. This event was extremely painful for me. I couldn’t understand the reason for my child’s birth and death. Many questions occupied my mind. In my solitude, I asked God: “You knew my son was going to die, so why did you give him to us only to take him away?” A few years later, at the age of 21, my second son was born, and later I had a third. 3. When I was 38, my younger sister and brother decided to hold their wedding ceremonies on the same night. Another of my sisters, Farzaneh, who was 26 at the time and had a three-year-old daughter named Hasti, was returning from a recreational trip with her husband and daughter to attend the wedding in Neyshabur. But they had a severe accident near Neyshabur, which resulted in my sister’s death. 4. The loss of Farzaneh was the second tragic blow for me. While preparing her body for burial at the mortuary, I wailed and cried out to God, questioning why she had died at such a young age, and what would happen to her three-year-old daughter. I struggled with the concepts of God’s justice and wisdom, and these questions weighed heavily on my mind, without any clear answers. I was anxious and restless. Despite attending many Islamic ceremonies and gatherings, I couldn’t find the peace and comfort I was desperately seeking. Converting to Christianity and attending house-church 5. I read “The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn: Four Complete Books”, and found the references to the Bible interesting. Another relative of mine was at university, studying English literature, and I learned that as part of the course they studied the Bible in English. This piqued my curiosity, and on 20 October 2004 I asked this relative some questions about Christianity and the Bible. My relative then read me the following verse from the Gospel of Matthew: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” [Matthew 11:28]. When I heard this verse, I felt such peace in my heart, and it felt like I had finally found what I had been searching for, for years. 6. I travelled from Neyshabur to the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran, where I bought a Bible from the church’s bookstore. As I enthusiastically read it, I found answers to questions that had been in my mind for years. I visited the bookstore several more times and bought other Christian books. My daughter-in-law, Najmeh, and I simultaneously studied the Bible together for the next eight months. 7. My father was a member of the board of trustees of both the city’s mosque and a religious centre. My mother was a devout Muslim woman, who had completed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and regularly went on different pilgrimages or held religious meetings at home. It was in this setting that I became a Christian and gradually discussed my Christian faith with my mother, sisters, brothers, son, and daughter-in-law. A total of 19 people in my family eventually became Christians. 8. Another of my relatives had converted to Christianity before us, and a year earlier had been arrested by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence. Knowing he was under surveillance by the authorities, he used to come to our home cautiously to teach us more about Christianity. We held house-church meetings on Fridays. First arrest in Neyshabur 9. I used to work as a salesperson in my own women’s clothing shop, and would often spend long hours away from home. However, at a certain stage I decided to take a few days off and stay at home to focus on fasting and personal prayer. During those days, we also put our home up for sale, and one morning, at around 10 or 11am our doorbell rang. I answered the intercom, and my son was at the door and said: “Mum, they’re here!” I assumed a buyer from the estate agency had come, and calmly said: “Let me get dressed.” So my son repeated himself with a sense of urgency: “Mum, I’m telling you that they are here! To take you away!” A handful of plainclothes male officers entered – no female officer was with them – and I realised that they were agents from the Ministry of Intelligence. 10. I was unprepared, and didn’t have much information about dealing with security agents. So I didn’t know that I should ask them for a search warrant, and they didn’t show one. They searched the entire property for two hours. They even searched the rice container, all the freezer drawers, and more. I was amazed at the lengths they went to in their search. I had placed a series of Islamic books in the basement, as I wasn’t reading them anymore, and upon seeing them there the agents became very angry and said: “Why did you put these books here? By doing this, you have disrespected Islamic sanctities!” Detention 11. After their thorough search, they asked me to call my husband and ask him to come home. When he arrived back home, they handcuffed us with very tight plastic handcuffs, put us in their car, and took us away. They ordered us to keep our heads down, and we didn’t know where they were taking us. 12. Upon arrival at the detention centre, they put me in solitary confinement. The cell was very small, like a cage, but the walls separating each room didn’t reach the ceiling, and because of this I was able to hear the voices of my daughter-in-law, Najmeh, and another relative, Elaheh, from the next room, singing a worship song. I also heard the guards try to silence them. Until that moment, I hadn’t known that they had also been arrested. 13. At around midnight, I was taken to the office of the deputy prosecutor, who was a disabled veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, talked to me and said: “I know your family and what background you come from. I just want to know what made you leave Islam and become a Christian!” As I told him about God’s love, I cried and explained: “These tears aren’t out of weakness or because I want you to release me. But when I talk about God, my tears flow uncontrollably.” He responded: “I understand.” I emphasised to him that: “My faith is heartfelt, and even if you put me under pressure, you can’t take it away from me. Even if I die, I’ll go to my Lord.” In this meeting, he treated me with politeness and a lot of respect. Ministry of Intelligence in Mashhad 14. At one o’clock in the morning, I saw my husband, and Elaheh’s brother, Mojtaba, who had also been arrested, as they transported us together to Vakilabad Prison in the [nearby] city of Mashhad in a van. Later, I learned that the Ministry of Intelligence’s operation had been conducted in five stages. First, they had arrested my daughter-in-law from her parents’ home. Then, they had gone to Elaheh’s home, and arrested her and Mojtaba. Next, they had come to my home. Overall, they had arrested five people in four different locations. 15. I was a fearful person, but God gave me the strength to endure. I had taken out a loan from the bank to set up my shop, and didn’t know how long I would be in detention, so I was also worried about my financial commitments. Despite that, while I was in the cell I would pray and sing worship songs. 16. The night before my arrest, my son and daughter-in-law had been at my home, and in my interrogation the interrogators recounted all the conversations we’d had, and I realised our home had been tapped. 17. The interrogators asked many questions, such as: “Who evangelised to you?” and “Are you in contact with foreign countries?” I honestly told them that no-one evangelised to me – I had just been seeking God – and no-one had “tricked” me into becoming a Christian. I explained that I had sought help from God on my [Islamic] prayer mat, and God had made himself known to me; God forbid that I would ask him for guidance and he would deceive me. 18. The interrogators kept on saying: “You’re a Zionist Evangelical Christian! You’re receiving money from the governments of Israel and the USA!” They made many unfounded accusations against me, and were so convinced of their claims that after my release I found out that one of my brothers had believed their accusations that I was being paid by the US government to talk to people about Christianity! 19. I didn’t even know the meaning of the word “tabshir” [from the Arabic root word bishara, meaning “good news”], which they used for “evangelism”, and I kept reiterating that I hadn’t done any tabshir! The interrogator responded: “You talked to your family about Christianity!” That was when I realised that they considered this act tabshir. Release on bail 20. I had heard from Christians with experience of arrest that the Ministry of Intelligence forces Christians to recant their faith and return to Islam before releasing them. I prayed to God not to test me with this demand, and fortunately they never asked me to renounce my faith. After eight days of interrogation, they asked for a business licence as bail for my release, and a relative submitted one on my behalf. 21. After we were all released, we still felt fear and terror, even at home, where we stayed completely silent because we were afraid our conversations might be monitored. But we naively thought that only our home was under surveillance, and held church meetings at the home of one of my sisters, and sometimes I stayed overnight there. The Ministry of Intelligence agents then called my brothers and told them: “Tell your sister to leave this city, or we’ll arrest her again.” House-church in Isfahan 22. I prayed about my situation and decided to move to Isfahan. Neyshabur is a religious city, as it is near Mashhad – which has the most sacred religious shrine for Shia Muslims in all of Iran – and I chose Isfahan because many Armenian [Christians] lived there, making it a city with more religious tolerance. After just a few months, our home in Isfahan became the place for house-church meetings, and new and old Persian-speaking converts would come to my home, and we would pray together and read the Scriptures. 23. One day, a woman who had cancer came to our home to attend a meeting, and we prayed for her healing. She was delighted that someone had prayed for her and returned home and joyfully told her husband, who was a member of the security department at the Isfahan governor’s office, “Today, prayers were said for me at a person named Maryam’s home.” Someone from her husband’s department called me a few days later and said: “You need to present yourself to the security department at the governor’s office.” 24. I was scared, so I fled to Shiraz, and then to Ahvaz, where I met Pastor Farhad Sabokrooh. I also lived in Kermanshah for a while, and then, finally, we went to live in Tehran. Second arrest in Tehran 25. In Tehran, I attended meetings at the Central Assemblies of God Church, located at the intersection of Taleghani Street and Qods Boulevard, and there I met a Christian named Mitra. Mitra was single, and older than me, and at her home I got to know one of the teachers at the church, a woman who was known as “Sister Zaghgoosh”. And Zaghgoosh started teaching us about Christian teachings in her home. 26. Mitra and I used to fill our backpacks with Bibles, pray in parks and on the streets, talk to some people about Christianity, and give them Bibles as gifts. We weren’t afraid, since the church building was still open, and official meetings were held there for Persian-speakers. 27. Christmas 2009 coincided with Tasua and Ashura [Shia mourning days], so we decided to celebrate Christ’s birth a few days late to avoid disrespecting the ceremonies. So, on Tuesday 29 December, we celebrated Christmas at the home of a house-church member named Farzan, in Pakdasht [a small city to the southeast of Tehran]. There were around a dozen of us: a few people from Tehran, and a few from Pakdasht. 28. It was around 5pm and, as it was winter, it was dark outside. Farzan was going to play the keyboard, and I was going to read a chapter from the book of Psalms, when suddenly the doorbell rang. Farzan went to open the door and, when he returned, he had taken off his tie and was holding it in his hand, crumpled. He said: “They’ve come!” We asked: “What? Who?” He wanted to say “the agents”, but at that moment about 30 of them stormed in. Two were women, and the rest were men. One of the agents, who constantly yelled at us, creating an atmosphere of terror, had a gun and a walkie-talkie. 29. The female agents, wearing black chadors, just stood in a corner, and did nothing. One of the male agents filmed everyone with a camera, and another took pictures and videos of me with his personal mobile phone. I knew this was illegal, so I protested and said: “You have no right to film us with your personal phones!” But my protest was useless, and he continued. He looked at us women in a horrible way, and after filming told us: “Get up and cover your heads!” They wanted to document our “indecency” by filming us without hijabs in a Christian gathering. 30. The agents searched Farzan’s home and seized many items, including all our mobile phones and Bibles. Mitra’s mother, who was about 80 years old, was asked by one of the agents: “What is your religion?” She bravely said: “I’m a Christian.” The agents’ reaction was a mix of anger and astonishment. They didn’t arrest her, but they arrested the rest of us – nine women and three men. 31. Farzan’s home was at the end of a dead-end road. The agents handcuffed us and put us all into a van. The neighbours watched us in surprise and must have thought we had committed a serious crime for so many agents and vehicles to have come to arrest us. 32. We were taken to an unmarked residence belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence, and then I was taken to my home in Tehran with two agents, and they searched the entire property and seized many Bibles, Christian books, and CDs. Two other agents went with Mitra to her home, and searched it thoroughly, seizing her personal Bibles and Christian books, along with a framed image of Jesus, a family photo album, and even her brother’s computer hard-drive. Then we were taken back to Pakdasht. 33. The agents took all 12 of us to a half-finished brick building, and entering that strange place was frightening. The faces of the agents were filled with anger, and they constantly threatened us. An agent called us one by one for questioning. My interrogator was an agent from Tehran’s MOIS [Ministry of Intelligence and Security], who was known as “Tehrani”. He asked me: “How did you come to believe in Christ and change your religion?” I explained it to him, and it didn’t take long for him to realise he couldn’t convince or force me to return to Islam. Detention at Pakdasht police station 34. They took us to the Pakdasht police station late that at night, and the days we spent there were the most difficult. Police officers worked there during the day, and several soldiers took shifts at night. The place was by no means suitable for female prisoners. 35. I believe the officers at Pakdasht were also surprised by our arrival at the station, and that this was why a female officer came to organise the room where we were being held the day after our arrival. Overall, it wasn’t a suitable environment for keeping humans. 36. We women were taken to a very small room, which had a broken window at the top that allowed cold winter air to enter. The floor was tiled, and there was no carpet, which made the floor very cold. There was no heating; they just gave us a small blanket, and the nine of us had to huddle together to stay warm with that one blanket. The room was so small that we had to sleep side by side. 37. There was no light in the room, and so from 4pm until the next morning we were in complete darkness. The bathroom was at the end of a hallway leading to our cell, and we were allowed to go there just twice a day. I think it hadn’t been used for years; it smelt very bad and the tap didn’t work properly, with water constantly running. 38. They didn’t give us any food or water, and said that if we wanted water, we would have to buy it ourselves. Most of the others didn’t have money with them. I had a small amount in my coat pocket, and we used this to buy water. Our hunger didn’t bother us, because we had already decided to fast when we arrived at the station, so even if they had given us food, we wouldn’t have eaten it and would have kept our fast. Their intention was to torture and harass us by keeping us in such a place, in such conditions. Transfer from Pakdasht to Evin 39. Around three days after our arrest, they took us to the Pakdasht courthouse and the judge addressed me as if I was the leader of the group, and asked me questions. I answered his questions, and in the end he said: “I see no offence or reason to charge you.” He pointed to the thick books on his desk, and said: “I’m a man of law. You can ask me anything regarding these books and I can talk to you about them, but I’m not equipped to discuss the issues you mentioned regarding Christianity and your beliefs. Based on what you have said, I understand that you haven’t committed a crime; however, you need to convince the Tehran Ministry of Intelligence officers. But from the perspective of the Pakdasht judiciary, you haven’t committed a crime.” He tried to release us, even telling the Ministry of Intelligence officers: “The crime occurred here, and this area isn’t under your jurisdiction, so you have no right to intervene in this case.” But his efforts were unsuccessful. 40. The younger women were scared, and crying. One of them, Marjan*, was an employee of the Pakdasht City Council. She was single, and feared her father and brother would find out about her conversion to Christianity and arrest. Pakdasht is small, and she feared public disgrace and a bad reputation. The day after our arrest, they allowed Marjan’s father and brother to see her. Her brother slapped her several times, loud enough that we could hear the sound. Another of the women was married with two children, and feared not only the disgrace and reputational damage but also worried about her children. During that time, we prayed and sang worship songs together, and one day an interrogator told me: “We arrested you so that you would stop these activities, but I was informed that you were singing songs here, too?” I replied: “We were singing worship songs about God. If you want, I can sing for you too.” The interrogator rebuked us and said: “No, you can’t!” 41. Several times, they put us on an old, dirty, and shabby minibus to take us from the Pakdasht station to the judiciary building on Moallem Street to see the prosecutor. They wanted him to issue an indictment against us, so they could transfer us from Pakdasht station to Evin Prison. This action of theirs was completely illegal, and the investigator at Tehran’s prosecutor’s office was reluctant to write the order for our transfer. 42. “Tehrani” accompanied us and knew we were fasting. One day, on the way back to Pakdasht station, he ordered pizza for us, but no-one agreed to eat it. He got angry and accused me of coercing the others. I replied: “Who am I to lead them? They’re fasting of their own free will.” Temporary release on bail by Chief Justice 43. Finally, Judge [Mashallah] Ahmadzadeh wrote the order for our transfer, but before it took place the Chief Justice of Pakdasht requested the Ministry of Intelligence officers to release us for one day on his guarantee. And so we were temporarily released. It had been six days since we had taken a bath, and our whole bodies smelled bad, so when we got home we took a bath. 44. The next day, Mitra and I went to see Elaheh’s father, who was a retired lawyer. But at that moment, the Chief Justice called and said: “The intelligence officers are here, looking for you. Get here quickly.” And so, after those six days of detention at Pakdasht station, we were transferred to Evin Prison. Confrontations with interrogator in Evin Prison 45. They called us to go back to Pakdasht police station, and then took us to Evin Prison on a bus and we got there at night. Then they separated the men and women, and led us women into a large hall to take our fingerprints, and had to wake the staff there to do the job. Then they hung numbers around our necks, took our mugshots, and led us to a small cell. At that time, due to the protests after the 2009 presidential elections, many protesters were still detained in Evin, so there wasn’t any space for us. 46. I’m a person of few words, and the interrogation hours were very long. One of my interrogations lasted from 8am to 10pm, and my cellmates were worried about me. I recognised my interrogator’s voice and realised it was the same interrogator as before: “Tehrani”. Once, he got frustrated and said: “This isn’t working, Ms Jalili. You can’t just repeat what I already know. You have to answer all my questions, fully.” But another time he also confided in me, saying: “We’re the anonymous soldiers of the last imam [prophesied to return in the last days]. My heart is full of pain. I went to the frontlines and was wounded in the war.” 47. After my interrogations, I had to wear a blindfold to return to my cell, so the interrogator would give me a rolled-up wad of paper to hold onto, while he held the other and guided me out of the room without touching me. While I had been in Vakilabad Prison, even the female officers refused to hold my hand and made me hold onto their chadors instead, because they believed I was impure and that the moisture from my hands would make them unclean. 48. Every time one of us returned from an interrogation, we would discuss the questions we were asked, and our answers, to make sure our stories were consistent. But the interrogators tried to make us suspicious of each other. Creating division is one of their cunning tactics. They falsely told two of our detained friends: “Poor things! Maryam has been getting money for converting people to Christianity, so you were financially beneficial for her!” And they believed this lie. 49. During my interrogations, I had to sit on a chair facing the wall, blindfolded and handcuffed. It felt like three or four officers were in the room. I wore a coat and had a chador over it, but one time the interrogator shouted at me to: “Fix your hijab and cover your hair.” I protested: “The chador slips over my scarf, and how can I fix it when my hands are cuffed?” 50. They had printed photos from the album they had confiscated from Mitra’s home, and the interrogator showed me the pictures and ordered me to: “Tell us about every single person in these photos – who they are, what their characteristics are, and what they do.” I replied that: “We only saw each other once a week in meetings, and I don’t know much about them.” 51. Another time, an interrogator told me to: “Look through your blindfold at the hole in the wall. That was caused by the head of a detainee who didn’t cooperate. If you don’t cooperate, the same will happen to you.” Then he angrily said to the others in the room: “If they had properly interrogated her the first time she was arrested in Mashhad, she wouldn’t be here now!” He shouted: “This is Evin! God doesn’t exist here! If you don’t cooperate, we know what we’ll do with you!” 52. They made many baseless accusations against us, seemingly unconcerned with any evidence. They said: “You’re immoral and have unhealthy sexual relations with each other,” and “You have connections with foreign countries.” It seemed they were trying to pile more charges onto our file to build a thicker case against us. Another accusation was: “You held illegal gatherings.” I naively replied: “Oh, if we had obtained a permit, you wouldn’t have arrested us?” He didn’t have any response, and just looked down. 53. They constantly threatened me, saying: “I’ll put the noose around your neck and kick the stool from under you myself!” At that time, my son was planning to go to Canada for further studies, and the interrogators even used this to threaten me, saying: “We won’t let your son leave the country!” 54. One day, an interrogator gave me a piece of paper with a list of names on it, and asked me to write detailed explanations about the individuals listed. I wrote only very brief responses, and when he looked up from saying his prayers – the same interrogator who had said there was no God inside Evin – and saw them, he whacked me on the head with a thick stack of papers, and said: “What is this? You must write in the way I like!” 55. Later, when we were taken to the judge, I criticised how the interrogators had treated me and another of us who had been slapped, saying: “The interrogators have no right to disrespect us. We haven’t done anything to warrant such treatment. The interrogators can voice their objection verbally, but why should they hit me on the head with a stack of papers, or slap one of my sisters?” They had no response. 56. The interrogators spared no insult or vulgarity. One day, while in an interrogation room in Ward 209 [managed by the MOIS], I overheard the interrogator addressing Mitra with filthy and sexually suggestive language. She was in the adjacent room, and I could hear her protesting about it. I prayed: “God, I really don’t want to hear such insults and foul language directed at me.” And gladly they didn’t do this to me. 57. Another technique the interrogators used was trying to bribe me by asking me to spy for them, explicitly saying: “Do you want to get out of prison? There’s a condition! You have to go to the Assemblies of God church, see who comes and goes, and spy for us.” I said: “I’m not that kind of person at all! I don’t want to do it, and I wouldn’t even know how! You have many officers and you pay them. Tell them to do it!” 58. Some of us decided to fast at one point, and one day during that time I was taken to the prison office, and the interrogator asked: “Why have you gone on a hunger strike? You’re become the ringleader, and have incited the others to riot!” I replied: “I’m not on a hunger strike; I’m fasting, and intend to drink only water and tea for 40 days.” Some time later, they took me back to the prison office and the interrogator repeated again: “You’re on a hunger strike!” I explained again that I was fasting, and this time he asked me to explain the Christian fast. When he heard that we could drink tea while fasting, he brought me tea with two sugar cubes to ensure we weren’t on a hunger strike. 59. Once, an interrogator asked: “What do you expect from us?” I replied: “Please don’t turn Iran into a second Evin for us! Now that you understand I’m just a simple Christian, let us have our worship and go to church!” He said: “No! You have to vow not to go to church and not to be in contact with your Christian friends!” I replied: “I’ll continue to go to church and stay in touch with my friends unless they don’t want to be in contact with me.” They didn’t respond. If they can smell fear, they increase the level of threats and fear in order to gain more from the interrogation. But if you’re not afraid, they pull back. 60. Tehrani asked me: “Which church do you want to go to?” I replied: “The Assemblies of God Church and the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church.” He said: “I pity you! You have been completely misguided and gone completely insane!” I said: “Brother, if you think I’m misguided, pray for me, and I’ll pray for you, but one day we’ll see where each of us stands in Heaven.” I asked him to return my notebooks and books, but he said: “We want to read your writings to understand your thoughts.” 61. It was obvious that they tried to understand prisoners’ personalities to use them to torture them accordingly. For example, the interrogators realised I liked solitude, whereas Mitra didn’t, so they put Mitra in solitary confinement and me in the general ward. 62. The general ward had two floors: the first housed individuals involved in sexual immorality or running brothels; the second housed financial criminals or those accused of murder. I was on the second floor, sharing a room with three inmates serving sentences for murder. A week before we were released on bail, Mitra was moved down to the first floor. 63. We had thought that, like our detention at Pakdasht station, we would be released after a short time, so we didn’t bring extra clothes. When I went to shower, I would wash my winter coat, but it was hard to wring the water out again. Inside the ward, they had hung some string between the beds to use for drying our clothes, and we had to sleep in that humid space, with its musty smell. The ward’s chief [a prisoner selected to act as a mediator] kindly gave me a set of clothes to wear while mine dried. 64. During the whole period of our detention, I was only permitted to call my mother once, and only right at the end of our time there. Most prisoners had to beg and plead to be let out on furlough. 65. Even regarding seeking help from a lawyer, the interrogator threatened that: “If you go to a human-rights lawyer, your case will get worse.” 66. Each of our bail amounts was set at 100 million tomans, and Mitra’s mother used her house deed as collateral. We were first detained on 29 December 2009, and were temporarily released on bail on 20 March 2010. 67. After our release, only Mitra and I stayed in contact. The other Christians from our house-church were afraid to stay in touch with us. My husband and I also separated during this time. Revolutionary Court and various accusations 68. The judicial process took quite a while. Finally, we were summoned to Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and had several hearings. In the court, it was only me, Mitra, and Farzan – the charges against the others had been dropped. Judge Ahmadzadeh brought numerous charges against us, one of which was “disturbing national security”. Mitra is from Kermanshah [west Iran], and with her sweet Kermanshahi accent said to the judge: “Sir, I’m very sorry that our conversion to Christianity has disturbed your security. Is the country’s security so fragile that mine and Maryam’s conversion can disrupt it?” 69. Another of our charges was “promoting Christianity”, or, for instance in Mitra’s case, “having a picture of Jesus Christ” on the wall of her home”! Hearing these accusations, I couldn’t help but laugh, and said: “Is having a picture of Jesus Christ a crime?” The judge responded: “Anything we take from you Christians will be considered evidence of your crime!” In the verdict, which was issued on 5 January 2011, the cited evidence against us included: “Discovering illegal books related to promoting Christianity, without ISBNs [not approved by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance], along with CDs of related films, and putting up the Cross and posters of Jesus Christ on the walls of the house.” 70. Despite the fact that we had celebrated Christ’s birth late out of respect for our Muslim neighbours, the judge wrote in the indictment: “The defendants, two days after Ashura, along with other key members of the group and Muslims attracted to the deviant sect of Christianity, was arrested while celebrating, rejoicing, and teaching the Bible based on the instructions of a disciple-making pamphlet, in a mixed-gender gathering with inappropriate hijab.” It was clear that their main concern regarded “promoting Christianity”. Other words and phrases were more to justify their opposition to our work in spreading the Gospel message. For example, all our charges presented in the court session were summarised under one charge in the court’s verdict: “Acting against national security through forming an illegal group and running it to deceive Muslims and promote Christianity.” Elsewhere in the same verdict, the officially registered Assemblies of God church that we attended was also described as “one of the main centres for proselytising and promoting the distorted sect of Christianity”. 71. We were summoned back to the court a few days later to receive the verdict, and went to the office of Judge Ahmadzadeh’s secretary, who handed us the verdict to read and sign. Based on Article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code, the judge had sentenced each of us to five years in prison for “gathering and collusion against the security of the state”. I asked the secretary to give us a copy of the verdict. She allowed us to make a handwritten copy, and said we had 20 days to file an appeal. 72. We went back to the home of Elaheh’s father, the retired lawyer, but when he learned of our charges, he became scared and said: “I won’t get involved in these matters!” He didn’t even agree to give us legal advice. 73. So Mitra, Farzan, and I went to the office of a middle-aged lawyer on Dowlat Street in Tehran, but the fee he requested for his services was very high. Seeing our surprise, he said: “I’m not asking this amount just for myself. I have to bribe many people, including the judge, to persuade them to change the verdict.” We asked in astonishment: “How do you intend to change the judge’s ruling?” He pointed to a tree on the street and said: “Even if you worship that tree, the government won’t care. Just don’t talk about your faith with anyone. I’m friends with the judge handling your case. I’ll go to his office and whisper in his ear that these people didn’t know what they were doing, so forgive and forget.” We replied: “Well, if we’re supposed to say we made a mistake, why should we pay you? We could have done that ourselves. We aren’t at all regretful and won’t renounce our faith.” 74. Ultimately, a lawyer named Mr Shafiei agreed to give us advice, and we filed an appeal. He was surprised when he saw the copy of the verdict that the court secretary had given us because, in most security cases, no documents are handed to the defendants. He told us we could go to various government centres and make an appeal. I also wrote a letter, about one-and-a-half pages long, addressed to Sadeq Larijani, then head of the judiciary. 75. The appeal court was held, in our absence, in May 2011 at Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal. The Judge was Seyed Ahmad Zargar, with [Hassan] Babaei as the assistant judge. Judge Zargar rejected our appeal, but reduced our prison sentences by half. Thus, our five-year prison sentences were reduced to two and a half years. Prison 76. Mitra and I decided to serve our two-and-a-half-year sentences. Farzan served his later. My biggest concern was having a Bible with me in prison. During the nearly three months when we had been detained before, all our belongings had been taken from us, and I had missed my Bible terribly. Following [Assemblies of God church leader] Rev Robert Asseriyan’s suggestion, this time I took my Bible with me and put it in my handbag. I also took a small bag containing clothes, a towel, sheets, and some other essential items. When I entered Evin Prison and went through the inspections at the entrance and administrative hall, they only searched that bag, and not my handbag. But when I entered the women’s ward, one of the female guards on duty was in her office and opened my handbag and saw the Bible. She flipped through it and asked: “What is this?” I said: “The Bible.” She gave me a signal with her eyes and said: “Take it, take it! But bring it to me whenever I ask!” It seemed she didn’t want her colleague to notice. 77. During those two and a half years in prison, my name was called every time that particular female guard was on duty, and she would ask me to bring my Bible to her office secretly. She would ask questions about its content, and I would answer as much as I could. Upon her request, I would secretly place the Bible on a bench in the yard, and she would pick it up, read it, and put it back on the bench for me to pick up. She was very eager to study the Bible and learn more about Christianity. The other female guards also behaved in a friendly way towards me, and one of them asked me to pray for her that she would be able to buy a house. 78. Besides Mitra and me, there was another Christian inmate named Shahla Rahmati in the prison. I spoke with many inmates about Christianity, including members or supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization [MEK], Baha’is, and others. My association with the Baha’is gave me a deep understanding of their faith, and one Baha’i prisoners, Ms Mahvash Shahriar Sabat, wrote a poem in my honour on my birthday and gave it to me as a gift. Sometimes, I would also have discussions with Baha’i psychologist Faran Hesami, and [human-rights lawyer] Nasrin Sotoudeh, when we would read the Bible together and discuss it. 79. Gradually, the inmates got to know Mitra and me better, and treated us with respect. For example, during Ramadan, Kobra, the chief or “mother” of the ward, as we called her, asked me to distribute the Iftar meal [to break the Ramadan fast]. I knew that, according to the traditional view of Islam, anyone who renounces Islam is considered an infidel and impure, so I asked her whether the middle-aged Muslim woman in our ward would be OK with me distributing the food. She talked to her and heard back: “Of course she can.” So they agreed that I could distribute the Iftar meal. 80. Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani [daughter of the former president], who had served a term as an MP in parliament, was also serving a sentence during that time, and we became somewhat close. I talked to her about my Christian faith, and sometimes she would come to my bed and say: “Maryam, our God seems to be asleep; bless your God! You tell your [Heavenly] Father about our petitions. Your Father listens.” Her prayer requests were related to political and social matters. 81. Through an inmate whose husband was in the men’s ward, I learned that my brother in faith, Farshid Fathi, was in prison, and we corresponded secretly through the help of that fellow inmate, who would put our letters into her socks or shoes when she went to meet her husband. After a while, Farshid also managed to send some Christian books to me, and I gave them to some trusted inmates to read. One young cellmate, after reading the Christian book “Disciplined Thinking and The Healing of the Tongue“, wrote many parts of the book on bits of paper and stuck them to the wall next to her bed, because we couldn’t keep the books permanently; I had to return them to Farshid. Mother’s visits 82. Prisoners were allowed a visit from their families once a week. But because my family did not live in Tehran, my mother could only visit me once a month. My mother, who was in her 60s and had chronic knee pain, had to sit on a train for about 12 hours to come to Tehran to visit me in person. Then she was only able to meet me for around an hour, before returning to Neyshabur. As a result, she came to visit me only every seven months. 83. During one visit, she said: “Your daughter-in-law, Najmeh, has been arrested.” I was very saddened by this, because of Najmeh’s previous arrest with me in Neyshabur. Mitra and I would pray together about various matters and have times of worship together, and after hearing about Najmeh’s arrest, Mitra prayed with me. We prayed that God would protect Najmeh’s faith and that she wouldn’t have to sign a recantation. 84. While Najmeh was in prison, the interrogators humiliated and threatened my son, Mostafa. They told him: “You’re so dishonourable that you let your wife become a Christian! You couldn’t control her!” Mostafa was alone, and endured a lot of mental and emotional pressure during that time, as both his father and I, and also Najmeh, were all in prison. 85. During another of my mother’s visits, she spoke to the head of the prison, Mr Lavasani, and said: “My other daughter is getting married. Please allow Maryam to come and attend her sister Faranak’s wedding.” Lavasani agreed and told my mother she could apply and they would approve it, and my mother happily shared this news with me. I told her: “They’ll likely ask for a hefty bail.” But my mother insisted, so I wrote the request. Then, one day, Lavasani came to the women’s ward, and I went to the office where he was. The prison officers, Ms Berenji and Ms Khaki, were also in the office, and I said: “I wrote a leave request and the wedding date is near. Will you approve the request?” He said: “Yes, I’m aware. I’ll approve your request on the condition that you become our spy in the women’s ward, and bring us information.” I said: “You have cameras and surveillance in the ward. You also have many staff in the prison. What do you need me for?” He said: “You have to do it.” I replied: “Thank you, but I won’t.” Then I left the office, feeling disappointed. 86. Some fellow inmates had some legal demands. I don’t have a higher education, and my writing skills aren’t good, but I prayed a lot, thought hard, and finally wrote a four-page letter addressed to the prosecutor’s office, ending it with the phrase: “Is there an ear to listen?” Then one day, my name was called and I went to the prison office. The prosecutor, Mr Dolatabadi, had read my letter and had come to the prison. He said to me: “You wrote, ‘Is there an ear ready to listen’? I want to say: ‘Yes, there is an ear to listen.’” So I talked to him about an Iraqi inmate named Basma, who was the manager of one of Baghdad’s large hotels. An Iranian diplomat had proposed to her and she had come to Iran and been accused of espionage, and wasn’t allowed to contact her four grown-up sons in Baghdad. I raised this issue with him, and when I returned to the ward, I found out that Basma had received permission to contact her children. I rejoiced! Release from prison and continued threats 87. On 18 September 2013, almost four days before Mitra and I were due to be released, they came to our cell at midnight, turned on the light, and said: “Get up, pack your things; you’re free.” Mitra and I hadn’t yet packed and weren’t ready, so Mitra became annoyed and said: “You can’t just arrest us whenever you want, and free us whenever you want! Come on the scheduled date of our release to free us!” Ms Khaki asked us politely to get ready and leave the prison. She said: “If you don’t, the guards will come and take you by force, and beat you.” So at 2am, we left the prison with a soldier, who accompanied us to Mitra’s home in a taxi, and then returned. Mitra had a key, so we went inside and her mother found us there when she woke up in the morning. 88. For a long time after being released, I was sad and haunted by the faces of the inmates I had left behind. The quality of the prison food had been very poor. During those two and a half years, I often fasted and didn’t feel hungry; however, the other inmates longed for good quality and varied food, so every time I passed a restaurant or sandwich shop, I remembered their wishes and cried. 89. Mitra is an athlete, and after Faezeh’s release, she stayed in touch with her and they trained together for volleyball competitions [Faezeh Hashemi was a volleyball coach]. During the six months she was in prison, Faezeh had paid a lot of attention to other inmates. She had arranged for those inmates who had been released to have a few days of rest in a villa. She once invited Mitra and me there as well. She is a kind-hearted and lovely woman, and my friendship with her continues to this day. 90. After my release, the intelligence agents in Neyshabur kept contacting me, saying: “You’re under surveillance; if you try to resume your activities, we’ll arrest you again!” I couldn’t go to church, and wasn’t allowed to do any other Christian activities. In prison, an interrogator had told me: “Ms Jalili, you have now been arrested twice. There won’t be a third time. You’ll simply cross the street one day, and an iron beam will hit your head! Or a motorbike will suddenly run into you.” I still remember all their threats. I always used to pass by construction sites with fear, afraid they would deliberately drop an iron beam on my head. 91. A few months after my release, someone called me and said: “Congratulations on your release from prison. I’m the officer handling your case in Neyshabur. If you try to resume your previous activities, you’ll be dealing with me!” After this call, I saw clearly how easily I could end up in prison again. The Tehran case was closed, but the Neyshabur case was still pending. Forced migration 92. While in prison, the Baha’i inmates had asked me many questions about Christianity, and I had tried to share all the knowledge I had from the Bible, and my experiences with God. Still, I felt that I lacked sufficient theological understanding, and I had a desire to take theological studies in Christianity. Mitra gave me a tablet for my birthday, and through Skype I contacted an experienced Christian teacher and talked to him about my situation and desire to study Christian theology. This teacher recommended that I leave the country to pursue this goal, as it was not feasible in Iran. 93. I had never intended to leave Iran, but I had to leave to escape the intense surveillance of the intelligence agents, and the lack of opportunity to go to church and study Christian theology. Therefore, in 2014, I travelled to Turkey. 94. In Turkey, I became acquainted with a church in the city of Kayseri, and its female pastor, so I went to that city and stayed there legally on a visa for three months, then applied for asylum. During all this time, my friendship with Mitra continued, and I continued to be supported by her. Mitra is an extraordinary and wonderful friend and sister that God has given to me. We have very different personalities, but are true friends. 95. While I was in prison, I thought no-one cared about us or prayed for us, but when I was in Turkey, I found out through our church pastor in Kayseri that the Article18 team had been active in advocacy for Mitra and me, and praying for us. Hearing this made me very happy. 96. After spending several years as a refugee, I finally moved to the United States in September 2018, and settled there. I keep in touch with my Christian friends in Iran, and they share their problems and issues with me. We pray together, and through the connections I have in Iran, I send them Bibles. *Pseudonym.
UN report: ‘Persecution based on gender, ethnic and religious grounds intersect in Iran’ 6 August 2024 News A new report from the United Nations’ Fact-Finding Mission says ethnic and religious minorities were singled out in the Iran regime’s crackdown on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. The advocacy paper, ‘”They have dehumanised us”: Minority rights violations during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran’, published yesterday, says minority groups were “disproportionally” impacted. Having interviewed numerous victims, the Mission found “the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds intersected with persecution on ethnic and religious ground”. In a statement accompanying the report, the Mission stated that “ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, in particular Kurd and Baluch minorities”, were targets of a “disproportionate” crackdown. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests were triggered by the unlawful death in custody in September 2022 of Jina Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, after her arrest by the so-called “morality police” for alleged non-compliance with Iran’s mandatory hijab laws. The paper documents a range of gross human-rights violations committed by security forces in Iran against members of minorities, including unlawful deaths, extrajudicial executions, unnecessary use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and gender persecution – many of which “amount to crimes against humanity”. According to the Mission, this situation is the “direct result of long-standing discrimination” that “must end immediately”. Arbitrary arrests and detention for participation in protests The Mission states that security forces engaged in mass arbitrary arrests and detention of members of ethnic and religious minorities who joined the protests or merely expressed solidarity with the movement, and subjected those in detention to inhuman conditions, torture, ill-treatment, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Article18, in its 2023 Joint Annual Report on Rights Violation Against Christians in Iran, highlighted how the repression of Christians, especially converts, intensified during the protests, while many Christians who participated were threatened, and at least five converts who were arrested faced the additional charge of “apostasy” after their Christian faith came to light through examination of their phone records. Transgenerational impact on children In the crackdown, “children belonging to ethnic and religious minorities suffered particularly egregious violations,” the Mission says, “including killings and maiming, arrests, enforced disappearances, detention, as well as torture and rape and other forms of sexual violence, resulting in lasting harm.” The Mission also highlights many cases of this structural discrimination and government repression impacting children from ethnic, religious and religious minorities – among them expelled Baha’i students, and a Christian couple denied the right to adopt a child because of their religious beliefs. In September 2020, Article18 reported that an Iranian court in Bushehr issued a ruling to revoke the adoption of a child from Christian converts Maryam Falahi and Sam Khosravi due to their membership of a house-church. The ruling was handed down despite the judge’s initial verdict acknowledging that the child felt an “intense emotional attachment” to her adoptive parents and saying there was “zero chance” another adoptive family would be found for her, given the girl’s health problems. The judge also acknowledged that the girl faced an “uncertain future” and may spend “the rest of her life” in state care. More than 120 lawyers and activists wrote an open letter to Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s head of the judiciary at the time, asking him to overturn the court’s decision, which they said went against both national and international law.But to no avail. The UN Mission concludes that “the impact on children is transgenerational – the multifaceted harms of which may be expected for decades to come.” Doubly victimised women Women and girls belonging to minorities are “doubly victimised”, according to the report, “in a state system that fundamentally discriminates against them on the grounds of gender, ethnicity and religion.” Women belonging to ethnic and religious minorities “may additionally be restricted in expressing their culture and their religion”, according to the paper, “as they are compounded by pre-existing discrimination and violence against them both as women, as well as by virtue of their status as ethnic and religious minorities.” The Fact-Finding Mission calls the mandatory hijab laws a “violation of women’s and girls’ fundamental human rights” and highlights “the violent enforcement of these policies and the mandatory nature and the punishment including regular violence associated with non-compliance of the hijab in Iran.” Javaid Rehman, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, expressed grave concern over newly proposed hijab legislation, saying it could amount to “gender apartheid”. He criticised mandatory hijab in a virtual meeting in September 2022 and asked: “Why is hijab imposed even on women belonging to religious minorities?” Entrenched impunity The paper says that, “in a context of systematic discrimination and impunity in Iran, justice, in all its forms, cannot be delivered domestically to victims of gross human rights violations and crimes under international law, including crimes against humanity”. The Mission has therefore evoked the principle of universal jurisdiction, calling for “transformative measures of reparations and accountability” including “in third States and at international level” in order to secure the rights of victims, in particular, those of women and children belonging to minorities. Earlier this year, Article18 joined more than 40 other international and Iranian human rights organisations in signing a joint letter asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to extend the mandates of both the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, as well as the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran.