Hospital founded by American missionaries demolished 23 May 2024 News Masih Hospital was founded by American missionaries in the early 1900s. A hospital founded by American missionaries 100 years ago and confiscated following the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979 has been demolished after a long-running dispute. Masih (“Messiah”) Hospital, in the western city of Kermanshah, was one of several hospitals and other institutions founded by missionaries in the early 1900s. Four years ago, Article18 reported that the hospital had been saved from demolition after regaining its nationally-registered status. But the dispute with the property owner, who had long sought its demolition, rumbled on, culminating in its sudden destruction yesterday. The demolition took place yesterday. The owner had argued that the building, which had not been used in 20 years, was no longer worth preserving, given that it had been badly damaged in a fire and allegedly becoming the dwelling place for rough sleepers and drug addicts. However, a spokesperson for the local cultural heritage organisation said a complaint would be filed about the demolition as it had not been authorised, and added that no permission would be granted to build another property on the land unless it was a precise replica of the old hospital, which was designed by renowned Iranian-Armenian architect Markar Galstiants. Masih Hospital was one of numerous Christian-run institutions to be confiscated following the 1979 revolution, as the missionaries who had founded schools, hospitals and institutions for the blind were forced out of Iran as anti-foreign feeling predominated. Many of the institutions they left behind, including Masih Hospital, continued to function under new, Muslim leadership, but others were left empty and later repurposed, such as the former house of the Anglican Bishop of Iran in Isfahan, which was recently turned into a museum.
Monthly visits cancelled for pastor imprisoned 1,000 miles from family 16 May 2024 News A pastor serving a six-year sentence in a prison 1,000 miles from his wife and daughter has been told he will no longer be permitted to return home to visit them each month. Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad, who is known as Matthias, has been serving a six-year sentence for “propagating Christianity” since his previous acquittal was overturned in January 2022. Initially, the pastor, who belongs to the “Church of Iran” denomination, was held in the prison in his home city of Anzali, in north Iran, but in July 2023 he was without warning transferred to a prison in Minab, in the far south of Iran. Four months later, Matthias was permitted the chance to fly home for the first time for a short visit, and in January 2024 he was told he would be permitted to visit his family monthly for the remainder of his sentence. But last month, after only a few days of his latest home visit, Matthias was called unexpectedly and ordered to return to the prison, whereupon he was informed that his so-called “open sentence” would no longer apply to him. The reasoning behind the decision is unclear, but an informed source told Article18 the order came from the Ministry of Intelligence. In recent years, the Iranian authorities have begun to provide more “open sentences” to individuals serving lesser offences or who have served a certain proportion of their sentences, in a bid to reduce prison numbers. Under such “open sentences”, a prisoner may be able to work at a prison factory and to spend some time outside the prison. In November last year, Article18 reported that three other “Church of Iran” members had been permitted to live at home provided that they report back daily to a prison factory for work. Similarly, Matthias had been working for two weeks per month at a factory at Minab Prison, then flying at his own expense back to Anzali for the other two weeks of the month. But Matthias, who was recently “adopted” by a German politician, will no longer have access to the scheme and does not know when he may next be able to see his wife, Anahita, and daughter, Hannah. Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented: “This is the latest crushing blow to befall Matthias and his family, who have endured so much since his conversion and subsequent leadership of house-churches. “Matthias’s first prison arrest dates back to 2006, so for nearly 20 years he and his family have been placed under relentless pressure simply because of their faith and religious activities. “Unfortunately Matthias is far from alone in this regard. We call upon the Iranian authorities to stop persecuting individuals on account of their religious beliefs, in line with their regular claims at the UN and elsewhere that ‘no-one is persecuted in Iran because of their beliefs’.”
Imprisoned Christian convert needs psychological care, mother says 10 May 2024 News Photo: Facebook A Christian convert and former asylum-seeker serving a two-year sentence in Evin Prison for “connecting with ‘Zionist’ Christian organisations” is struggling with her mental health and in need of professional help, her mother says. According to the Persian-language site Human Rights in Iran, Laleh Saati’s mother recently visited her prison and observed that her daughter was struggling with the pressure she has been placed under since being detained three months ago, and needs psychological support. Laleh’s mother is also reported to have asked the Revolutionary Court judge who sentenced her, Iman Afshari, whether he might reduce her daughter’s sentence, only to be told that she must wait for the result of her appeal. Laleh, who is 45 years old, was arrested in February and sentenced a month later at the 26th branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court by Judge Afshari, who reportedly asked her why she had returned to Iran from Malaysia, where she had sought asylum, and thereby risked a court case being opened against her. Laleh was baptised in a church in Malaysia during her time there, a fact which appears to have been referenced in her charge of “connecting with ‘Zionist’ Christian organisations”. Article18’s Mansour Borji said “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”. He added: “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.” Laleh returned to Iran in 2017, having reportedly grown frustrated at the time it had taken to process her asylum claim, and also to be reunited with her elderly parents. She was reportedly summoned and interrogated by intelligence agents on numerous occasions after her return, before finally being arrested in February at her father’s home in Ekbatan Town, a suburb of Tehran. Laleh was then reportedly taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence, and interrogated multiple times over three weeks – 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 of the prison. On 16 March, she was brought before Judge Afshari at the 26th branch of the Revolutionary Court, and a week later she was informed of her sentence, which also includes a two-year travel ban. Article18’s Mansour Borji said he was “surprised” at the speed with which her case had progressed through the courts.
From the archive: Churches rebuff police, defy government ultimatums 8 May 2024 News This article was first published in 1993 by News Network International and is republished here with kind permission. The Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran, which was forcibly closed 20 years after this article was first published. Several Iranian Protestant churches flatly refused to comply with government ultimatums issued in June [1993], requiring churches to limit evangelistic activities. The move is believed to be part of an apparent crackdown on churches attended by Iranians of Muslim background. Even though Iran was rebuked by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva last March as a major violator of religious freedoms, the government has since required all of Iran’s Christian Churches to sign a statement declaring they will not evangelise Muslims. According to reliable sources, leaders of the Assyrian, Armenian Orthodox and Presbyterian Churches have all signed the statement. However, the Assemblies of God and Brethren Churches have refused. The latest standoff began in mid-June, when the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance summoned two leaders of the Assemblies of God Central Church in downtown Tehran. Officials reportedly ordered the church to cancel its Friday worship meetings and stipulated that worshippers attending the Sunday church services would be required to share their identity cards at the door. Despite strong threats of “consequences” for disobeying the ultimatum, church leaders refused to comply. Church services on Friday, a day off in Iran, are heavily attended by both members of Christian minority groups and converts from Islam. Requiring ID-card checks would automatically expose everyone of Muslim background to police scrutiny. “You can arrest us, put us in prison, execute us,” the church leaders said they told the authorities, “but we will not close down our churches.” According to a source inside Iran, the two leaders “politely but firmly stood up to this oral order”, which the authorities refused to put in writing. The pastors said they reminded the Ministry of Islamic Guidance authorities that the government had promised that all Christian Churches would be guaranteed the right to preach and teach within their churches. The following Friday, five plainclothes policemen appeared at the church an hour before services were scheduled to begin. They blocked the main entrance and demanded to see identity cards as worshippers began arriving. The pastor said he intervened and invited the policemen into his office. At that point, they demanded that the pastor send his congregation home and cancel the service. The pastor refused. The officers then asked him to sign a statement indicating his refusal, after which the pastor returned to the sanctuary and began the service. The following week, the pastor said he attempted to file a protest with the Interior Ministry, but officials denied any knowledge of the incident. They declared the officers had not acted on orders and promised to “fully protect” the church. In a separate incident on 25 June, the Assemblies of God’s Isfahan congregation was gathered for worship in a private garden when police scaled the walls and surrounded the group. Police demanded to see the identity cards of all worshippers. They later told the pastor he was “very fortunate” that no Muslim converts to Christianity were present. The pastor was later questioned by police, who attempted to pressure him into signing a statement affirming he would not allow Muslims to enter his church. The pastor said he politely “declined”, insisting that no Iranian could be so impolite as to turn away a visitor. Two days later, the Isfahan church was surrounded by Islamic guards on motorcycles, who prohibited any converts or inquirers of Muslim background from entering the church. Since the incident occurred, Muslim converts who regularly attended services have not been present. “Before, the government just stressed that we must contain our activities inside the church,” one Christian leader told NNI. “But now they are telling us to stop our meetings. We can never agree to that because, if we do, within a very short time they will try to close down our churches entirely.” In recent weeks, the leaders of small house-churches in Mashhad have also received threatening telephone calls, warning them to discontinue meetings. Instead, church leaders say they have simply varied the times and places of their meetings in order to evade detection. Although church workers in Iran report that they are growing accustomed to telephone surveillance and frequent phone threats against their Christian activities, in the last few months they have noticed an unpleasant variation: the latest anonymous calls threaten to kidnap the children of active pastors and lay workers. In June, an attempt to kidnap a Christian worker’s young son was foiled when the boy managed to run away from some men in a car who said they had come to “take him to his daddy”. Pastors and Christian workers now say they are accompanying their children to and from school, as a security measure.
Why do most Iranian Christians worship in house-churches? 7 May 2024 Explainers “Christians have 380 churches,” Iranian-Armenian MP Ara Shaverdian told the UN Human Rights Committee in October 2023. What the MP did not explain, however, is that not everybody is permitted to attend these churches, nor are they permitted to preach in the national language of Persian. The churches that once offered such services have been forcibly closed over the past 15 years, and those that remain are only for Iranians of Armenian or Assyrian descent – ethnic minorities considered “Christian” by the authorities. Those Christians who want to worship in the national language of Persian therefore have no place to worship. As a result, following a huge rise in conversions to Christianity – with the number of converts now estimated to be 10 times the number of ethnic Armenian and Assyrian Christians – informal churches have sprung up across the country, meeting together in private homes in what have become known as “house-churches”. But these gatherings, although no different in practice from any other regular church around the world, have been labelled “enemy groups” of a “Zionist cult” by the president, Ebrahim Raisi, and hundreds of members and leaders have been arrested and charged with “acting against national security”. Members have faced prison sentences of up to five years, and leaders up to 10 years, under Articles 498 and 499 of the penal code, relating to organisation and membership, respectively, of “anti-state groups”. It is also increasingly common for house-church members to be charged under the amended Article 500, which criminalises “educating in a deviant way contrary to the holy religion of Islam”.
Christian convert released on $10,000 bail after four months’ detention 3 May 2024 News A Christian convert arrested on Christmas Eve has been released on bail equivalent to more than $10,000 after over four months in detention. Esmaeil Narimanpour, 37, who was previously forced to undergo religious “re-education” with a Muslim cleric, was released on bail of 700 million tomans on Tuesday, 30 April. According to Iranian Christian news agency Mohabat News, Esmaeil has been charged with “acting against national security by communicating with Christian ‘Zionist’ organisations”. Esmaeil reportedly spent most of his detention in Shiban Prison in Ahvaz, two hours’ drive south of his home in Dezful, where he was arrested at around 6pm on Christmas Eve. Esmaeil’s home was searched and his Christian books confiscated during the raid, 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, according to Mohabat News, before being sent to Shiban Prison. As Article18 previously reported, 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 one of at least 46 Christians arrested during a renewed crackdown on house-churches across Iran over the Christmas season, including some in Ahvaz and nearby Izeh, as noted in our 2024 annual report. Several of those detained at Christmas and in the wave of arrests last summer remain in prison, with some already sentenced to long imprisonment, though Article18 has not been at liberty to report on their cases. Our latest annual report was titled ‘Faceless Victims’ to draw attention to the many Iranian Christians who choose not to publicise their cases for fear of further worsening their plight.
Iran has third most religious prisoners of conscience, report finds 2 May 2024 News The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has once again recommended that Iran be re-designated a “Country of Particular Concern” for “engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”. In its latest annual report, published yesterday, the independent advisory body to the US State Department notes that the religious freedom conditions in Iran remain “extremely poor”. According to USCIRF, Iran has the third most religious prisoners of conscience, behind only China and Russia. Of the more than 2,200 religious prisoners documented in USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List in 2023, Iran accounted for 347 (15%). The cases of five Iranian Christian prisoners of conscience – Homayoun Zhaveh and Sara Ahmadi, Joseph Shahbazian, Abdolreza (Matthias) Ali-Haghnejad, and Yousef Nadarkhani – were highlighted in the report, as were the mass arrests of Christians in the summer of 2023, and the targeting of Baha’is, Jews, Sunni and Sufi Muslims. As well as re-designating Iran a “Country of Particular Concern”, USCIRF recommended that the US State Department: imposes targeted sanctions on government agencies and officials responsible for FoRB violations. stems the flow of surveillance technology and weapons platforms used to suppress lawful religious expression in Iran. facilitates financial and technological support for Iranians asserting their freedom of religion or belief through peaceful demonstrations and labour strikes. supports the UN Fact-Finding Mission to Iran. supports a Security Council referral of the situation in Iran to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity against those asserting freedom of religion or belief. And that the US Congress: permanently reauthorises the Lautenberg Amendment, which aids persecuted Iranian religious minorities seeking refugee status in the United States. USCIRF noted how, despite the “ceiling” for refugees being increased to 125,000 for 2023, less than half that number were resettled. The report calls on the Biden administration to “prioritize resettlement for survivors of the most egregious forms of religious persecution” – members of religious minority groups in Iran are among those who have been granted priority access to resettlement in the US – and to do more to “meet the admissions ceiling”. USCIRF also called on Congress to reintroduce the bipartisan Stop Helping Adversaries Manipulate Everything Act (SHAME Act), which it said “would prohibit lobbyists from receiving compensation from countries designated as foreign adversaries by the U.S. Department of Commerce”. Most of the designated countries, USCIRF noted, “engage in particularly severe religious freedom violations and other egregious human rights abuses”, including Iran. “The SHAME Act would considerably strengthen the existing regulatory framework around lobbying on behalf of foreign governments,” USCIRF said.
US Commission on International Religious Freedom 2024 Annual Report 2 May 2024 Reports The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has once again recommended that Iran be re-designated a “Country of Particular Concern” for “engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”. In its latest annual report, published yesterday, the independent advisory body to the US State Department notes that the religious freedom conditions in Iran remain “extremely poor”. According to USCIRF, Iran has the third most religious prisoners of conscience, behind only China and Russia. Of the more than 2,200 religious prisoners documented in USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List in 2023, Iran accounted for 347 (15%). The cases of five Iranian Christian prisoners of conscience – Homayoun Zhaveh and Sara Ahmadi, Joseph Shahbazian, Abdolreza (Matthias) Ali-Haghnejad, and Yousef Nadarkhani – were highlighted in the report, as were the mass arrests of Christians in the summer of 2023, and the targeting of Baha’is, Jews, Sunni and Sufi Muslims. As well as re-designating Iran a “Country of Particular Concern”, USCIRF recommended that the US State Department: imposes targeted sanctions on government agencies and officials responsible for FoRB violations. stems the flow of surveillance technology and weapons platforms used to suppress lawful religious expression in Iran. facilitates financial and technological support for Iranians asserting their freedom of religion or belief through peaceful demonstrations and labour strikes. supports the UN Fact-Finding Mission to Iran. supports a Security Council referral of the situation in Iran to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity against those asserting freedom of religion or belief. And that the US Congress: permanently reauthorises the Lautenberg Amendment, which aids persecuted Iranian religious minorities seeking refugee status in the United States. USCIRF noted how, despite the “ceiling” for refugees being increased to 125,000 for 2023, less than half that number were resettled. The report calls on the Biden administration to “prioritize resettlement for survivors of the most egregious forms of religious persecution” – members of religious minority groups in Iran are among those who have been granted priority access to resettlement in the US – and to do more to “meet the admissions ceiling”. USCIRF also called on Congress to reintroduce the bipartisan Stop Helping Adversaries Manipulate Everything Act (SHAME Act), which it said “would prohibit lobbyists from receiving compensation from countries designated as foreign adversaries by the U.S. Department of Commerce”. Most of the designated countries, USCIRF noted, “engage in particularly severe religious freedom violations and other egregious human rights abuses”, including Iran. “The SHAME Act would considerably strengthen the existing regulatory framework around lobbying on behalf of foreign governments,” USCIRF said.
Former prisoner charged again with ‘propaganda against the state’ 24 April 2024 News Photo: Middle East Concern A house-church member who served four months in prison in 2019 for “propaganda against the state” has been charged again with the same “offence”. Shahab Shahi was re-arrested in December 2023 alongside fellow members Alireza Nourmohammadi and Milad Goodarzi – who have also previously served time in prison due to their faith – and Alireza’s brother Amir. According to Middle East Concern, Shahab appeared at a Revolutionary Court in Karaj last month and now awaits a second and final hearing at the sixth branch of the city’s Revolutionary Court. Alireza and Amir have also been charged with engaging in “propaganda” under the controversially amended Article 500 of the penal code, as has another member of their house-church, Hossein Sha’bani. Several other families associated with the same house-church, which is part of the “Church of Iran” denomination, have been summoned and interrogated regarding their faith and religious activities since the December arrests.
Christian prisoner of conscience denied medical care 23 April 2024 News Mina was summoned to serve her sentence in January, despite not having fully recovered from a broken ankle sustained when she was run over by a car. Sixty-year-old Christian prisoner of conscience Mina Khajavi is reported to be struggling with pain and unable to access the medical care she requires inside Tehran’s Evin Prison. The Christian convert, who has arthritis and walks with a limp, is serving a six-year sentence for leading a house-church. She began her sentence in January, having been deemed to have sufficiently recovered after being run over by a car shortly before she was originally due to begin her sentence in the summer of 2022. Mina’s ankle was badly broken in the accident, and metal plates had to be fitted. Now inside prison, Mina is still in pain but has not been provided with adequate care, according to a source close to her family. Mina has reportedly only been given occasional painkillers, and no other treatment. Prior to her imprisonment, Mina had been scheduled to undergo an operation on her ankle, but she was not able to attend. She is said to find it particularly difficult climbing up to the second level of a bunk-bed in her cell to sleep at night. Mina was sentenced alongside fellow Christian convert Malihe Nazari, who also received a six-year sentence, and Iranian-Armenian pastor Joseph Shahbazian, who was given 10 years. However, both Joseph and Malihe are now out of prison, having had their sentences reduced after retrials. Mina is currently in the process of applying for a retrial in her own case, but any verdict will take time. Mina was recently sponsored by a German politician, Gudrun Schittek, who demanded her “immediate release” and “the release of all prisoners in Iran who are imprisoned because of their religion, such as Christians, Baha’is, or members of other religions”. Article18’s Mansour Borji said he was “appalled” that Mina had been forced to serve her sentence, given that she was palpably not in a fit state to go to prison. He called for her “immediate and unconditional acquittal”, and for “Iran to end the harassment of the Christian community and to respect the November 2021 Supreme Court ruling that ‘the promotion of Christianity and formation of a house-church is not criminalised in law’ and should not be deemed a threat to national security”.