Christian convert reportedly threatened with second conviction for publicising case 29 July 2024 News Photo: Facebook A Christian convert serving a two-year prison sentence for “acting against national security by connecting with ‘Zionist’ Christian organisations” has reportedly been threatened with another conviction as a result of the publicity her case has received. According to Persian-language website Human Rights in Iran, Laleh Saati, who has been in Tehran’s Evin Prison since February, was recently taken back from the women’s ward to the infamous Ward 209, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence, for a 24-hour interrogation. Laleh’s elderly mother has also reportedly been threatened that a case may be opened against her for the same reason. Human Rights in Iran adds that Laleh has still not been permitted to receive the psychological assessment requested by her mother because of the pressures placed upon her during her detention. Background Laleh is a former asylum-seeker, who returned to in 2017 from Malaysia, having reportedly grown frustrated at the time it had taken to process her claim, and also to be reunited with her parents. She was reportedly summoned and interrogated by intelligence agents on numerous occasions after her return, before finally being arrested in February 2024 at her father’s home in Ekbatan Town, a suburb of Tehran. Laleh was then reportedly taken to Ward 209 and interrogated multiple times over a three-week period – during which time photographs and videos of her Christian activities and baptism in Malaysia were brought before her as evidence of her “crime” – before being transferred to the women’s ward. On 16 March, Laleh was brought before Judge Afshari at the 26th branch of the Revolutionary Court, and reportedly asked why she had returned to Iran and thereby risked a court case being opened against her. A week later, she was informed of her sentence, which also includes a two-year travel ban. “Laleh’s case clearly shows that the Christian activities of asylum-seekers in foreign countries can be used against them in court proceedings back in Iran,” commented Article18’s Mansour Borji at the time. “I hope immigration authorities around the world will take note of this, and think twice before rejecting out of hand the asylum claims of genuine Christians who may face persecution upon return to their country of origin.”
Minorities: From Zarif’s imaginary world to the reality of discrimination in the Islamic Republic 23 July 2024 Analysis By Fred Petrossian Iran’s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has emphasised “positive discrimination” for women and minorities in his new role as head of the transitional council responsible for evaluating governmental candidates, but it is the Islamic Republic itself that has been the main source of discrimination and oppression over the past 45 years. The Islamic Republic has deprived millions of Iranians, such as Christian converts, Baha’is, and followers of the Yarsan faith, of basic citizenship and human rights solely because of their beliefs and convictions. And while Zarif, who was appointed to this position by newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian, speaks about “positive discrimination” for women, only three were appointed onto his own 31-member council. Every member belongs to the “reformist” faction of the Islamic Republic, but this includes former ministers such as Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, who was sanctioned by the US for his part in clamping down on the 2019 protests. After protests regarding the council’s composition, it was announced that a Baluch and a Kurd would also be added to the list. Meanwhile, Mohammad Habibi, the spokesperson for the Tehran Teachers’ Association, commented: “In this list, individuals are introduced as representatives of trade unions who are not members of any unions. As always, no trade unions participate in the political games of ministerial elections.” A fictional Iran for a Western audience Previously, Mr Zarif, when he was the foreign minister invited to speak by US TV programmes and think-tanks, would present a fictional world of the situation of religious minorities and freedom of belief in the country, without being challenged by his hosts. Alongside lies and disinformation like “we don’t have political prisoners in Iran”, or “Baha’is are not imprisoned because of their beliefs”, he once claimed at the Council of Foreign Affairs in New York that although Iran’s judicial system is founded on Islamic Sharia, “it is not enforced” upon the adherents of the three recognised religious-minority faiths: Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. In actual fact, several legal provisions in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, its Penal Code, and its Civil Code discriminate against all non-Muslims, while the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic, Javaid Rehman, has highlighted how mandatory hijab laws are enforced upon all women, regardless of their beliefs. Meanwhile, Christian converts are not considered part of the Iranian Christian community by the government, and no-one, including Mr Zarif, bothers to explain about these citizens, who constitute the largest section of the country’s Christian community and whose numbers have multiplied since the revolution. Every year, some of these Christian citizens are imprisoned for their peaceful religious activities and beliefs. In an attempt to justify why Bahai’s are not considered a religious minority, Zarif presented a fictional and imaginary world where religious minorities enjoy privileges: “If you want to afford—if you want to afford such exceptional treatment to religious minorities, you cannot provide it to anybody who claims it on a religion,” he said. That’s the issue. We do not; we only recognise three [minority] religions as official religions because when we recognise them as official religions, we need to afford them these privileges under our constitutions to be exempt from what the Muslims have to do.” Referring to the treatment of minorities as “exceptional” is a kind of bitter satire. Discriminatory laws against these citizens – from inheritance, to job deprivation – are so severe that their populations have shrunk to less than a third of what they were before the revolution, due to emigration or escaping their homeland, while Iran’s population has exploded. Discrimination has been so severe that even the handpicked representatives of these minorities in the parliament have several times criticised the situation. Non-Muslim ‘dominance’ over Muslims forbidden In Islamic Iran, citizens’ rights have no meaning, and it is the state that determines the rights of Iranians not as equal citizens but within the framework of its Islamic laws. Millions of Iranians, or the absolute majority of the population – including women, minorities, Gonabadi dervishes, Christians (especially converts) Sunnis, Yarsanis, Baha’is, Mandaeans, Zoroastrians, and Jews – have been dehumanised to varying degrees. Some also face intersectional discrimination, such as a Christian convert woman or Sunni Baluch woman who are both victims of religious and gender apartheid, or systematic discrimination. In 2017, the suspension on religious grounds of an Iranian Zoroastrian councillor, Sepanta Niknam, polarised opinion among leading figures of the Islamic Republic and led to a campaign on social media calling for him to be reinstated. The conservative Guardian Council, the country’s powerful election watchdog, agreed with the suspension, with the six cleric members implicitly confirming the second-class – or, more accurately, third-class – status of minorities in a statement. The extensive article on the Guardian Council’s website defended this Islamic decision and stated that: “In an Islamic society, Muslims should handle Muslim affairs, and it is not acceptable for a non-Muslim to decide for the affairs of Muslim areas.” This rule originates from verse 141 of Surah An-Nisa, which prohibits “infidels” or “unbelievers” from having “dominance” over Muslims, a verse that the founding father of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, accepted should become the rule. As one of the clerics, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, explained: “I was present in the six-member session of the Guardian Council, and the majority unanimously declared that this religious minority does not have the right to decide for a population that is mostly Muslim, and this is against Sharia. That is, a non-Muslim minority, whether Zoroastrian, Christian, or Jewish, cannot decide for the affairs of a city where the majority are Muslims and be the ruler; of course, they can decide for their minority.” This was despite Mr Niknam being elected to the city council in the previous term and having been active. Such a decision cannot be considered as a surprise or an unusual act by the this conservative body, as we remember that its chairman, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, once referred to Iran’s religious minorities as “sinful animals who roam the earth and engage in corruption”. Of course, clerics like Ayatollah Yousef Saanei opposed the Guardian Council’s opinion, and even conservative former MP Ali Motahari defended Mr Niknam. Parliament, contrary to the Guardian Council’s opinion, passed a law allowing religious minorities to run for the Islamic city and village councils in their residence areas. Eventually, the Expediency Council, which intervenes in cases of disagreement between Parliament and the Guardian Council, sided with Parliament. Trump impact Proponents of overturning the Guardian Council’s ruling might also find similar arguments in the actions and statements of government officials today. Critics of suspending the Zoroastrian council member in Yazd argued that such actions were “wrong” and had domestic and international political repercussions. Mohammad Sadr, a member of the Expediency Council, said during the debate over Mr Niknam’s status six years ago: “I know this is a significant issue that impacts Iran’s international and domestic position and, most importantly, the country’s national cohesion. We need all ethnic and religious minorities to be united to defeat Trump.” We hear similar statements today from Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, former head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Parliament, about not being surprised by the US election results. In reality, the rights of religious and sectarian minorities as citizens are not considered; instead, it depends on the situation, the time, and the ruling of a particular cleric for the regime’s benefit. A system that itself is a source of discrimination. Mr Niknam was deemed suitable for the Yazd city council based on the needs of the time but was disqualified from participating in the Tehran city council elections three years later for not being Muslim. Even by the government’s own figures, more than half the people did not participate in the recent presidential election. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the killing of hundreds of women, men, and children posed the greatest internal challenge to the regime, and now, with the possible return of Trump, the government remembers minorities, ethnicities, and women and the 45 years of oppression that they have suffered and which they in fact caused. Government officials have always prioritised preserving the regime and the ruling class’s dominance. If necessary, they will also offer temporary, minor concessions to some segments of society. In this discriminatory system, which imposes structural violence on Iranian citizens based on gender, belief, and other factors, talking about positive discrimination is like the apartheid government of South Africa appointing a black minister without ending the racial system but maintaining the same laws as before.
Article18 submits joint report ahead of Iran’s next UN review 18 July 2024 News Article18 has submitted a joint report to the UN Human Rights Council ahead of Iran’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review, highlighting the ongoing rights violations experienced by Christians. In the submission, written in collaboration with partner organisations Open Doors, CSW and Middle East Concern, we outline the primary violations and provide recommendations for UN member states to ensure Iran is held to account. Below is a summary of our submission, which can be read in full here. Which violations are highlighted? The primary violation listed is Iran’s failure to recognise the majority of its Christians – converts from nominally Muslim backgrounds – and as a result denying them the rights afforded to the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent. We reference Iran’s 2020 response to five UN Special Rapporteurs, in which it claimed “nobody is prosecuted on religious grounds” and “regarding [house-churches] legal action will be taken in case of illegal activity for anti-security purposes of Zionist Christian cult”. “In reality, house-church meetings are religious gatherings,” we explain. “They are not political vehicles and are in no way associated with Zionism, subversive, or a threat to security. “Christian converts gather in homes because they are precluded by the State from attending public churches. In the words of a lawyer who represented three Christian converts who were each sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2022, their only ‘crime’ is ‘meeting to pray and worship as Christians’”. We note that even recognised Christians face discrimination and are prohibited from possessing any material in the national language (Persian) unless authorised by the State, including Bibles. And they too face imprisonment if they are deemed to have promoted Christianity among people from a Muslim background or to have invited them to attend church services. Rash of sentences We highlight the recent rash of sentences, with eight Christian converts from the city of Izeh condemned in May to a combined total of nearly 45 years in prison. We also highlight the cases of three Christians currently serving 10-year prison sentences: convert Yasser Akbari, Iranian-Armenian pastor Anooshavan Avedian, and Armenian national Hakop Gochumyan. At least 16 Christians are currently serving prison sentences on account of their faith, we explain, while over 160 Christians were arrested last year, an increase from 134 in 2022 and 59 in 2021. ICCPR violations We provide examples of the articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – which Iran has ratified – that are violated in the case of Christians: Article 7 – Prohibiting torture. Article 9.1 – Prohibiting arbitrary arrest and detention. Article 9.2 – Mandating that detainees are told swiftly the reason for their arrest. Article 10.1 – Treating detainees with humanity and dignity. Article 14.1&2 – Fair-trial provisions and presumption of innocence. Article 14.3 – Mandating that detainees be defended by a lawyer of their choosing. Article 17.1 – Prohibiting arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy. Article 18.1 – Re. freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Article 18.2 – Prohibition of coercion regarding one’s beliefs. Article 18.3 – Only placing justifiable limitations on the manifestation of religious belief. Article 18.4 – Right to pass on one’s beliefs to one’s children. Article 19.1 – Right to hold opinions. Article 19.2 – Freedom of expression. Article 21 – Right of peaceful assembly. Article 26 – Equality before the law. Post-prison pressures We also note that pressures on Christians and their families continue even after they are released from arrest or imprisonment, including through: monitoring and harassment; denial of employment; denial of education and qualifications; new charges or reopening cases; enforced Islamic re-education classes, during which converts are pressured to return to Islam; additional post-prison penalties, such as internal exile, flogging, fines, travel bans, and deprivation of social rights, including membership of any group; the imposition of community-service orders, for example grave-digging or washing dead bodies before burial; and coercion through threats to leave Iran. Recommendations We conclude by calling on member states to urge Iran to: Respect and protect the rights enshrined in the ICCPR, including the right to FoRB for everyone, including religious converts, and regardless of their ethnic or linguistic group; Amend Article 13 of the constitution to conform with the provisions of the ICCPR, including under Article 18 ICCPR; Release immediately and unconditionally Christians detained under investigations, criminal charges or prison sentences related to peaceful religious activities; Drop all charges against Christians related to church activities deemed lawful by Iran’s Supreme Court; Cease the criminalisation of house-church organisation and membership, allowing Christians of all ethnic backgrounds to worship freely and collectively; Return places of worship and other properties and material confiscated from Christians in connection with peaceful faith practices; Permit the reopening of churches closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and those forcibly closed for allowing the attendance of converts and holding services in the Persian language; Clarify where Persian-speaking Christians may worship in their mother tongue, without experiencing arrest, prosecution and imprisonment; Ensure the cessation of the use of provisions such as those under Articles 498, 499, 500 and 513 of the Islamic Penal Code and Article 167 of Iran’s constitution to unjustly prosecute and convict Christians; Guarantee access to legal counsel for all individuals charged with “national security”- related crimes, as well as and the right to select a lawyer of their choice, and repeal the Note to Article 48 of Iran’s Criminal Procedures Regulations; Cease discrimination against minority-faith adherents in public life, including by repealing or amending discriminatory provisions in the Civil Code, such as those concerning marriage (Article 1059) and inheritance (Article 881 bis). Further, grant them equal employment opportunities, including eligibility for high public positions; Grant unhindered access to the country to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, allowing the Special Rapporteur unhindered access to assess compliance with international human rights law. Read the full submission here.
Iran ‘election’: When minorities become ‘citizens’ for a few days 4 July 2024 Analysis By Fred Petrossian Iran’s hand-picked presidential candidates have used some nice phrases in recent weeks about the rights and “dignity” of the people of Iran in general, and women and minorities in particular, but they have lacked any substance. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emphasised the importance of “high participation” in the election, which will conclude tomorrow with a second vote of the remaining two “candidates”, though opponents have labelled the “election” merely a “circus” used by the Islamic Republic to garner legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Iran’s election cannot be considered to be democratic, given that the unelected Guardian Council decides which candidates to accept and chooses only those perceived as most loyal to the regime. Meanwhile, the Council itself comprises 12 members – six of whom are appointed directly by the Supreme Leader, while the other six are appointed by the judiciary, which is also selected by the Supreme Leader. One of the remaining two candidates, Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, a surgeon, former Health Minister and five-term member of parliament, placed the greatest emphasis on religious minorities – especially Sunnis – in his campaign. “I am deeply affected by the fact that [Sunni] Turkmens, Kurds, Baloch and Talysh peoples are deprived of the proper status and dignity of an Iranian due to religious distinction,” Pezeshkian, who also served as deputy parliamentary speaker, said. “Especially when I remember that these people, who were the creators of our culture and civilisation, are sometimes deprived of their basic rights.” Like other candidates who have had a prominent presence in the power structures of the Islamic Republic of Iran for decades, Pezeshkian’s words about the status of minorities, women or the economic and political state of affairs were expressed as if he were an opposition figure. In his statement about ethnic and religious groups, without specifying who was to blame, he spoke of a “they” who “do not know that Iran, without Kurdish culture and identity, will lose its most important component and suffer an irreparable loss; or the zealous and freedom-loving Azeris, who are the revivalists of constitutionalism; or the brave and sincere Baluch and Sistanis; or the faithful and hard-working Armenian and Assyrian compatriots; and the good-thinking and righteous Zoroastrians; and the pure Mandaeans; and the dear Jews; and the great, zealous Arabs, Lur, and Bakhtiari … and the beautiful-minded, patriotic, and pious Turkmens.” All of which begs the question of who they were who passed discriminatory laws, deprived millions of Iranians of their human and civil rights, and sent thousands of people, including Baha’is, Gonabadi Dervishes, Sunnis, followers of the Yarsan religion, and Christian converts to prison just because of their religious belief and peaceful religious activity. In truth, “they” were actually the government itself in all its elements, and which all six candidates have been a part of for decades. Pezeshkian has also stated many times how he is “indebted” and “loyal” to the Supreme Leader, while acknowledging that “Khamenei is the one who determines the general policies” (and therefore has been responsible for suppressing religious and ethnic minorities for decades). Khamenei himself, to whom Pezeshkian is “indebted”, famously once stated that house-churches were “among the tools of the enemies of the Islamic Republic … to weaken religion in society”. Meanwhile, one of Pezeshkian’s most high-profile supporters, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Foreign Minister, once famously told an American journalist “no-one goes to prison for his beliefs in Iran”, and that stories of Baha’is and others going to prison for their beliefs were “lies”. Iranians vote with their feet Despite the calls for “maximum” participation, the first round of the elections last week saw the lowest participation rate since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. A second round of votes is set to take place because none of the candidates – in the end only four took part, two having withdrawn – were able to secure a majority. The government declared the participation rate on 28 June to be 39.1% – though outside observers suggested the real figure was much lower – while 4% per cent of votes (about one million) were discovered to be invalid. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, 64, one of the senior officials of the Ministry of Intelligence at the time of the “chain murders” of dissidents, whose victims included Christian leaders such as Haik Hovsepian, Mehdi Dibaj, and Tateos Michaelian, secured only around 200,000 votes – or, in other words, five times fewer than the number of spoiled ballots. Pezeshkian, and Saeed Jalili, 58, former chief nuclear negotiator and university lecturer, made it to the next round, while parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was eliminated. This latest loud “no” of Iranian citizens has undoubtedly once again challenged the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic, as has even been admitted by one of the surviving “candidates”. “It is not acceptable that 60% of the population does not come to the polls, and this is worrying,” Pezeshkian said. “When we don’t give Sunnis, Kurds, and Arabs a place in employment and high positions, this trend will lead to a decrease in participation,” he added, also name-checking women and minorities and saying it was a “natural” consequence for any group whose rights were ignored. Jalili said that he agreed, but that such subjects shouldn’t be discussed only during an election. However, neither Jalili nor Pezeshkian gave any explanation for why the rights of minorities and women have been violated over the past 45 years, nor how they might change the laws of the Islamic Republic. And so the second round of “elections” is set to take place, with some warning that Jalili believes in a “permanent war” and dividing the world into “evil and good”, and others fearing his “election” could lead to a further worsening of the sanctions placed on Iran during his time in office. But many Iranians see little difference between Jalili, who has been labelled a “conservative fundamentalist”, and Pezeshkian, who has been called a “fundamentalist reformer”. All six candidates have been in positions in which they have directly and indirectly played a role in suppressing protests and legitimising government repression, including Jalili as member of the Supreme National Security Council, and Pezeshkian, who boasted about his role in imposing hijab in universities and hospitals, as well as closing the women’s section of a medical school because it was “not in line” with his beliefs. So whatever words may have been spoken, until all Iranians – regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. – are afforded basic human rights, slogans such as “Iran for all Iranians” or even words like “Iranian nation and people”, “women”, “minorities”, and “ethnicities” are only the latest propaganda tools, which after 45 years of the Islamic Republic neither the narrator nor the audience believes in any more.
30 years since murders of Iranian pastors ‘shocked the world’ 24 June 2024 News Left to right: Rev Tateos Michaelian, Rev Mehdi Dibaj, and Bishop Haik Hovsepian. “Many people throughout the world have reacted with shock to the murders of three Protestant clergymen in recent months.” So wrote the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran following the killings of Bishop Haik Hovsepian, Rev Mehdi Dibaj and Rev Tateos Michaelian between January and June 1994. The three leaders were among the most senior and well-known figures of Iran’s Protestant Church, with both Bishop Hovsepian and Rev Michaelian having led the Assemblies of God denomination in Iran, and Rev Dibaj having spent nearly a decade in prison and been sentenced to death for his “apostasy”. Indeed, it was Rev Dibaj’s release from prison, in January 1994, following the ardent advocacy efforts of his friend Bishop Hovsepian, which ultimately seemed to lay the foundations for the bloodshed that would follow. As the Special Rapporteur, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, noted in his October 1994 report, Bishop Hovsepian’s disappearance came just a few days after Rev Dibaj’s release and after Bishop Hovsepian “had refused to sign a document saying that the churches enjoyed all the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran of 1979, and had been outspoken in his defence of Reverend Dibaj and against the latter’s death sentence”. Here is a timeline of events: On 11 January 1994, Bishop Hovsepian, in the words of the special rapporteur, “requested me to travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran to meet with Protestant and Evangelical ministers and government officials to discuss human rights matters and the situation of the religious minorities. He reportedly met with the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and presented a request that the rights of the Christian minority be protected. In response, the Ministry reportedly required all Christian denominations to sign a declaration stating that they enjoyed full constitutional rights as Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr refused to sign on behalf of his denomination”. On 13 January 1994, the special rapporteur wrote to the Iranian foreign minister in response to reports that Rev Dibaj had been sentenced to death and calling for “clemency … in view of the repeated assurances I have received from your Government that no person is persecuted for his faith”. On 16 January 1994, Rev Dibaj was released from prison. On 19 January 1994, in the words of the special rapporteur, Bishop Hovsepian “disappeared from his residence in Tehran and was reportedly taken to an agency of the Government”. On 30 January 1994, Bishop Hovsepian’s family were informed of his death. On 15 February 1994, the permanent representative of the Islamic Republic to Geneva sent a letter, dated 13 January, erroneously claiming Rev Dibaj had already been released and had “not been sentenced to death for his conversion to Christianity, and his offence has not come to the level of death penalty according to the penal code of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. On 17 February 1994, the special rapporteur sent a letter to the representative, calling for Rev Hovsepian’s death to be “fully investigated … in view of the assurances I have received from your Government that no Iranian citizen is persecuted for his faith and that all Christians are enjoying the same rights as any other citizen in the Islamic Republic”. On 21 February 1994, the representative responded that Rev Hovsepian “appeared to have been stabbed to death”; “the perpetrators have escaped with his car”; “a suspect has been arrested and is under investigation”; and the police are “searching for possible accomplices”. He promised a “full fledged investigation … in light of the importance of the case and the esteem with which the victim is held in the Christian community in Iran”. On 24 June 1994, Rev Dibaj left his home in Tehran to travel to the 17th birthday party of his youngest daughter. He never arrived. On 29 June 1994, Rev Michaelian left his home in Tehran. He too was never seen alive again. On 2 July 1994, the son of Rev Michaelian identified his father’s body in the morgue. He had been shot several times in the head. On 5 July 1994, Iranian state media reported that the body of Rev Dibaj had been found in a forest in west Tehran, “while conducting investigations into the murder of Reverend Michaelian”. The special rapporteur concluded his report by stating: “It is to be hoped, and indeed urged, that the evidence … will be examined according to logical and reasonable rules of evaluation and procedure that will support credible conclusions. It should be borne in mind that inaction is incompatible with applicable international obligations.” The findings would be “stronger and more credible”, the rapporteur added, if “UN experts were brought in to observe the proceedings… When political crimes are involved, it should be borne in mind that the perpetrators will try to protect themselves by dragging in red herrings and that incriminating others is usually part of the preparation and planning of a political crime.” But while three women alleged to be members of an outlawed opposition group were later convicted of the murders, a 1996 report by another special rapporteur, Abdelfattah Amor, noted how the trials were viewed by many as “a travesty of justice” and how “some even went so far as to say that those women were also agents of the State, who had sacrificed themselves in the latter’s interests”. Meanwhile, a 1994 report by TIME magazine found that “decisions to assassinate opponents at home or abroad are made at the highest level of the Iranian government: the Supreme National Security Council. The top political decision-making body is chaired by [President] Rafsanjani and includes, among others, [Minister of Intelligence] Fallahian, [Foreign Minister] Velayati and [Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei.”
Mehdi Dibaj’s final defence 24 June 2024 Features Rev Mehdi Dibaj’s final defence, before he was sentenced to death for “apostasy”, was published in full by The Times newspaper in January 1994. The pastor was released that same month after an international outcry but murdered just five months later, on 24 June 1994. In the holy name of God, who is our life and existence. With all humility, I express my gratitude to the Judge of all heaven and earth for this precious opportunity, and with brokenness I wait upon the Lord to deliver me from this court trial according to His promises. I also beg the honoured members of the court present to listen with patience to my defence and with respect for the Name of the Lord. I am a Christian, a sinner who believes Jesus has died for my sins on the Cross and who by His resurrection and victory over death, has made me righteous in the presence of the Holy God. The true God speaks about this fact in His Holy Word, the Gospel. Jesus means Saviour “because He will save His people from their sins”. Jesus paid the penalty of our sins by His own blood and gave us a new life so that we can live for the glory of God by the help of the Holy Spirit and be like a dam against corruption, be a channel of blessing and healing, and be protected by the love of God. In response to this kindness, He has asked me to deny myself and be His fully surrendered follower, and not fear people, even if they kill my body. I have been charged with “apostasy”. The invisible God, who knows our hearts, has given assurance to us Christians that we are not among the apostates who will perish, but among the believers so we may save our lives. In Islamic law an apostate is one who does not believe in God, the prophets, or the resurrection of the dead. We Christians believe in all three! They say, “You were a Muslim and you have become a Christian.” No, for many years I had no religion. After searching and studying I accepted God’s call and I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive eternal life. People choose their religion, but a Christian is chosen by Christ. He says, “You have not chosen me but I have chosen you.” From when? Before the foundation of the world. People say, “You were a Muslim from your birth.” God says, “You were a Christian from the beginning.” He states that He chose us thousands of years ago, even before the creation of the universe, so that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we may be His! A Christian means one who belongs to Jesus Christ. The eternal God, who sees the end from the beginning and who has chosen me to belong to Him, knew from everlasting whose heart would be drawn to Him and who would be willing to sell their faith and eternity for a pot of porridge. I would rather have the whole world against me but know the Almighty God is with me; be called an apostate but know I have the approval of the God of glory. The Almighty God will raise up anyone He chooses and bring down others; accept some and reject others; send some to heaven and others to hell. Now, because God does whatever He desires, who can separate us from the love of God? Or who can destroy the relationship between the Creator and the creature? Our refuge is the mercy seat of God, who is exalted from the beginning. I know in whom I have believed, and He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him to the end, until I reach the Kingdom of God, the place where the righteous shine like the sun but where the evil-doers will receive their punishment in hellfire. They tell me, “Return [to Islam]!” But from the arms of my God, who can I return to? Is it right to accept what people are saying, instead of obeying the Word of God? It is now 45 years that I am walking with the God of miracles, and His kindness upon me is like a shadow and I owe Him much for His fatherly love and concern. The love of Jesus has filled all my being and I feel the warmth of His love in every part of my body. God, who is my glory and honour and protector, has put His seal of approval upon me through His unsparing blessings and miracles. The good and kind God reproves and punishes all those whom He loves. He tests them in preparation for heaven. The God of Daniel, who protected His friends in the fiery furnace, has protected me for nine years in prison and all the bad happenings have turned out for our good and gain, so much so that I am filled to overflowing with joy and thankfulness. The God of Job has tested my faith and commitment in order to strengthen my patience and faithfulness. During those nine years, He has freed me from all my responsibilities so that under the protection of His blessed Name I would spend my time in prayer and the study of His Word, with heart-searching and brokenness, and grow in the knowledge of my Lord. I praise the Lord for this unique opportunity. “You gave me space in my confinement, my difficult hardships brought healing and your kindness revived me.” Oh what great blessings God has in store for those who fear Him! They object to my evangelising. But, “If you find a blind person near a well and keep silent, then you have sinned” [a Persian proverb]. It is our religious duty, as long as the door of God’s mercy is open, to convince evil-doers to turn from their sinful ways and find refuge in Him in order to be saved from the wrath of a Righteous God and from the coming dreadful punishment. Jesus Christ says, “I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved.” “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Among the prophets of God, only Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and He is our living intercessor forever. He is our Saviour and He is the Son of God. To know Him means to know eternal life. I, a useless sinner, have believed in His beloved person and all His words and miracles recorded in the Gospel, and I have committed my life into his hands. Life for me is an opportunity to serve him, and death is a better opportunity to be with Christ. Therefore, I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord and enter His kingdom sooner, the place where the elect of God enter to everlasting life but the wicked to eternal damnation. May the shadow of God’s kindness and His hand of blessing and healing be upon you and remain with you for ever. Amen. With Respect, Your Christian prisoner, Mehdi Dibaj 29 November 1993
Eight Christians sentenced to combined 45 years in prison 18 June 2024 News Yasin Mousavi (Photo: Mohabat News) Eight Iranian Christian converts have been sentenced to a combined total of nearly 45 years in prison. The eight, who are from the western city of Izeh, were among the at least 46 Iranian Christians arrested over the Christmas period, though until this moment it has not been possible to identify them. Even now, there is little information about most of the Christians, aside from the one who received the stiffest sentence – a man named Yasin Mousavi, who was given 15 years in prison. According to Iranian Christian website Mohabat News, Yasin was given 10 years for “membership of a group intent on disrupting national security” and a further five years for “propaganda against the regime through the promotion of ‘Zionist’ Christianity”. The sentence was reportedly issued on 27 May at the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court by Judge Mehdi Fathinia, who recently sentenced another Christian convert to five years in prison. According to the report, Yasin has been arrested on three previous occasions, including during the protests of 2022, when the city of Izeh saw some of the fiercest demonstrations – especially after the killing of a nine-year-old boy, Kian Pirfalak. The indictment against Yasin reportedly also includes an allegation that he “played an active role in the protests”, as well as being “one of the leaders” of an evangelical Christian organisation in the region. Yasin’s latest arrest took place on Christmas Eve, after which he was reportedly held in solitary confinement for 20 days at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre, before being transferred to Shiban Prison in Ahvaz. After nearly four months’ detention, Yasin was reportedly released on bail of 2 billion tomans (around $30,000) on 20 April, before being sentenced a month later. Yasin reportedly spent three months in Shiban Prison following a previous arrest in 2017, and a further three months in prison in 2021. No details were provided regarding the other Christians sentenced, beyond their names and the length of their sentences, which are as follows: Hamid Afzali: 10 years Nasrullah Mousavi, Bijan Gholizadeh and Iman Salehi: 5 years Two unnamed individuals: 2 years Zohrab Shahbazi: 9 months Iman is reportedly still being detained, while the others are currently out on bail. Article18 understands that the convictions were based on Article 500 of the penal code, which has been used on numerous occasions to convict Christians since it was controversially amended in 2021.
Concern for Christian convert after two weeks’ detention in unknown location 12 June 2024 News A Christian convert arrested last month remains in detention in an unknown location, as his wife and two daughters grow increasingly concerned. Farrokh Kakaei, who will celebrate his 55th birthday later this month, was arrested at his home in Karaj on 26 May by four plainclothes officers of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, before being taken away to an unknown location. It is also unknown whether Farrokh has received any formal or informal charges, but the arresting agents confiscated a framed image of Jesus, alongside his laptop, mobile phone, and computer hard-drive. Farrokh, who grew up in a Yarsani family in Kermanshah, has been able to call home twice during his detention, but could not say where he was being held. At least 14 Iranian Christians have been arrested so far this year, but few have given permission to publish their cases, leading to a continuing sense of “faceless victims” – a trend that inspired the title of Article18’s latest annual report. Only two of the more than 100 Christians arrested last summer permitted Article18 to publicise their cases – Hakop Gochumyan, who has since been sentenced to 10 years in prison, and his wife Elisa – even though a further 17 had by the end of 2023 received prison sentences of between three months and five years, or non-custodial punishments such as fines, flogging and in one case the community-service of digging graves. Three more of those arrested last summer have since been summoned to serve five-year prison sentences, while seven others were sentenced in January to a combined 12 years in prison, as well as fines, travel bans, and in one case flogging for drinking wine with Holy Communion. At least 15 more Christians have been sentenced so far in 2024, seven have begun serving their sentences, and a dozen others are due to stand trial this month – all on charges related to the peaceful practice of their faith but dressed up as crimes against “national security”.
Armenian Christian given 10-year sentence ‘on judge’s intuition’ 11 June 2024 News An Armenian Christian has been condemned to 10 years in prison in Iran despite his lawyer arguing that the case against him was so weak that the judge was forced to use a penal code provision enabling him to use his “intuition”. Hakop Gochumyan, who has been detained since his arrest last summer, has been convicted of “engaging in deviant proselytising activity that contradicts the sacred law of Islam” through alleged membership and leadership of “a network of evangelical Christianity”. However, according to an informed source, the 35-year-old’s conviction was based only on his possession of seven Persian-language New Testaments and visiting two Armenian churches and a Persian-language house-church while on holiday in Iran. Article 160 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code allows for judges to use their “personal intuition” when evidence is lacking, and Hakop’s lawyer argued that the judge in this case had been forced to use this provision, having found no other evidence against his client. Hakop was sentenced in February, though it was not publicly reported at the time, and last week he was informed that his appeal had failed. Hakop’s sentence was pronounced by the increasingly notorious judge of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, Iman Afshari, in a case that involved nine others. Four, including Hakop, received 10-year sentences; one received a two-year sentence; five were banned from leaving Iran and from living in Tehran and its neighbouring provinces for two years; and all 10 were fined a total of 500 million tomans (around $8,000) and deprived of rights such as membership of political or social groups. Many personal belongings were also confiscated, including cash, digital devices and even, unusually, some properties. Background Iran claims to provide religious freedom to its citizens, and frequently highlights its Armenian and Assyrian Christian minorities as examples of this alleged freedom. However, the sentencing of Hakop – as well as Iranian-Armenian pastor Anooshavan Avedian, who is also serving a 10-year prison sentence for leadership of a house-church – shows that any “freedom” comes with limitations: specifically the freedom to share one’s non-Muslim faith with others. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified without reservation, enshrines religious freedoms including to choose one’s own faith, to change that faith, and to share it with others. As a signatory to the covenant, Iran is obligated to provide these freedoms but consistently fails to do so. The late president, Ebrahim Raisi, was head of the judiciary in 2021 when, in an official response to UN experts who had highlighted the arrests of house-church members on “national security” charges, those arrested were referred to as “enemy groups” of a “Zionist cult”. Such labelling is an attempt to distinguish Christian converts, who are not recognised by the state, from the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent, who are provided with a degree of freedom to worship, provided they do not proselytise. But there is no freedom whatsoever for any non-Armenian or Assyrian Iranian who wishes to practise Christianity, as they are prohibited from attending the services of Armenians and Assyrians, who are themselves prohibited from preaching in the national language of Persian – all to reduce the chance of conversions. As a result, converts, who far outnumber the ever-shrinking populations of Armenian and Assyrian Christians, have no place to worship and therefore meet together in their homes in what have become known as house-churches. But these house-churches, though no different to any other groups of Christians meeting together to pray and worship around the world, are outlawed and members are routinely arrested and imprisoned on “national security” charges.
Christian convert sentenced to five years in prison 10 June 2024 News A Christian convert who was detained for over four months following his arrest on Christmas Eve has been sentenced to five years in prison for “acting against national security by communicating with Christian ‘Zionist’ organisations”. Esmaeil Narimanpour, who was previously forced to undergo religious “re-education”, was sentenced on 28 May at the third branch of the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz, western Iran, by Judge Mehdi Fathinia, according to the Persian-language website Mohabat News. The 37-year-old, who has 20 days to appeal, was one of nearly 50 Christians arrested over the Christmas period in a new rash of arrests. His home in Dezful, 150km north of Ahvaz, was searched and his Christian books were confiscated, though the arresting agents did not have a warrant. He was then transferred to a detention centre belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahvaz, where he spent 18 days, before being sent to Shiban Prison. Esmaeil was able to call his family briefly on Christmas Day to tell them that he was being held somewhere in Ahvaz, but when his wife and brother went to follow up on his case, they were themselves questioned and detained for several hours. Esmaeil was finally released on $10,000 bail on 30 April, but now awaits a summons to begin his sentence.