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11. Unexpected Friendship

This is the penultimate article in a series by Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian convert to Christianity who spent more than three years in prison in the southern city of Shiraz because of his membership of a house-church. Mojtaba’s first note from prison explained his journey to faith and the first of his two subsequent arrests; his second detailed his long interrogation; his third explained the desperation and loneliness of solitary confinement and his fourth described some of the dreams and visions he had in solitary. His fifth note described his court hearing, his sixth his first moments in prison, and his seventh his emotions in the moments and days after his release on bail. In his eighth note Mojtaba recounted his year-long trial; his ninth explained living in the constant expectation of re-arrest; and his tenth saw that long-anticipated day arrive. In this eleventh note, Mojtaba recalls the moment he was unexpectedly joined in his solitary cell by another prisoner of conscience.

After 18 days’ solitary confinement and intense interrogations, at the very moment I needed new hope, the cell door opened and a man wearing a blindfold and prison clothes was pushed inside.

Once he had removed his blindfold, this man appeared shocked to find himself sharing this small solitary-confinement cell with another prisoner: me.

I learnt that this man, a father of a two-year-old boy and husband of a wife who was now pregnant again, had been arrested only because he was a Baha’i. As two prisoners of conscience, whose detention was based on very similar grounds, we soon formed a friendship.

I remember talking with him non-stop for almost three hours that first night. It was as though I had been thirsty for someone to talk to, and our similar experiences created immediate empathy between us. Though we were only together a short time, I really enjoyed the time we shared and remain grateful to God for sending this man to me.

During the day, he worshipped according to his own rituals, and I according to mine. One day, while he was singing one of his songs, I enjoyed the melody and its meaning and, wanting to express my sympathy and respect for him, asked him to teach me the song.

At first he seemed surprised, but he was also very glad to comply, and it was a truly precious experience for both of us as we sang together in that cell, overlooking our different beliefs.

It felt like a symbol of God’s love, which is so opposed to the hatred with which we had been treated by our oppressors, who acted with such violence and enmity, while God sings over us a thousand songs of His love and kindness.

After that, this man also began to sing with me one of the Christian songs that I had been singing, which he also really liked. In these precious moments, we looked at each other and both said how we longed for the same sense of unity – in spite of our differences – in Iranian society; that instead of prejudice, we might live with mutual respect and an understanding of each other’s intrinsic value as human beings. What a beautiful dream, but sadly so opposed to the values of the Islamic Republic.

Although we were together only for a short time, our friendship didn’t end in that cell, and to this day we remain in touch, and always refer back to those days and how thankful we are to God for bringing us together. At the moment I most needed it, this man’s presence gave me renewed strength to endure my captivity.

A few days later, two more people were added to our cell. One was a student, who had been arrested because of his anti-regime activities and speeches, and the other was an old man whose son had left a gun in his home before fleeing the scene.

So now there were four of us in this small cell, which measured around 6×2 metres, with a toilet in the corner. The air became suffocating, and we couldn’t even really walk around anymore.

The public prison

This was the way things were for the next two weeks, until, on the thirty-third day of my imprisonment, the door suddenly opened and my name was called.

As usual, they first blindfolded me, and then took me to another place. And there I suddenly heard the voices of the friends I had been arrested with, and discovered that they were transferring us to the public prison.

It was a strange feeling; I didn’t know whether I should be happy to be rescued from this dark place, or concerned at the prospect of being sent to the terrible prison of Adel Abad.

All of us except for one of the ladies arrested with us were put into one car, and as soon as we left the detention centre they took off our blindfolds and we could see each other’s faces again, 33 days on from the night of our arrest.

Tears of joy welled up in our eyes, and small smiles formed on our lips. I felt a combination of joy and encouragement at seeing my brothers in Christ again, as well as fear and anxiety for what lay ahead. But the power of us being together again was by far the stronger emotion, and gave me renewed courage.

My time in solitary confinement felt much longer to me than it really was – as though several months passed – but it was only the beginning of a much longer journey, which would have its own special twists, turns and difficulties.

It should be noted that, according to Iranian law, every day of solitary confinement should be considered the same as three days’ imprisonment in a public ward, but this rule was never applied in my case.

God had a plan to show me His glory and how He wanted to use me, but given the hardship of the path ahead, if I were to ask, “Lord, where are you taking me, and how do you want to use me?” I probably wouldn’t have chosen the same path. Yet many souls were longing for God’s salvation, hopeless souls trapped in darkness, who needed light to shine on them to bring them a fresh and glorious new beginning.

We can’t always ask God to make the future clear to us, but no matter how dark the road ahead, we can trust in Him and, our hand in His loving hands, step by step move towards a glorious future. And along this road, though the way ahead remained unclear, I witnessed many scenes of God’s amazing work, which would have seemed impossible for me to even imagine but kept on happening as I witnessed to others about my thankfulness to God, our Heavenly Father.

Christian woman among Evin prisoners of conscience to call for climate action

Christian prisoner of conscience Sara Ahmadi has joined 19 other women political prisoners in Tehran’s Evin Prison in co-signing an open letter calling on the Islamic Republic to take action in response to climate change.

Sara, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for leading a house-church, joined fellow inmates including environmental, civil and women’s rights activists in penning the joint letter, which has been translated into English by Radio Zamaneh.

Earlier this year, Sara co-signed another joint letter denouncing state executions in Iran.

Sara’s sentence, and that of her husband Homayoun Zhaveh, who is serving a two-year sentence, is set to be reviewed next month by a Tehran appeal court, after the Supreme Court ordered a retrial.

Homayoun is 64 years old and has advanced Parkinson’s disease, a condition that has worsened during his imprisonment due to stress and lack of access to medication and care; Sara is not only Homayoun’s wife, but also his primary carer.

What does the letter say?

Iran is the sixth highest emitter of greenhouse gases and especially “vulnerable to the diverse impacts of climate change”, the prisoners note.

Although Iran signed the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016, “parliament still needs to approve it, and therefore [the Islamic Republic of Iran] has not officially become a member of the world agreement”.

“The IRI has not only failed to act on its obligations,” the prisoners say, “but is also retreating from its already meagre promises to continue developing the polluting industries of oil, gas, and petrochemicals.

“Greenhouse gas emissions in Iran have reached 678 million tons per year… At the same time, Iran is prone to droughts, sand and dust storms, floods, and other extreme weather events, all intensified by climate change, with devastating impacts on agriculture, the economy, drinking water, health, and other sectors.”

The letter concludes: “We, the female political prisoners and prisoners of belief in Evin, social, environmental, and political activists in diverse fields, mothers and grandmothers of future generations, at this moment, express our deep concern about the future of our children and our country. Despite the hardship and the suffocating problems of political, cultural, social, and other natures that cast their shadow on our lives, we demand firm national commitment and serious action to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

You can read the full text of the letter, and list of signatories, below.

The environment is one of the most critical concerns of humanity, and many movements have formed around it as a significant global challenge. The “climate movement” has become one of the most influential and expansive of recent activism worldwide, with close ties to diverse aspects of human life.

Unequivocal evidence has proven that climate change is taking place due to human activity. Environmental protection is essential for our beloved country and the world and, therefore, cannot and should not be ignored.

Greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) emissions that result from burning fossil fuels (such as oil and gas), together with the destruction of natural habitats, have resulted in an unprecedented change in our planet’s climate and its consequent warming. This trend has extensive adverse effects on humans, animals, and plants. The situation is dangerous to the extent that life on earth faces uncontrollable risks that are difficult to imagine.

We currently stand at a critical point; humanity’s actions during this decade will determine the path toward or away from a climate-induced catastrophe. At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran is making decisions about our country’s share in averting from the intensification of this crisis. According to the recent report of the special commission on Article 90 of the Iranian Parliament published on Feb 21, 2023 as well as an official statement made by the head of Iran’s Department of Environment, Mr. Ali Salajegheh, at the National Conference on Environmental Diplomacy (Feb 26, 2023), after a seven year long day, Iran’s membership in the Paris Agreement and the possibility of renewing the Nationally Determined Contribution of the country are being assessed.

In light of this critical development, we believe it is our responsibility to express our grave concern about the issue of Climate Change and the rights of future generations to a safe and healthy world and to bring attention to the fact that the current approach is threatening the future of the country and life on this planet. We must point out, with great regret, that Iran holds sixth place in the world as one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases but also, the most vulnerable to the diverse impacts of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions in Iran have reached 678 million tons per year, matching those of France, Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland combined. At the same time, Iran is prone to droughts, sand and dust storms, floods, and other extreme weather events, all intensified by climate change, with devastating impacts on agriculture, the economy, drinking water, health, and other sectors.

The Paris Agreement was approved in 2015 at the 21st meeting of the members (COP21) in Paris under the framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Climate Change (UNFCCC) and during which 195 countries of the world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, committed to keeping the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, trying to limit it further to 1.5 degrees by the end of 2100. This action means reducing greenhouse gases by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 and bringing them to zero by 2050.

Iran signed this agreement in April 2016, but the parliament still needs to approve it, and therefore IRI has not officially become a member of the world agreement.

Too much time has already been lost, and the international community has been unable to avoid catastrophes effectively. Yet, many countries in recent years have taken up more serious commitments, mainly under pressure from civil society’s climate movement. The I.R.I. has not only failed to act on its obligations but is also retreating from its already meager promises to continue developing the polluting industries of oil, gas, and petrochemicals. Instead of cutting down on emissions, we are now witnessing the creation of a 4.8 km2 methane cloud in the south of Tehran from the Aradkuh waste disposal site. Methane is the cause of 30% of global warming. With 8500 kg of methane gases being emitted per hour, Aradkuh alone has become one of the world’s top three most significant sources of this dangerous greenhouse gas.

We, the female political prisoners and prisoners of belief in Evin, social, environmental, and political activists in diverse fields, mothers and grandmothers of future generations, at this moment, express our deep concern about the future of our children and our country. Despite the hardship and the suffocating problems of political, cultural, social, and other natures that cast their shadow on our lives, we demand firm national commitment and serious action to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.

We ask all our fellow Iranians to consider the urgency of the climate crisis with a deep understanding of the issue and to include it as a vital part of their civic demands. By joining the global climate movement, rather than being part of the problem, we can become part of the solution.

In this regard, we believe that the following actions are both necessary and possible in the context of Iran while taking into account social and climate justice and supporting vulnerable communities as well as public inclusion in decision-making, especially the decision of women, youth, local communities, and ethnic minorities:

Moving away from fossil fuels and taking advantage of the country’s great potential in renewable energy (solar and wind).

Conservation and rehabilitation of ecosystems that absorb carbon dioxide ( forests, wetlands, Persian Gulf’s coral reefs, etc.).

Shifting to a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient development.

Reducing pollution, increasing energy efficiency, reducing natural gas leakage in production, and using clean technology.

Disaster risk reduction through ecosystem-based and other necessary approaches.

Concrete action towards adaptation of industry, agriculture, integrated water resource management, and other areas to inevitable impacts of climate change.

For Pirouz and all the children of Iran who have been deprived of healthy nature!
Narges Mohammadi
Sepideh Qolian
Nahid Taghavi
Fariba Kamalabadi
Maryam Haj Hosseini
Vida Rabbani
Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani
Niloufar Bayani
Sepideh Kashani
Mahvash Sabet
Zahra Zehtabchi
Fatemeh Mosana
Sara Ahmadi
Raha Askarizadeh
Noushin Jafari
Hasti Amiri
Narges Zarifian
Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi
Mojgan Inanlou
Asal Mohammadi

Supreme Court orders retrial of Christian couple serving combined 10-year sentence

An Iranian Christian couple serving a combined 10 years in prison for belonging to a house-church have had their third application for a retrial accepted.

Sara Ahmadi, who will turn 45 on Friday, and Homayoun Zhaveh, who is 64 and has advanced Parkinson’s disease, were informed of the decision on Easter Day.

The ruling was made by Branch 9 of the Supreme Court, the same branch that agreed last month to a retrial in the case of an Iranian-Armenian pastor, Joseph Shahbazian, serving a 10-year sentence for holding church services in his home.

Sara and Homayoun’s case will be reviewed by Branch 34 of Tehran’s appeal court on 9 May.

The couple have been in prison since August last year, when they were surprisingly detained after answering a summons which they believed would only see them reunited with property confiscated from them by the agents who arrested them.

They were arrested back in June 2019, sentenced in November 2020, and first answered a summons to serve their sentences in June 2021, only to be told they could return home.

Their first two applications for a retrial – in June 2021 and November 2021 – were both rejected.

In June 2021, Article18 launched a petition for the charges against the couple to be dropped. Today, that ongoing petition calls for them to be released, noting that: “As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has a binding obligations to respect and protect the right to religious freedom.”

The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Javaid Rehman, highlighted Iran’s breaches of this covenant during the launch of Article18’s joint annual report at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last month.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and everyone has the right to have a religion, to adopt another religion, of his or her choice, without any coercion,” he said. “And these are what we call ‘non-derogable’. You cannot derogate from that. Whatever religion or faith I choose for myself, there must not be any interference; the state cannot say, ‘Well, you know, there are public security issues, national security.’ This is my choice! And this is very important for all states to recognise, including Iran.”

10. The Fateful Day Arrives

This is the tenth in a series of articles by Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian convert to Christianity who spent more than three years in prison in the southern city of Shiraz because of his membership of a house-church. Mojtaba’s first note from prison explained his journey to faith and the first of his two subsequent arrests; his second detailed his long interrogation; his third explained the desperation and loneliness of solitary confinement and his fourth described some of the dreams and visions he had in solitary. His fifth note described his court hearing, his sixth his first moments in prison, and his seventh his emotions in the moments and days after his release on bail. In his eighth note Mojtaba recounted his year-long trial, and his ninth explained living in the constant expectation of re-arrest. In this tenth note, that long-awaiting day arrives.

One winter night in 2012, we had gathered at a friend’s house for our Christian worship meeting, and as usual part of our worship was singing songs that spoke of God’s love, sovereignty and victory, and as we were singing, the doorbell rang and there was also a knock on the door.

We had continued to sing as the landlord went to open the door, when suddenly about 30 plainclothes agents of the Ministry of Intelligence violently raided the property, while shouting.

It was a strange moment. I was both in a state of shock, but also telling myself that the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived. A thousand and one thoughts came to my mind: what would this mean for my mother, my family? It hadn’t been more than a year since my father had died, and now I was definitely going to jail.

I also thought of the other church members in the room, especially vulnerable ones like the women and children.

The children had actually been in another room with their teacher, but after hearing the screams some had come out and were standing there in shock, and some of them were crying. This was one of the most painful scenes I had ever witnessed, and I know for sure that this awful experience has impacted those children psychologically to this day.

The atmosphere in the house had become extremely dark and oppressive. It was suffocating, and I felt as though the roof had fallen in on me. The mothers were all in tears, and the children were looking around for their parents but weren’t allowed to join them by the cruel agents, who instead sent them into another room along with one of the agents.

My younger brother was also among these children, and I was exploding from the inside, and all I could think about was his safety, and the safety of the other children and women. Meanwhile, we were all given pieces of paper, on which were written a number of personal questions and other questions related to our meetings, and one of the agents all the time filmed everybody and everything that happened.

Then I and the other active members of the group were handcuffed, and each of us were taken in separate vehicles to our homes, which they searched, confiscating all Christian items.

A forbidden faith

On the drive to my home, when I looked out at the city streets, I suddenly felt as though I was a stranger in the place where I had been born, and as if I no longer belonged there.

Because I wasn’t free. I couldn’t live the way I wanted. And why was it that my way of thinking, my beliefs and my faith were forbidden? How is it possible that you can be arrested and imprisoned without committing any crime, without harming anyone? And actually even when your beliefs mean that you hope and pray for the best of everyone in society – whether your relatives or anyone else.

Well, after they had confiscated the Christian items and books, as well as some of my other personal belongings – all while I was still in handcuffs – they blindfolded me and put me back into the car. And at no point did they show any documents from the court to justify their unjust actions, which were in fact against the law.

As I got back into the car, my mother was unable to speak one word, and only looked at me from a distance, with tears in her eyes and a face on which was etched a thousand worries, prayers, hopes and words. That look brought a pain to my heart that is still with me today. Sometimes I even blame myself for being the cause of all the pain my mother experienced.

But God, in His kindness and grace, comforts me and assures me that the blame does not rest with me, and that it is not my beliefs that have caused my mother’s suffering, but the injustice and oppression of wicked men. And I know too that God is the just judge, and that he responds to injustice and is working everything for the ultimate good of me and my family. All I have to worry about is that I continue to do his will, knowing that one day the time will come for almighty God to bring his own judgement on those truly responsible.

Familiar surroundings

Just like the last time, I was taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre, “Pelak-e 100”, and placed in solitary confinement.

Even the cell was the very same as the one I had spent three weeks in almost three years previously. And being back there again, it was as if all the pain and memories from my previous experience were being relived, making my renewed imprisonment even more difficult.

The only difference was that this time I knew my chances of being released were much slimmer. I knew very well that by continuing my activities after my first arrest, my re-arrest would mean the implementation of my previous sentence – so at least eight months in prison, in addition to whatever new sentence would be given to me, which would undoubtedly be greater than the first. It was very hard to accept this, and to confront the reality that that my future prospects were lengthy imprisonment and separation from my friends, family, hopes and dreams.

The next morning, without being taken to any court, which seemed very strange, I was told the new charges against me by a female interrogator of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court named Ms Zare.

The charges were: “forming illegal groups” – meaning the house-church meetings – “propaganda against the regime”, “acting against the security of the regime”, and “insulting the sacred”, meaning “blasphemy” and of which I was later acquitted.

The interrogations started the next day. During the 33 days I was held in solitary confinement, I was taken for at least 10 intense and prolonged interrogations. And this time, the interrogators’ behaviour was completely different.

They said they used different language to discipline “criminals”, so with ugly insults and death threats, we were all subjected to psychological torture. For example, I remember that during one interrogation they said: “Some of you will be executed, and some of you will be sentenced to 30 years in prison.”

And they were constantly trying to make us suspicious of each other by making up false stories and claims, and saying that they knew everything about our lives.

And afterwards, being taken back to solitary confinement, carrying all the burdens and pressure of those interrogations, was exhausting. In that lonely environment, all those words and threats surrounded me, as well as my worries for my family and the other church members.

It was like an enormous stone had been placed on top of my chest, or that the world had become a small box in which even breathing was no longer easy.

And these days were made even more difficult by not being permitted even one visit or call from a family member.

I decided that I would avoid eating, and instead spend every day in fasting, prayer and worship. And through this I found amazing strength. I had found myself on the frontlines of a war in which I had to fight at all times against my own anxieties, as well as the attacks of the enemies of the Bible.

Then, after 18 days of fasting, when the pressure was at its greatest and I had lost a lot of weight, something happened that made it easier for me to continue to endure my confinement…

9. Living in Expectation of Arrest

This is the ninth in a series of articles by Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian convert to Christianity who spent more than three years in prison in the southern city of Shiraz because of his membership of a house-church. Mojtaba’s first note from prison explained his journey to faith and the first of his two subsequent arrests; his second detailed his long interrogation; his third explained the desperation and loneliness of solitary confinement and his fourth described some of the dreams and visions he had in solitary. His fifth note described his court hearing, his sixth his first moments in prison, and his seventh his emotions in the moments and days after his release on bail. In his eighth note Mojtaba recounted his year-long trial, and in this ninth note he explains what it is like to live in the constant expectation of re-arrest.

In spite of all the challenges and persecution that our small Christian community had endured, our fellowship not only didn’t stop, but continued in an even more serious and profound way.

One of the major strengths of our group was the deep intimacy and love between us, forged as a result of the hardships we had been through together. Differences of belief or preferences about particular things no longer mattered; what mattered was our bond as a divine family.

Through Christ I had received a precious and saving faith, but this faith couldn’t last without the help and companionship of my fellow believers – especially during the ongoing wave of persecution and harassment that we experienced at the hands of the Islamic Republic.

During the court process, because of the danger of gathering together in our homes, we met instead in very small groups in public places like parks, or even sometimes just in pairs on the street, or in a car.

Most of the time we didn’t have our mobile phones with us, because we knew the security forces obtained some of their information that way. For this reason, we never used our phones to arrange any meetings or any other Christian activities, and this practice continued even after the trial.

So my day-to-day life had completely changed. Not using technology made communicating and coordinating our meetings much more difficult. For example, to arrange a meeting with someone I had to go to their house, without arranging it first, and then, having got there, I would sometimes just have to go all the way home again because they weren’t home. Or sometimes if we had to cancel or rearrange a meeting, I would have to go to every individual’s home, never knowing if they were even going to be in.

But due to the love of Christ in my heart, and my yearning to meet with other believers – my divine family – these efforts weren’t only challenging but also sweet to me. You would go to any length to see your family, and in the same way members of our church would do anything to remain in fellowship with one another, no matter how hard it was.

The church grows

It was also very interesting to see that, over time, through friends, relatives or acquaintances, many others joined our group who we hadn’t even made a special effort to invite. These were new believers who didn’t have anyone else to have Christian fellowship with, and they needed a lot of support.

In around three years, our group of 20 became a group of 200 – a clear testimony to the way the persecution of the Church doesn’t weaken or destroy it but in fact opens the way for its growth and strengthening.

For, through it all, it is God himself who is at work, and during persecution he gives a double portion of his grace to his servants. Who can stand against this invisible, omnipotent God?

But while the growth of our church was wonderful and very encouraging, it also brought with it its own anxieties and fears. Eight months of imprisonment were still awaiting us, and we knew full well that the continuation of our group, and its growth, meant we would be going back to prison.

This prompted me to speak with one of the other leaders who had also been sentenced to eight months in prison. He had two children, so I said to him: “The group is growing, as is the threat of our imprisonment. What will happen to your wife and children if we are rearrested? Don’t you intend to stop your activities?”

But he answered my question with questions of his own: “Can you give up testifying to your faith in Jesus? Can you live without serving him? I was dead before I believed in Christ, so what is the fear of imprisonment compared to that? And I know that the One who healed me in this way is also able to protect my wife and children.”

The story of this man’s life was that he had been addicted to drugs for 30 years, and it had seemed as though nothing could free him from this devastating addiction. Just to get to sleep he had to take very strong sleeping pills, and sometimes even these had no effect on him. His life was a dark hell that was also destroying the lives of his wife and children. But one day, when he became acquainted with Christ through a friend, with just one prayer and through giving his heart to Christ, he was immediately freed from the bondage of all those drugs, and he no longer wanted any of them, nor even cigarettes.

His life was miraculously healed, and even his wife and children surrendered to Christ when they saw the beautiful change in his life, and the whole family served Christ with love.

Bound together

My friend’s incredible courage and testimony also strengthened me, and we together pledged to go on serving. On that day, we truly placed all our hope and confidence in the love and grace of the One who had freed us and our families from the darkness of sin and evil.

So once again I witnessed the miracle of Christ’s love in my heart – how he had made us one family – and told my friend that if we were together in joy and praise, we should also be prepared to be together in misery and persecution. For how could I face the day when he would go to prison and I remain free?

Throughout this period of persecution, our being together, our love for each other, and our oneness in Christ were among the most important contributors to the steadfastness of our testimony of faith. When I think about those days, I can only conclude that if my brothers and sisters hadn’t been with me, I wouldn’t have been able to bear the persecution.

Like Paul, I can testify from the bottom of my heart: “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)

And truly, like David, I praise God for this precious gift: “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’ I say of the holy people who are in the land, ‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.’” (Psalm 16:2-3)

So with this conscious decision, which was full of risk, we continued our activities with eager but trembling hearts. We had strict security measures, and cut off all communication with people who were connected to churches abroad. But as the number of people increased, things became more difficult to control, and three years later, one winter night in 2012, the moment arrived that we had been waiting for all that time.

That night, a long and difficult journey began in my life, the effect of which remains with me to this day. But I wasn’t alone on this journey. We were together.

Annual report launch at UN Human Rights Council

Two UN special rapporteurs and an Assyrian Christian couple forced to flee Iran after being sentenced to a combined 15 years in prison joined representatives from Article18 and Open Doors International at the UN Human Rights Council launch of our joint annual report last week.

The main contributions of the speakers are summarised below.

Javaid Rehman

The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, began the session by explaining that although the focus of his report was the response of the security forces to the protests in the wake of the killing of Mahsa Amini, he “also documented some very substantial concerns as regards ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities”.

Mr Rehman said he had “serious concerns” regarding Kurds and Baluchis, but added: “They’re also minorities, but they are constitutionally recognised. Now, in terms of the non-recognised minorities, in particular the Christian converts and the Bahais, they really face the worst kind of persecution. They face arbitrary arrest, detention, and imprisonment.

“And I noted in my presentation that there is an unacceptable level of persecution and harassment of members of these communities – they face arbitrary arrest and the destruction and confiscation of their properties. There are various other forms of threats, and Christian converts are actually the most vulnerable in the sense that they are not recognised: it is very difficult for the state and the state ideology to accept that Muslims, or Shia Muslims, would convert to another religion.”

Mr Rehman noted that although apostasy is “not contained in the Constitution or legislative framework as a capital offence, but in Sharia law this could and this does carry the death penalty, and therefore the judges use Article 167 of the Constitution to interpret apostasy as an offence that carries the death penalty. And we have a number of instances where people have been charged with the death penalty.

“But inevitably a lot of Christian converts are charged with offences that carry national-security allegations: that they are breaching national security, and therefore they are persecuted, they are tortured, and they are made to somehow recant – to say that ‘OK, we’re no longer Christians’ – which is contrary to their moral and personal conscience.

“So I remain extremely concerned at the situation of Christian converts, and I’m looking forward to some concrete recommendations as to how we can ensure that people of diverse religions or beliefs could live in a society which is overwhelmingly dominated by a particular ideological faith, and they are imposing that faith on the rest of the community.”

Fernand de Varennes

The second speaker was Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, who said he wanted to “present an even broader context as to what has occurred in relation to the Christian minority and other religious or belief minorities in Iran”.

Mr de Varennes highlighted the plight of the Bahais, before adding that the targeting of minorities “seems to be increasing also in relation to other religious minorities in Iran, and in the more general region”, including what he said “seems to be a policy of systemic persecution of groups such as specifically Christian converts, but also atheists, or non-believers, and Gonabadi dervishes”.

“We are seeing not only in Iran, but in neighbouring countries also, a rise of nationalism, which has a religious tint, and this means a polarisation, the use of identity politics by certain politicians around ‘majority’ identity,” he said. “… Who are at the receiving end of this situation, where majoritarian nationalism has a religious tint? Minorities. Minorities are identified as the ‘others’, as ‘foreign’, ‘different’, a ‘danger’.”

The special rapporteur said that while the trend wasn’t “unique to Iran, it is extremely serious in Iran, and we have to understand this more general context to try to find solutions. What can we do? … Are we doing enough? Are we even doing anything serious in terms of the international community?”

He added that he felt it was time for the UN to “recognise where we’re failing”.

“And in my view the United Nations is failing,” he said, “by not recognising sufficiently where some of the most serious, brutal abusive violations of human rights have occurred. And this is with minorities, including religious or belief minorities in many parts of the world.”

Mr de Varennes concluded by highlighting his recommendation for a new legal framework and treaty for minorities “that actually identifies, clarifies, and tries to protect the human rights of those who are the most vulnerable right now, the most marginalised, and these are minorities, including religious or belief minorities in Iran, and other minorities in many parts of the world”.

“Some would say that it’s not realistic, governments will never accept a new treaty to protect minorities,” he said. “But that should not prevent us from trying to improve the protection of those who cannot protect themselves – minorities, including in countries such as Iran.”

Victor Bet-Tamraz

Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leading a house-church, was the next to speak, beginning by holding up a copy of a Persian-language Bible.

“This is a Persian Bible, which is illegal in Iran,” he said. “If you have it, that is a crime for you.”

Pastor Victor explained that he had pastored both Assyrian and Persian-speaking communities for over 40 years, saying: “As a member of recognised minority groups, we faced significant limitation, discrimination, control, and constant monitoring regarding … our religious practices.

“Two weeks after the revolution in 1979, the extreme persecution of Farsi-speaking pastors began. Convert pastors and leaders were targeted, attacked, and in some cases murdered.

“When I started my ministry, like any other pastor [in Iran], I was obligated to cooperate with the government, providing them with detailed information and reports on our church activities, [though] I did not comply. With time, things took a turn for the worse. My situation escalated as I faced increase interrogation, close monitoring and threats to my family, especially to my children.

“During one of my interrogations, with a smirk on his face, my interrogator told me ‘Children [go] missing every day. Car accidents happen to most of the people,’ while reminding me of the traumatic experiences [of] MOIS [Ministry of Intelligence] officers trying to kidnap my teenage child.

“In 2009 the government shut down my church, followed by the closure of other Pentecostal Assyrian churches. Later, during a private Christmas gathering in 2014, I was arrested and held in solitary confinement for 65 days for a crime I did not commit.

“My charges were ‘acting against national security’, ‘evangelism’, and ‘promoting terrorism’. Back then, no-one thought that the government would close down all our churches, and arrest pastors and leaders. No-one thought they could get away with persecuting Assyrian and Armenian leaders [so] obviously.

“And yet, subsequently, almost all evangelical Persian-speaking churches have been closed. And because of this, today evangelical Assyrian Christians and Pentecostals, as well as Christian converts, have no place to worship; you can’t imagine!

“My wife and I, we were eventually forced to flee Iran, facing a combined 15 years in prison only for continuing to minister to convert Christians, as should be our right under the international covenant. Instead, we were arrested and labelled ‘spies’ and ‘terrorists’.

He concluded: “We want our churches back, our charges to be dropped, and our members to have the right to gather and to worship in our own church buildings.”

Shamiram Issavi

Pastor Victor’s wife, Shamiram, who was sentenced to five years in prison on trumped-up charges of “spying”, was next to speak.

“As my husband said, it is difficult to remember and to mention what has happened to us as a family,” she said. “I remember when I was in the midst of all this persecution, I wrote a letter to the United Nations. But due to the fear of making the situation much worse, I didn’t send it.

“You know, for 44 years, the Iranian government has [used] fear as an arm to control its own citizens, and to impose its own ideology and its belief. Particularly the women are vulnerable in this situation; they are … humiliated, they are discriminated. But I’m so happy that today I am the witness of widespread protests, and the people, especially the young generation, who are breaking the wall of fear… And for me, now is the time [for] fear to go away and people [to] stand for their rights.

“Since September last year we saw these widespread protests, following the death of Mahsa Amini. But I’m sad to say this such treatment is not new for me. From the very beginning of the revolution, we are the witnesses of harassment, violation, discrimination, for women and for most of the people.

“As a Christian, working in the Bible Society and later on ministering in the church, I am the witness of this discriminating behaviour towards women. And it seems that we are forced to believe this is the normal life that we have to live. When standing for our rights, women will be labelled as ‘prostitutes’, as ‘low class’, ‘uneducated’, and sometimes even the ‘spies of the Western countries’. Nobody listens to what they really want.

“As a Christian, if we ask for our legal rights and freedom, we will be labelled as ‘poisonous fungus and cancerous tumours who should be operated on and separated’ from their own community. This is the [kind of] public statement that our political leaders are making. And if you refuse [to comply], as my husband and myself did, we have to be silenced, by whatever means they want to find.

“In the time of interrogation, it [seemed] funny to [them to] humiliate me, to break me down. They said that all my activities, my ministry, my faith, and the way that we have worked with the people [was] just to give them the freedom to [explore] their sexual desire. Nothing more than that. And [that] my faith is nothing and is compared to like worshipping a chimney or a dog!

“The Iranian government has a track record of lying, deceiving, arresting Christians based on lies. Without any solid proof, they put them in the prison.

“You know, when my son was arrested, I nearly had a heart attack, because I heard that their accusation is that they have arrested him in an armed gang opposing the government. And the truth was that my son and his family and his friends were only in a picnic gathering together, and having fun with each other.

“This was the accusation. And they knew that this is baseless, but yet he was in the prison, and he was charged.

“We had to send our daughter away from us, because she was threatened for her life. These are not simple [things] to bear. That is why I understand fully why the mothers of our country now are in pain, and having a difficult time when they see their children are in the prison, without any real charges. The accusations are all lies about these people; they just want a normal life. And I am not here speaking about myself, I am here speaking about the truth of Iranian people who are suffering [at the hands of] the government.

“I ask the United Nations to publicly call on the Iranian government to uphold the right [of] freedom of religion or belief for every citizen, whatever they want to believe, and to hold Iran accountable for its inhuman treatment, of women rights in particular, and for all the people of my country. And this is the [word] that today is [being spoken] in the streets and everywhere, and all over the world, that freedom is for women, freedom and life. This is what we are asking for every human being back in my country.”

Mansour Borji

Mr Borji holds up a photograph of Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh, who are serving a combined 10 years in prison for being part of a house-church.

Following the testimonies of Victor and Shamiram, Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, outlined the major findings of the joint report, as well as holding up photographs of several of those sentenced or serving sentences in 2022, including Iranian-Armenian pastors Joseph Shahbazian and Anooshavan Avedian, and Christian converts Mina Khajavi and Malihe Nazari, Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh, and Yasser Akbari.

“Yasser Akbari’s handicapped child sadly died last year,” Mr Borji explained. “He was only given a few days to attend the funeral – only after the funeral had taken place. He still continues to serve that 10-year prison sentence for holding Bible studies.”

Mr Borji added: “Religious minorities, including Christians, continue to be deprived of their rights to practise a faith of their own choosing, in violation of Iran’s obligation as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR].

“In the year of the death of Mahsa Amini, a young lady from the city of my own birthplace, when Iranians poured out on the streets demanding justice, the report argues that the protests at their core are a cry for freedom – the freedom of Iranian people to live in a way that corresponds with their beliefs.”

Gloria Lecesse

Finally, Ms Lecesse from Open Doors International highlighted a few of the report’s recommendations.

Firstly, Ms Lecesse called on Iran to “uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief for every individual, regardless of their ethnic or linguistic group, and including converts”, amending Article 13 of the Constitution so as “to recognise freedom of religion or belief for all, and not just for a selected number of minority groups”.

“Currently, Article 13 only recognises three groups – Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians as the only religious minorities legally allowed to exist within the limits of the law, which is a much broader limitation than what international human rights law allows for restricting freedom of religion or belief,” she explained.

“The Iranian government interprets these three recognised minorities to refer only to historical ethnic minority communities in Iran, which is, for example, the Assyrian and Armenian Christian communities. And they are allowed to exist because they constitute a historical heritage for the nation, and as long as they operate within the very restricted interpretation of freedom of religion or belief that the Iranian government is allowing them to operate within. That is really more of a matter of cultural heritage rather than faith. So these minorities, for example, have a lot of limitations, and Victor has been telling you a bit about them. For example, they’re not allowed to have a Bible in Persian or any religious literature in Persian, or to hold a religious service in Persian as well. So they have to be very careful about what they do and how they do it, or they will be harassed, persecuted and imprisoned by the government.

“And all other minorities, for example, the Bahai, remain unrecognised by the law and afforded no rights under the constitution. So, legally they’re not even allowed to exist and to believe in their own God and in their own religion. So it is imperative that Iran amends Article 13 of the Constitution as to uphold freedom of religion or belief, as enshrined by Article 18 of the ICCPR, which is a treaty that Iran has ratified, without reservation.

Secondly, Ms Lecesse called on Iran to “cease the criminalisation of house-church organisation and membership, and to allow Christians of all ethnic backgrounds, and everyone really, to worship freely and collectively”, which she said was “a natural consequence of implementing the first recommendation”.

“Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief is an integral part of freedom of religion or belief, and it cannot be confined to an official church building,” Ms Lecesse said. “International human rights law allows for individuals to worship freely wherever they wish. So if they want to meet up in a house and pray together, international human rights law allows them to do that, and Iran is legally bound to respect these standards.”

Finally, Ms Lecesse called on Iran to “release immediately and unconditionally all Christians detained on charges that are related to their peaceful religious activities, and [to] stop using criminal code provisions … to unjustly detain religious minority faith adherents”.

She also called on Iran to allow Mr Rehman to visit the country, and to “fully cooperate with the recently established fact-funding mission tasked to investigate the deteriorating situation of human rights in the country since the start of the protests in September 2022”.

Ms Lecesse concluded: “Shamiram described a situation where the government wants to normalise, almost, this pattern of systematic violations of human rights, and we’re just not going to allow them to do that. So we’ll keep speaking up, until all Iranians have their freedom, inherent dignity and rights respected.”

SR’s response

Before moving on to a time of Q&A, Mr Rehman responded to the comments made by reading out Article 18 of the ICCPR, to which Iran is a signatory:

“Article 18.1 says: ‘Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. And the freedom, either individually or in community with others, and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching.’

“So the key points are really quite central for our understanding: that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and everyone has the right to have a religion, to adopt another religion, of his or her choice, without any coercion,” he said.

“And these are what we call ‘non-derogable’. You cannot derogate from that. Whatever religion or faith I choose for myself, there must not be any interference; the state cannot say, ‘Well, you know, there are public security issues, national security.’ This is my choice! And this is very important for all states to recognise, including Iran.

“There are limitations imposed only on the manifestation of religion. And even here, it is very important that we look at those limitations, but a key point before I go into that is Article 18.2, which says ‘No-one shall be subjected to coercion, which will impair his freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice.’

“Now, all of what we have discussed is a consistent coercion and impairment, and I regret to say that this is happening in Iran.”

Mr Rehman concluded: “Article 18.3 says, ‘Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law.’ So it has to be established first in law. And then these limitations are only legitimate if they’re necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals and fundamental rights and freedoms of others. So all of these charges which we have heard about ‘national security’, that is illegitimate; that violates international obligations which Iran has adhered to.”

Q&A

Diane Alai of the Bahai International Community.

The first of two comments from the audience came from Diane Alai, the UN representative of the Bahai International Community, who thanked Victor and Shamiram for their testimonies, saying it was “very painful for all religious minorities to hear what all religious minorities are suffering, because we’re all together in this in the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

“And it’s such a shame,” she added. “There is a film that was done by IranWire that is called ‘The Cost of Discrimination’. And it shows what this discrimination costs not only to the individual but also to Iran, that it deprives Iran of the capacity to benefit from the contribution of members of those minorities.

“So in all solidarity, I hope for an Iran where everybody, as you mentioned, Special Rapporteur, will have the right to practise and worship in whichever way they wish.”

Finally, a citizen of Azerbaijan said it was “really disturbing” to hear the testimonies of Victor and Shamiram and added that he was “a bit surprised to hear” Iranian-Armenians were also under pressure.

Mr Borji replied by referencing the two Armenian pastors sentenced last year to 10 years in prison, adding: “As long as they are not using [the] Persian language as the language of their worship [and] Christian literature, they could be immune [from] certain pressures from the government, but they are not fully entitled to their rights as citizens.

“For instance, the Armenians cannot become a president or a judge, or take high office, and you can take that discrimination to the extreme of imprisonment if they violate Iran’s unwritten codes of practice.”

The event can be watched in full by clicking on the video below or visiting the YouTube page of the World Evangelical Alliance:

Annual report presentation at UK parliament

Left to right: Mojtaba Hosseini, Nazila Ghanea, Fiona Bruce, Sara Fooladi, Mansour Borji.

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea, joined Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, and two Iranian Christian survivors of persecution, Mojtaba Hosseini and Sara Fooladi, for the UK parliament presentation of our joint annual report last week.

The 22 March event was hosted by Fiona Bruce, the UK Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for FoRB and chair of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA).

The main contributions of the speakers are summarised below.

Fiona Bruce

Opening the meeting, Ms Bruce said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, as we know, is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the ICCPR, which articulates a right to have or adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice, and to publicly manifest that in worship, observance, practice and teaching. But we know that that is far from what is happening in practice in Iran today, and indeed has been the case for a very, very long time.

“Last September, mass protests erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini, murdered because she was deemed to have failed properly to adhere to the dress code of the majority faith, a dress code that had been imposed for almost 44 years on Iranian women of all faiths and none. And of course, we all know what’s happened since then. Many protests, many brave people; some have lost their lives. And we have some brave people here today.”

.@UK_FoRBEnvoy Fiona Bruce has opened our meeting here today at @UKParliament on 'Rights Violations Against #Christians in #Iran'. Joint report by @articleeighteen @CSWadvocacy @OpenDoorsUK @MiddleEConcern. #FoRBforall pic.twitter.com/chkWeNobj9
— Article18 (@articleeighteen) March 22, 2023

Mansour Borji

Mr Borji began his speech by outlining the major findings of the report, before highlighting the cases of Joseph Shahbazian and Anooshavan Avedian, two Iranian-Armenian pastors sentenced last year to 10 years in prison for holding prayer meetings in their homes, and Christian convert Malihe Nazari, who is now serving a six-year sentence.

“Yesterday afternoon, as I landed at Heathrow, I discovered that Malihe was recently given a three-day leave from Evin Prison to visit her son, who is fighting in an aggressive form of cancer,” Mr Borji said. “She was asked to return to prison on the Iranian New Year Day.”

Mr Borji also highlighted the cases of Homayoun Zhaveh, a 64-year-old with advanced Parkinson’s disease, and his wife, Sara Ahmadi, who are serving a combined 10-year sentence.

“At the start of the New Year, those Christians and many others like them, and also those from other religious minorities across Iran, are missed by their loved ones around the festive haftsin table,” he said. “We continue to see the incredible courage of the Iranian Christians and other oppressed religious minorities standing strong, despite the real risk of arrest, detention, imprisonment, and even execution, but they need our support.”

Mr Borji ended by highlighting three of the recommendations given in the report: to “call on the Government of Iran to uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief for every citizen; release immediately and unconditionally all Christians detained on charges related to their faith or religious activities; and cease the criminalisation of church organisation and membership, allowing Christians of all ethnic backgrounds to worship freely and collectively, as Persian-speaking Christians still have no place to worship”.

He concluded: “We would like to British government and distinguished members of this house to firmly stand with the Iranian people, calling for a hopeful future where the right to freedom of religion or belief is respected for all. This will truly be a happy Nowruz, or ‘new day’.”

Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh, who has advanced Parkinson’s disease, are serving a combined 10 years in prison.

Mojtaba Hosseini

Mojtaba, whose Notes From Prison are being published on Article18’s website, described his journey of coming to faith in Christ, and his subsequent arrests and more than three years’ imprisonment.

“I was 18 when I converted to Christianity, alongside a couple of family members, including my dad,” he explained. “As we were keen and needed to learn more about our faith and how to practise it, we went to the official church building in our city, Shiraz. But unfortunately, they didn’t welcome us, as the government had banned Persians from taking part in the official church gatherings of Armenian and Assyrian Iranians.

“Farsi-speaking Christians like me have no place to worship in Iran, so we, with other Christian families, had to gather in our own houses. As a result, when I was 20 years old, I was arrested in my house with other Christian family members, without legal procedures.

“They put handcuffs on me, they blindfolded me, and put me in a car and took me to an unknown place. And I was put in a solitary confinement for 22 days, with many heavy interrogations, and threats of torture and death.”

A year later, Mojtaba explained, he was given a suspended sentence of eight months on charges of “propaganda against the government by cooperating with foreign organisations”.

“They said I was cooperating with organisations being supported by Israel, the US and sometimes the UK,” he recalled.

“After that, we were constantly under intense surveillance, such as our phones being tapped, as we continued to gather in our own houses secretly and worship our God, as there was no place for Farsi speakers like us to worship God.

“It led to another arrest when I was 24. This time, after over a month being in solitary confinement, with heavy interrogations, and lots of mental and emotional torture from the interrogators and also the jail guards, they sent me to the public prison, with no kind of official court sessions or legal procedures, such as no right to have a lawyer.

“And they transferred me to this public prison of Shiraz, called Adel Abad, with 8,000 prisoners in it. And I was kept there for three years, among dangerous criminals, in terrible conditions.

“For 20 months, I didn’t even know how long my sentence was, and how long I would stay in this prison. It was not legal to keep me for so long without giving me a sentence. And it was an incredibly painful time as I waited.

“And finally, after 24 months, my final sentence was three years and eight months in prison on charges including ‘creating illegal groups’, which was our just simple gatherings, peaceful gatherings, worshipping God together, and also charges like ‘threats against national security’.”

Mojtaba said that even after his release “I was forced to leave Iran and I became a refugee in Turkey, which continued the pain and suffering my family and I had to bear for my faith”.

“For every individual who faces persecution such as this, it’s not only about the individual, but also a large group of people around them, such as family and friends, who suffer in some ways more,” Mojtaba said. “The simplest rights in life become the most prominent wishes for these people: for example, a simple hug from my mum, and not to be able to see my nieces and take them to the park and buy them an ice cream. And it is just because [of] these people’s faith, belief in God, in Jesus, a God who they like to worship.”

Mojtaba ended with a question: “What is the solution for these people? Some Christian Iranians are disappointed in international support; we can’t see the improvements.”

But he added: “Many people at the moment have put their hope in brave men and women who are protesting against the oppression of the dictatorship regime. And we as Christians also hope in this revolution of women, life, freedom, [and] under the umbrella of that hopefully Christians can practise their faith freely in future.”

Mojtaba’s Notes From Prison are being published on Article18’s website.

Sara Fooladi

“My story begins when I became a Christian in 2000 and joined a house-church,” Sara explained. “We used to gather in a house-church, because as Christian converts we were not allowed to attend the official church buildings of Armenian and Assyrian Iranians. We had no place to worship, except in each other’s houses.

“Gathering with others in these circumstances was always full of fear and trembling, because the government thinks such gatherings are illegal, and considers them a crime: a crime that carries heavy penalties of up to 10 years in prison.”

Because of the constraints, Sara explained how converts “try to gather in a safe way, and in small numbers to worship; they have to sing songs in a low voice, communicating over the phone with code words. We could only obtain a Bible after looking everywhere to finally get hold of a copy through risky ways, and after many complications, as the Bible seems to be considered a forbidden book in Iran”.

“I know that this story of my arrest for worshipping in a private gathering in a house may be astonishing to you and hard to believe,” Sara said. “Our home church was a normal, peaceful gathering of Christians like the thousands of Bible study groups that are held in this country every day. We prayed, sang Christian songs, studied the Bible together, and tried to meet the needs of each other and the community around us.

“However, one day in February 2013, as we gathered together to share fellowship, suddenly 13 officers stormed the house, without showing any court order. They insulted us, threatened and shouted abuse at us. They terrified us; they treated us like criminals! They handcuffed us and took us to the detention centre without even letting us inform our families.

“They put us in a cell so dirty that I got lice in my hair, and they cut my hair. They took us for interrogations from the evening to the next morning, until the point of exhaustion.

“We experienced all kinds of white torture. They played the sound of torture of [other] prisoners, which was a technique to create terror in us. There was a lot of pressure on us because they threatened not only us, but also our families.

“In court, when the judge heard about the social activities of our church, he was very impressed. Nevertheless, under the pressure of the officials of the Ministry of Intelligence, he was forced to issue a prison sentence for us. He told us: ‘I respect you! You are honest, honourable and useful people for the society, but I have to issue these sentences.’

“After our temporary release, we went to some important government institutions and said: ‘We are ready to go to prison for becoming Christians, but we disagree with the accusations made against us. We did not act against national security. We did not violate the civil laws.’ But none of these institutions had the power to challenge the order of the Ministry of Intelligence.”

After two other church members were arrested, Sara explained how she was “forced to leave Iran, in tears”.

She concluded: “One day Iran will be free and the world will be in awe of the valuable social service that Iranian women converts to Christianity have taken despite many restrictions. I am happy for the people of my country, who, hand in hand, are dancing to freedom today with a new awareness. Hoping for a prosperous, and free Iran.”

Nazila Ghanea

Rev Mehdi Dibaj was one of several Iranian Christian leaders to be killed in the early 1990s.

Ms Ghanea began her speech by referencing the murders nearly 30 years ago of pastors Mehdi Dibaj – who was sentenced to death for his “apostasy” – and Haik Hovsepian, who successfully campaigned for his friend’s release but was killed three days later.

“This kind of cynical playing with public sentiment, playing the media, trying to accuse falsely Christians of these heavy crimes has been going on for many, many years,” she said.

And while Christians are one of only three recognised religious minorities in Iran, Ms Ghanea noted that “it is also blatantly clear that that recognition does not apply to evangelical Christians [or] to converts”.

Even the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent face “discriminatory treatment”, Ms Ghanea said, but separation along ethnic lines “became a way to sift the acceptable yet discriminated Christians from those that may [be converts]”.

“I don’t know what this great fear of converts is [about],” she said, “but it’s very real.”

Ms Ghanea referred to her own experiences in the mid-90s of seeing guards in Isfahan “standing outside the churches, checking IDs to allow ethnic Christians in, and to demand that Christians use a language other than Persian,” which she said was “effectively a total prohibition and ban on Christian [converts] going to church – churches that are allegedly recognised, but access to it is monitored and banned”.

“Effectively, we should say that Christian converts, and Christians that have Persian as their language and are not ethnically distinct, are also not recognised,” she said. “That’s what we see [in] practice.”

There’s “certainly no equality or non-discriminatory treatment” even for recognised minorities, Ms Ghanea said, adding: “Even their MPs are forced to be parachuted around the world, and to say that they are, for example, ‘the freest Jews in the Middle East’. I don’t know who buys that, but there is pressure even on their MPs to become part of the PR machine, let alone the non-recognised.”

Ms Ghanea also noted that, until the mid-90s, the Christian community “did not want their case raised in UN fora”.

“I understand it’s for each community to decide how it wants to champion [their] human rights,” she said, “and perhaps all possible domestic channels had been exhausted and it was then out of desperation, really, that the case then came to the UN, and it has been on the agenda since then, fairly consistently.”

Bishop Haik Hovsepian was killed three days after his campaigning secured the release from prison of his friend, Mehdi Dibaj.

Ms Ghanea bemoaned that the last time the Special Rapporteur on FoRB was allowed access to Iran was in December 1995, when “Professor Abdelfattah Amor visited Iran for roughly 10 days, went to three cities; he had some 40 recommendations. All of them remain valid today; progress has not been made on any of them. Many of them have become much more alarming since then.”

Ms Ghanea added that Christians are not just being “seriously” deprived of their right to freedom of religion, but also to other rights such as to “due process, no torture, access to a lawyer, non-discrimination, the rights of women and girls … freedom of expression”.

Ms Ghanea noted that “it hurts even more” for Christians’ real “crimes” to be cloaked under false charges such as “acting against national security”.

“Your [real] crime is that you are Christian; your crime is that you have Christian literature; your crime is that you gather with other Christians in house-churches; and your crime is that you converted,” she said.

The special rapporteur said the recent changes to Articles 499 and 500 of the penal code were “particularly alarming because they are yet another layer of efforts to clothe the the real crimes against Christians and other religious minorities, and they are being clothed in legality. And we do not fall for it, and we must make sure that nobody else falls for it.”

Ms Ghanea also called on Article18 and partners Open Doors, CSW and Middle East Concern to “give more attention” in future reports to the plight of refugees.

“Thousands are just waiting and waiting and waiting in Türkiye, with no end in sight to when they can be resettled,” she said. “We must address that, too.”

The rapporteur ended with a note of hope, referring to the establishment of the fact-finding mission to Iran in November, when cries of “zan, zendegi, azadeh” (women, life, freedom) were “echoed by many of the delegations” at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“The pain that Christians have suffered in Iran, unfortunately, is now being shared by many others in Iran,” she said. “And perhaps that is the beginning of a new culture of human rights in that country.”

It was a profoundly moving event, with your compassion as Chair, and the first-hand experiences of the suffering that was shared. We all have to do so much better in alleviating #FoRB #HumanRights pain. The publication presents the matter very effectively https://t.co/VoIkDerGf4 https://t.co/XbKMPGKymd
— UNSR on freedom of religion or belief (@NazilaGhanea) March 23, 2023

Q&A

The first question came from CSW president, Mervyn Thomas, who asked: “What international levers are there against Iran that may be used by individual countries, like the UK, or members of IRFBA? Magnitsky-type sanctions?”

Ms Bruce said she agreed “Magnitsky-type sanctions should be used for breaches of freedom of religion or belief much more”.

“I’m hopeful that we’re on a journey with regard to those sanctions,” she said. “It’s very early days; the legislation was only introduced a few years ago, and obviously there have been some big issues to address with authoritarian countries, in particular regarding the war against Ukraine, and also issues coming out of China.

“But nonetheless, I think you’re absolutely right, that we need to keep pressing our government and other governments to use these sanctions on issues of FoRB.”

Ms Ghanea acknowledged the disappointment felt towards the UN, but said there are “many obstacles” and that the UN’s hands are “tied in every possible way”.

“The United Nations Human Rights mechanisms are those of a state-centred system,” she explained. “It is the states that decide them, and if they are not inclusive enough, that is precisely the reason.

“UN Human Rights mechanisms have some leverage if there is an independent judiciary, if there is a free media, if there is an active civil society; if the victims of human rights violations have access to individual complaints, which Iran has not allowed for any of the UN human rights treaties. There are many ifs there. If there is an independent national human rights institution. We have a national human rights institution in Iran; it is not independent. Is there free access [for] Iranian civil society to report their situation? Are the UN Special Rapporteurs – who, after all, at least we know they are independent – are they able to visit Iran?

“Again, this game that Iran plays. Iran says that there is a standing invitation for all UN rapporteurs to be able to freely visit Iran. They never allow that visit to actually take place.”

Ms Ghanea said that when violations against religious minorities were raised in a recent communication to Iran, “the response we got from Iran was a long document with many pictures of spilt blood and bodies from [the terrorist attack on] Shah Cheragh [shrine in Shiraz]. They did not actually respond to the individual communication.”

She ended by calling for more collaboration, including on resettlement of refugees.

“States should be much more joined up in all of their activities,” she said. “We don’t want resettlement to be the response to religious persecution – people should not be obliged to leave their countries – but sometimes they are forced to. And we need to look at that.

“And we need to look at all engagement with [Iran] having human rights at its heart. States have various relationships that they need and various issues that they need to have on the agenda, but human rights must be part of it. Magnitsky sanctions are certainly one of those actions. If there are any trade or other agreements raised, if there are prisoner releases; this topic should be on the table the whole time.”

The second question came from Middle East Concern’s Rob Duncan, who asked what options are available for Iranian Christians after they are arrested and released on bail.

Mr Borji said that for many people, waiting for long sentences to be handed out was in itself a “crushing” experience that “not many people can endure”, and therefore many leave the country.

“Facing the prospect of 10 years in prison is not everybody’s cup of tea,” he said, “so many of them end up in transit countries, places like Türkiye, which is a double vulnerability: being forced out of your own home and your own country, and now being in [another] country, [and] stagnant. Many refugees [have] no place to go from there, and many of them actually have expressed that ‘the pressure, the trauma we’re facing here is much more than what we have faced back home’.”

The next question came from another CSW representative, Wael Aleji, who asked: “Is there any psychological support available for victims and their families, and human rights defenders, inside and outside Iran?”

Mojtaba said his experience “hasn’t been easy” but thanked Mr Borji and Article18 for being a “constant presence” whilst he was in prison, who “became a bridge between us [who] didn’t have any voice, to all the Western churches”.

Mojtaba added that he had also benefited from Article18’s trauma-awareness course, which he said was “really helpful”, but said he knew Mr Borji was limited in terms of resources and “needs a lot of support”.

However, he added that although many people had offered psychological support, many of those did not have the sufficient experience of Iran, which he said “prevented me from sharing all my emotions, as I didn’t want to be disappointed”.

Mr Borji said he was “glad the word ‘psychological care’ is now [being] brought to our consciousnesses a lot more”, but that “the need is vast, and we do need more organisations to prepare and also offer these services”.

He added: “What we’ve done for these people – Mojtaba was very gracious – but it’s not enough.”

Ms Ghanea noted that the 22 days in solitary confinement that Mojtaba experienced itself amounted to torture.

“The Special Rapporteur on torture said a number of years ago that that constitutes torture in and of itself,” she said.

Finally, Iranian-born Anglican vicar Pouya Heidari, who shared that he was also arrested in Iran, asked what can be done to address Christians being charged with political crimes while the Iranian government is “shamelessly saying ‘there is religious freedom in this country and people are exercising it’”.

In response, Ms Ghanea highlighted the work of Ms Bruce and IRFBA, through which 42 different states are “coordinating regularly and brainstorming regularly on how to draw attention [to] and advance the rights of religious or belief minorities, and to advance freedom of belief”.

“One of the newer innovations [of IRFBA] is also to champion prisoners of conscience,” she added.

On top of this, Ms Ghanea suggested that those drawing attention to abuses of the right to religious freedom should also focus on the other rights that are being violated.

“We know that the targeting is on grounds of religion or belief, but alongside that many other human rights are being violated that also deserve attention,” she said.

“We need to be able to communicate these accounts to – if I just look at the United Nations – the Special Rapporteur on the prohibition of torture, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges, the Special Rapporteur on upholding human rights while countering terrorism, because … when we wrote to the government of Iran regarding that case, they talked to us about terrorism. Well, even if you’re countering terrorism, and even if there were religious minorities that were amongst terrorists, they too have human rights. And we still need to uphold human rights, whilst countering terrorism. I know it’s fake, but I’m just saying: even in those instances, there are rights to be upheld.”

Ms Bruce ended the meeting by reassuring the audience: “I don’t attend these meetings just to listen and then walk away. I always aim to undertake some action as a result.”

The Special Envoy then pledged two pieces of action: “to have a meeting in the Foreign Office regarding this [report], and to look at how our international alliance can better network support for human rights defenders.

“And let’s see what we can do as an international alliance of 42 countries to draw together that support that’s available, and ensure that, where possible, it may be better resourced.”

8. Trial

This is the eighth in a series of articles by Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian convert to Christianity who spent more than three years in prison in the southern city of Shiraz because of his membership of a house-church. Mojtaba’s first note from prison explained his journey to faith and the first of his two subsequent arrests; his second detailed his long interrogation; his third explained the desperation and loneliness of solitary confinement and his fourth described some of the dreams and visions he had in solitary. His fifth note described his court hearing, his sixth his first moments in prison. In his seventh note, Mojtaba told us his emotions in the moments and days after his release on bail, and in this eighth note he recounts his year-long trial.

The trial began two months after my release on bail.

Two other members of my house-church were tried alongside me. Some other members had been spared this fate after pledging to no longer attend meetings.

The judge in our case, who received his orders directly from the Ministry of Intelligence, constantly put us under pressure psychologically, in various ways.

The trial dragged on for almost a year, and during this time we were summoned to court many times, but each time the court hearing would be cancelled under various pretexts.

For example, when we arrived on the date of our summons, they would tell us: “We didn’t send you any summons! You are mistaken!” Or another time, they would say: “The judge isn’t here today.” Or sometimes the hearing would just be postponed until two months later.

All this going to court, only to have to go home and wait again, was extremely frustrating and stressful, because the decision this court would make was going to be absolutely pivotal regarding my future.

I just didn’t know what was going to happen, and every time I went to court I’d have to wait for hours outside the door of the judge’s room, only for them to eventually come and tell me the court session wasn’t going to take place that day after all.

I’m sure that part of the reason they did this was to increase our fear and distrust of them – for example, fearing that after the hearing they might just decide to handcuff us and take us back to prison.

And in fact this was very possible, such is the lawlessness and corruption of the judiciary within the Islamic Republic of Iran. I myself saw it happen to others.

United

But throughout this long period of waiting, I and my two friends tried alongside me had such powerful moments standing together in prayer and unity. Truly, standing side by side made us stronger and braver in this struggle of faith. In those days, as members of a divine family, we encouraged one another by reminding each other of the faithfulness of our King and Saviour, and how he had delivered us from the realm of darkness, and the captivity of the past, and had brought us into His realm of light, where freedom and eternal peace prevail.

The days we spent waiting in the courthouse were a testimony to our faith and the love that God had given us. Just outside the door where we were to be condemned for this faith, we sang songs of praise and worship, and testified to the goodness of our God.

They tried to keep us under their control by making us stay in this constant state of uncertainty and fear regarding the next court hearing, but in the end this process just led me deeper into the Word of God. I particularly related to the Psalms, and especially the prayers of David as, like him, I was also in danger of harm from my enemies. I memorised Psalm 62, which begins: “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”

And, like David, I found courage in telling God about my fears and distress, as well as praying with authority against the plans of my enemies and asking for the protection of my God. These psalms became like a rock that I could lean on through a turbulent storm, enabling me to lift my eyes above my situation, the threat of the enemy, and my human frailty.

It was during this time that I learned that true freedom meant being able to courageously express my faith and belief even in a courtroom, and in front of a judge, and that this sweet freedom could be mine whether I found myself inside or outside prison walls.

Sentencing

Finally, almost a year after the trial began, we were officially convicted of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The judge had listened to our defence, but it seemed to have had no effect at all. We had kept trying to emphasise how none of our activities were political at all, but he continued to accuse us of acting against the Islamic beliefs on which the government is based, and called us “deviant” Christians – to separate us from the official Christians in the country [of Armenian and Assyrian descent].

Finally, because of the unjust practices of the court, and the empty and false accusations made against me, the judge sentenced me to eight months in prison, suspended for five years.

This meant that if I evangelised, attended any gatherings with other Christians, or did any other Christian activities in the next five years, I would have to serve my sentence, and in fact a heavier sentence would also be imposed upon me.

And, as from the very beginning – when they raided my house without showing any warrant – they continued their inhumane lawlessness and unjust practices by refusing to provide me with a formal verdict. They only told me verbally.

I asked the judge to issue my sentence in writing, but he just told me: “Go and thank God that I didn’t give you a heavier sentence than this!”

7. Taste of Freedom

This is the seventh in a series of articles by Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian convert to Christianity who spent more than three years in prison in the southern city of Shiraz because of his membership of a house-church. Mojtaba’s first note from prison explained his journey to faith and the first of his two subsequent arrests; his second detailed his long interrogation; his third explained the desperation and loneliness of solitary confinement and his fourth described some of the dreams and visions he had in solitary. His fifth note described his court hearing, and in his sixth he told us about his first moments in prison. In this seventh note, Mojtaba tells us his emotions in the moments and days after his release on bail.

After 21 days in that suffocating solitary cell and two days in the public prison in Shiraz, Adel Abad, I was still waiting to see if my family would be able to post bail for me when, at 7pm, my name was suddenly called, just as I had lost hope that there was any chance I would be released that day.

I quickly ran to the door of my cell, where the prison guard told me: “Gather your belongings. You’re free to go.”

The prospect of freedom seemed like a sweet dream coming true, but it also felt strange to say goodbye to my cellmates. Even though we hadn’t been together long, tears welled in my eyes as I considered their own miserable situation, which I could now very well appreciate.

I especially felt bad for them, considering how they were mostly young men who had at one point or another committed a crime as a result of a bad decision – whether under the bad influence of a friend, or difficult family circumstances.

God deeply moved my heart and showed me how much they needed the true freedom that can only be found in what Christ did for them on the Cross, when he took the blame for all the bad things any of us will ever do. I knew that Christ wanted to be just as close to them as to people outside prison, and perhaps even more so.

No looking back

With every step I took towards the prison exit, it became easier to believe that I truly was about to be free.

I didn’t once look back. And as the door was opened, there in front of me was the face that I knew better than anyone else’s – that of my father, who was waiting for me with tears and a smile.

I quickly ran to him, and hugged him, and in that moment his warm, loving embrace gave me a deep sense of peace that felt like paradise and relieved me of all the pain and troubles of the past few weeks.

In the days that followed, for the first time in my life I realised how grateful I ought to be for my freedom. Until then, freedom had been like oxygen – something that felt so natural that I rarely considered I should be grateful for it. And in fact freedom should be as natural as oxygen, because it is freedom that allows us to live with dignity.

Returning home and being back with my family was an indescribable pleasure. And as with the joy of freedom, I now felt truly grateful for these gifts of family and home. It was as though I now saw everything differently, and that the true value of everything had become clearer to me.

But this feeling of freedom didn’t last long. I had nightmares, and because of the threats made during my interrogations – such as that my phone calls would be monitored – I found it difficult to do anything without fear or anxiety.

Meeting with friends felt especially fraught. I felt as though I was constantly being followed by security agents, and this fear and my concerns about using my phone induced a lot of stress in me.

A bigger prison

It felt like I was now just in a bigger prison. And I knew that this was their goal – to create a prison for me, mentally and psychologically, through their threats, so that I would be completely under their control and act in the way they wanted.

But the power and impact of the One who had freed me from greater fears than these was much bigger than my nightmares, or any threats, and in the midst of my stress the true value of what I had found in Christ became even more apparent.

I was proud that I had remained true to my faith, and that even at my young age He had enabled me to be strong and brave, in spite of the hardships I had endured and in the face of such harsh security agents.

What was better: life with Christ, with all its challenges, or life without Him? That monotonous life that I had once known, with all its superficial and fleeting things, or this new life in which I had found true freedom and hope for the future?

In spite of the persecution I was enduring, my friendship with and passion for Christ not only didn’t deteriorate; it reached new depths. And part of the reason was the encouragement of my Christian brothers and sisters, with whom I could talk and pray about my fears, challenges and spiritual experiences, and together find comfort in our trustworthy and faithful God. Though the enemy wanted to separate us, God brought us even closer, like family.

I think this is one of the miracles of the Bible, as it is written in 1 Peter 1:6-7: “Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

As gold shines more when it goes through fire, so too does the true value and power of our faith. Meanwhile, the value of the freedom, hope, love and new personality that God had given to me and my other friends since we had become Christians was more and more apparent, and his worship and praise was increasingly in our hearts and on our lips.

Supreme Court agrees to retrial of Iranian-Armenian pastor serving 10-year sentence

Iran’s Supreme Court has agreed that an ethnic Armenian pastor serving a 10-year prison sentence for holding church services in his home should be afforded a retrial.

The ruling by the ninth branch of the Supreme Court, dated 25 February, was communicated to Joseph Shahbazian’s lawyer on Monday, 13 March.

In their short explanation, the judges, Ghasem Mezyani and Majid Hosseini-Nik, say that having considered his case, the maximum sentence of 10 years was “not appropriate” as both the Revolutionary and appeal courts failed to “offer any evidence” to prove he was the leader of the group.

Joseph, who has been in Tehran’s Evin Prison since last August, was sentenced under Article 498 of the penal code, which provides for up to 10 years’ imprisonment for those who “establish groups that aim to disrupt national security”. Under Article 499, the maximum sentence for membership – as opposed to leadership – of such a group is five years.

Although Christianity is recognised as a minority religion in Iran’s constitution, in practice this recognition is only given to churches that offer services in the ethnic minority languages of Armenian and Assyrian (both historically Christian groups) and not to Persian-speaking churches – whether these are run by Christian converts or Armenians or Assyrians – and in recent years almost all such churches have been forcibly closed down and many of their leaders arrested and imprisoned.

As a result, hundreds of secret house-churches have cropped up all over Iran, as Iranians who wish to practise the Christian faith in the national language of Persian have no authorised place to worship.

But even though the activities of these house-churches are no different from churches all around the world, they have been labelled “enemy groups” by the regime, and therefore considered to fall within the parameters of the description given in Article 498 regarding “groups that aim to disrupt national security”.

At least a dozen Iranian Christians, including Joseph, are currently serving sentences of imprisonment or exile as a result of their membership or leadership of house-churches.

No date has yet been set for when Joseph’s retrial will be heard by an appeal court.

The two women converts sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the same case, Mina Khajavi and Malihe Nazari, were not part of the retrial bid.

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11. Unexpected Friendship

The public prison

Christian woman among Evin prisoners of conscience to call for climate action

What does the letter say?

Supreme Court orders retrial of Christian couple serving combined 10-year sentence

10. The Fateful Day Arrives

A forbidden faith

Familiar surroundings

9. Living in Expectation of Arrest

The church grows

Bound together

Annual report launch at UN Human Rights Council

Javaid Rehman

Fernand de Varennes

Victor Bet-Tamraz

Shamiram Issavi

Mansour Borji

Gloria Lecesse

SR’s response

Q&A

Annual report presentation at UK parliament

Fiona Bruce

Mansour Borji

Mojtaba Hosseini

Sara Fooladi

Nazila Ghanea

Q&A

8. Trial

United

Sentencing

7. Taste of Freedom

No looking back

A bigger prison

Supreme Court agrees to retrial of Iranian-Armenian pastor serving 10-year sentence

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