Christian converts ‘consistently persecuted’ in Iran, says UN Special Rapporteur 5 November 2019 News The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran has reiterated his concerns over the “disturbing” treatment of religious minorities in Iran, including Christian converts, who he says are “consistently persecuted”. Javaid Rehman, speaking at a press conference in New York on 22 October, said house-churches are “consistently targeted” by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that “all forms of harassment and intimidation are bestowed, unfortunately, on the Christian converts”. Mr Rehman said he had chosen to focus the “bulk” of his latest report, which he presented at the UN General Assembly on 23 October, on ethnic and religious minorities because of the “disturbing pattern of human rights concern we are witnessing”. “Also I think I can be more constructive if I go into more detail, analyse and build up stronger recommendations through a deeper analysis,” he said. Mr Rehman said he had particular concern for those minorities “who are not recognised within the Iranian legal system, and Christian converts are [among] those”. “In my report, I have called for the desperately needed legislative and policy changes in order to guarantee the rights of all Iranians,” he said. Mr Rehman said that of the estimated 350,000-500,000 Christian converts in Iran, “there are a significant number who are persecuted because they are engaging in their freedom of religion and belief”. Mr Rehman said ethnic and religious minorities “represent a disproportionate number of individuals executed on national-security-related charges and a disproportionate number of political prisoners. “They are subject to arbitrary arrests and detentions for their participation in a range of peaceful activities. And they are subject to hatred, incitement and discrimination for which the national legal framework provides little or no protection.” What does the report say? As Article18 reported in August, Mr Rehman notes that Iran, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is obliged to provide its citizens with “freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of their choice, or not to have or adopt a religion, and the freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest their religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching”. He points out that, while Christians are a recognised religious minority, alongside Jews and Zoroastrians, such recognition is not afforded to Muslims who convert to Christianity. “Even for the recognised religious minorities, there is no provision under the legal system of the Islamic Republic of Iran permitting conversions from Islam, which is considered apostasy,” he writes. “This puts Christian converts from Islam at risk of persecution. Apostasy is not codified as an Islamic Penal Code offence, but conversion from Islam is punishable by death.” While in reality it is rare for converts to Christianity to be sentenced to death, Mr Rehman notes that the possibility remains and has precedent in the case of pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who was sentenced to death in 2010. Meanwhile, as converts are “not granted access to officially recognised Christian churches,” Mr Rehman says this “forces them to gather clandestinely in informal ‘house churches’”, attendance of which can lead to “arrests, detention and repeated interrogations about their faith”. “Most Christian converts who have been arrested and detained have been charged with ‘propaganda against the system’, ‘propagation of Zionist evangelical Christianity’ or ‘administering and managing the home churches’,” Mr Rehman adds. He cites the recent example of Abdolreza (Matthias) Ali-Haghnejad, one of nine Christians arrested in Rasht in early 2019, and also the case of pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, who is facing a ten-year prison sentence, and his wife and son, who were also given prison sentences because of their Christian activities. Mr Rehman adds that converts have been “subjected to sexual abuse and ill treatment” during detention. “One young woman had reportedly been repeatedly subjected to sexual assault by a policeman, leaving her traumatized and requiring treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in a psychiatric hospital,” he writes. “In a separate case, a young male Christian convert detained in Tehran was allegedly hit with wooden sticks and his head banged against a wall.” Mr Rehman’s very first recommendation to the Supreme Leader is an amendment to Article 13 of Iran’s Constitution, such that “all religious minorities and those who do not hold any religious beliefs are recognized and able to fully enjoy the right to freedom of religion or belief”. He calls for amendments to “all articles in the Islamic Penal Code that discriminate on the basis of religious or belief”, and for due process and fair-trial guarantees, “including access to a lawyer of their choosing” to be afforded to all persons accused of a crime. (Matthias and four of his co-defendants recently had their bail amounts increased tenfold after insisting on being allowed to choose their own lawyer.) Mr Rehman also calls on Iran’s government to “refrain from targeting members of recognized and non-recognized religious minorities with national security-related charges”, to “refrain from persecuting peaceful religious gatherings in private homes and other premises, refrain from convicting religious leaders and cease the monitoring of citizens on account of their religious identity”,and to “end the criminalisation of the peaceful expression of faith”. He also asks for new places of worship for all religious minorities, including “new churches throughout the country”. In July, Mr Rehman had pledged to look into the treatment of Christian converts in Iran “very seriously”, saying he was “personally very concerned” about the issue.
Iranian Christian prisoner asks why house-church membership is ‘action against national security’ 4 November 2019 News An imprisoned Iranian Christian convert has written an open letter questioning why involvement in house-churches is an “action against national security”. “Today marks more than two years since I have been detained in prison for the fabricated charge of acting against national security by running house churches, even though religious ceremonies are part of our religion,” wrote Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh on Friday, as reported by the Campaign to Defend Civil and Political Prisoners in Iran. Nasser, who was sentenced to ten years in prison in May 2017, added that he could not understand why he had been given such a long prison sentence, noting that Christians are one of Iran’s “recognised” religious minorities. In August last year, Nasser wrote another letter from his cell in Tehran’s Evin Prison, in which he posed three questions: “Would it be even possible for a committed Christian – who was born and raised in Iran and whose forefathers lived in this land for thousands of years, and who is a servant to the God who has called him to a ministry of reconciliation – to act against the national security of his own country? “Is the fellowship of a few Christian brothers and sisters in someone’s home, singing worship songs, reading the Bible and worshiping God acting against national security? “Isn’t it in fact a clear violation of civil and human rights, and an absolute injustice, to receive a ten-year prison sentence just for organising ‘house churches’, which are a sanctuary sanctified as a place to praise and worship God due to closure of churches in Iran?” Last month a senior Iranian church leader in London made an impassioned appeal to the Iranian authorities to recognise the rights of Christian converts, as “a significant section of the Iranian society”. “The fact is that at present tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of Farsi-speaking Christians, from a variety of non-Christian backgrounds, including Muslim-background, live in Iran today,” said Rev Dr Mehrdad Fatehi, at a memorial service in London for the Iranian Christians killed since the revolution. “My plea … on behalf of the suffering Iranian Christians from a non-Christian background, as well as other similar groups, is for their very existence as a significant section of the Iranian society, and their basic human rights, to be recognised in law and in practice,” he added. Fatemeh Mohammadi, a rare activist among Christians in Iran, and especially converts, has launched a campaign called “KHMA” (from the Persian for “Church is Christians’ Right”), which petitions for all Christians, including converts, to be given the right to worship in a church. Fatemeh, who has already spent six months in prison for her membership of a Tehran house-church, has fearlessly campaigned, despite the knowledge that her activism will likely land her in prison again. She is currently facing new charges related to her alleged “improper” wearing of hijab, having initially gone to police to complain of an assault. Nasser’s letter Dear people of Iran,As an imprisoned Persian-speaking Christian who follows the Bible, I want you to know that holding non-Armenian religious ceremonies in the Persian-language at home is considered an act against national security by the Islamic Republic.This is despite articles 13 and 26 of the Constitution stipulating that Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews, as recognised religious minorities, are free to practise their religion.Today marks more than two years since I have been detained in prison for the fabricated charge of acting against national security by running house churches, even though religious ceremonies are part of our religion.I do not know by what logic or under which crime this heavy sentence has been imposed upon me.I hope that Christ’s love will spread through the voice of imprisoned Christians throughout the world. Thanks to all those who strive to uphold human and individual rights.Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Evin Prison, Friday 1 November
Iranian church leader appeals for recognition of Christian converts’ rights 1 November 2019 News Rev Dr Mehrdad Fatehi made his appeal at a memorial service in London on 19 October. A senior pastor of the UK’s largest Iranian church has called on the Iranian government to ensure the “basic human rights” of Christian converts, as a “significant section of the Iranian society”, are “recognised in law and practice”. Rev Dr Mehrdad Fatehi was speaking at a memorial service in London last month for the Iranian Christians killed since the revolution. “Many of these Christian [converts] are experiencing, at different levels, the same kind of oppression and mistreatment that our dear martyrs stood against and experienced themselves,” he said. “Our prayer today is that once more Iran would be known as a country in which people of different faiths are treated with kindness and equal respect.” Below is a copy of his full statement, made on behalf of the Council of United Iranian Churches (Hamgaam): Before I pray for Iran and for the church in Iran, in Persian, and address our Heavenly Father, the creator and Lord of the heavens and the earth, I would like to address a few words to those present, to those who might watch this in the future, as well as to the international community and to the Islamic government of Iran. What I’m going to say is just a summary of what you already heard, but I want to put it in direct, explicit words.As you heard, the fact is that at present tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of Farsi-speaking Christians, from a variety of non-Christian backgrounds, including Muslim-background, live in Iran today. With a sad and broken heart, I must say, as we heard, many of these Christians are experiencing, at different levels, the same kind of oppression and mistreatment that our dear martyrs stood against and experienced themselves. As we heard, their churches have been closed down, and they are deprived of the fundamental human right of expressing and practising their faith. This is most clearly seen in their being prevented from gathering together to worship God and have fellowship with their brothers and sisters in faith.They are being threatened and harassed, thrown out of their jobs, and expelled from their university studies. They are arrested, interrogated and put into jail. They are humiliated, insulted, and even sometimes beaten and tortured. They are also forced to leave the country they love so much. And we are aware that people of other faiths and religious practices are going through similar mistreatments.We want to make a plea, I want to make a plea, to you today in the name of Jesus, whom we know you [the Iranian government] respect, at least as a great teacher, even maybe a great prophet of God, to put an end to all of this.Iranian Christians, as true followers of Jesus, are law-abiding and peace-promoting people who seek the well-being of their country; who pray for and submit to their rulers and governments; and who want to live in peace and Christian love towards their Muslim friends and neighbours.To sum it all up, before I pray, my plea, our plea today, on behalf of the suffering Iranian Christians from a non-Christian background, as well as other similar groups, is for their very existence as a significant section of the Iranian society, and their basic human rights, to be recognised in law and in practice.Iran has proven itself at many junctures of its history, from ancient times, to be a place in which Muslims, Jews and Christians, as well as followers of other faiths, can live together in peace.Cyrus the Great, who is even referred to in the Bible, liberated the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, and let them practise their faith alongside the followers of other religions.Our prayer today is that once more Iran would be known as a country in which people of different faiths are treated with kindness and equal respect.Rev Dr Mehrdad Fatehi
Remembering the Iranian Christians killed since the revolution 1 November 2019 News Eight Christians killed for their faith in Iran in the 40 years since the revolution were remembered at a memorial service in London last month. Anglican pastor Arastoo Sayyah was murdered just eight days after the revolution, while 2019 also marks 25 years since the martyrdoms of Bishop Haik Hovsepian-Mehr, Rev Tateos Michaelian and Rev Mehdi Dibaj. The four others remembered at the service on 19 October were Rev Hossein Soodmand, whose death by hanging for “apostasy” was the only one officially claimed by the regime, Bahram Dehqani-Tafti, and pastors Mohammad-Bagher Yusefi and Ghorban Tourani. Tributes were paid to each of the eight Christians, including a song by Gilbert Hovsepian, one of Bishop Haik’s sons, about learning to forgive those who killed his father. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali led prayers for the families of the victims and spoke about the significance of martyrdom in the Christian tradition. Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, then provided an update of the challenges still faced by Christians in Iran today. “It may look different,” Mr Borji said. “Christians aren’t routinely killed today for their faith, nor are many charged with apostasy – though it does still happen. But it is still the case that any convert to Christianity, or anyone found to have shared the Gospel with them, faces systematic persecution from the Iranian authorities. “Most Iranian churches that once offered services in the Persian language have now been closed down, and a lot of their leaders were either imprisoned or forced to leave the country, with the threat of long imprisonment. “The relentless pressure on the Church in Iran today means that most Christians worship in secret underground house-churches, for which they face the constant threat of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment on charges of ‘acting against national security’.” Mr Borji highlighted the cases of two Christian converts who recently began prison sentences: Rokhsareh Ghanbari, who presented herself at the prison in Karaj just two weeks ago, and Fatemeh Bakhtari, who has been in Tehran’s Evin Prison for two months today. Article18’s advocacy director ended his speech by calling on: the Iranian government “to abide by its obligations as a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide for full religious freedom – including the freedom to change one’s religion and to share that faith with others”; the international community to “continue to call Iran to account for its failure to provide religious freedom, and for there to be clarity and transparency on what steps are being taken in this regard, beyond the usual rhetoric and PR statements”; and the worldwide Church to “continue to pray and advocate for our brothers and sisters in Iran, many of whom are new to our faith, and not to forget those who continue to make sacrifices today”. The service ended with a message from Bishop Haik Hovsepian’s brother Edward, and an appeal to the Iranian government by Rev Dr Mehrdad Fatehi on behalf of the Council of United Iranian Churches (Hamgaam).
Christian convert’s bail increased tenfold 31 October 2019 News A 65-year-old convert to Christianity had his bail increased tenfold at a court hearing in Shiraz last week. Esmaeil Maghrebinezhad was charged with “propaganda against the state and insulting the sacred Iranian establishment” following his arrest at his home on 25 January. At the hearing on 22 October at Enghelab Court in Shiraz, the judge asked him two questions: whether he was an apostate; and whether he had insulted Islam. He denied both, saying that he had never insulted Islam and that different ayatollahs had different opinions over the question of apostasy. In response, the judge decreed that his bail would be increased from 10 million to 100 million tomans (around $9,000). When Esmaeil said he had no way of paying such an amount, the judge said a friend could act as a guarantor. Two of Esmaeil’s friends then provided payslips to the court as proof that they could cover the amount if required. Yesterday morning, Esmaeil was summoned to the court, but the hearing was later postponed to the morning of Saturday, 2 November. Esmaeil with daughter Mahsa and son-in-law Nathan As Article18 reported in August, Esmaeil’s daughter, Mahsa, who is now living in the United States, believes her family and that of her husband, Vahid Roufegarbashi, are being targeted because of the couple’s continued role as pastors ministering to Christians in Iran via the Internet. Vahid, who prefers to be known as Nathan, told Article18 that his parents continue to be visited regularly by Iranian police officers, who say both that they are looking for Nathan and also that they know he is living in America. The last such visit took place on 28 October. Nathan says his parents continue to be targeted even though the court seized all of his $18,000 bail after he fled the country following his arrest in July 2011 for handing out Christian literature. Nathan had also been warned that the Tehran branch of the Ministry of Intelligence wanted to interrogate him at the city’s notorious Evin Prison about his Internet ministry to other Christians in Iran. He was later sentenced, in absentia, to one year in prison.
Dabrina Bet-Tamraz responds to claims Christians in Iran enjoy equal rights 30 October 2019 News As the Iranian state propaganda machine continues to churn out the message that Christians in Iran enjoy equal rights and “full religious freedom”, Article18 talks to campaigner Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, who was specifically mentioned in a recent video by state-sponsored media. The Press TV report said Dabrina’s story “is not news” and that her father, Victor, while facing a jail sentence, “hasn’t even seen the inside of a prison”. In fact, Victor Bet-Tamraz spent 65 days in solitary confinement following his arrest at Christmas 2014. The Bet-Tamraz family are ethnic Assyrians, who alongside Armenians are considered a “recognised” minority in Iran and are therefore afforded some freedoms. However, Dabrina says this doesn’t equate to equal rights, highlighting the “continuous harassment” faced by her parents, Victor and Shamiram, who are now facing years in prison as a result of their religious activities. A18: What is your response to the latest video by Iranian state-backed media, which directly references your recent advocacy efforts and the case against your father? Dabrina: My family has been a target of continuous harassment for as long as I can remember. Today, members of my family, my close friends and relatives, are facing persecution and severe restrictions because of their faith. A number of my friends are either in prison or awaiting trials. There are a number of Christian believers in Iran facing sentences – long-term sentences and harsh sentences – for the peaceful practice of their faith. A18: The Press TV report says that you have claimed you are a survivor of religious persecution, suggesting this is not the case. What do you say to this? Dabrina: I have been followed by the government, monitored. My pictures have been taken. I’ve been harassed, threatened. I’ve been called out from university and interrogated several times in various places, unofficial offices. I was detained the last time in the male detention centre without any female officer being present. I was pressured to cooperate with the government, providing information, details about our church activities, our leaders. I was pressured to sign papers against my own family. I haven’t been persecuted as hard or suffered persecution as hard as my family have, or many other believers, church leaders and just Christians in Iran, but I have tasted a little bit of the bitter restrictions and persecution because of my faith – while I was in Iran. A18: The reporter also says that while your father faces a prison sentence, he hasn’t seen the inside of a prison. Is that true? Dabrina: He has seen it for a very long time. He was for 65 days kept in solitary confinement in different cells and finally moved to a “suite”, they call it, where there are 10-20 prisoners in one room in a very unhealthy condition. Not only my father, my brother was in prison for two months, my mother has been arrested and interrogated. My uncle and many other friends and relatives of mine have been imprisoned and sentenced and charged with false charges. A18: They claim that Armenians and Assyrians and other minorities are treated equally. Is that true? When they say, ‘They’re absolutely free in their religious rituals in Iran and face no limitation,’ would you agree with that? Dabrina: No, I wouldn’t agree with that. The Iranian government has divided Christians into two categories – recognised and unrecognised Christians. The recognised Christians are mainly the traditional, Orthodox, Catholic or some Evangelical Christians – Assyrians, Armenians, who are allowed to gather together, but with very limiting restrictions, such as they’re not allowed to have Farsi Bibles in the church, or Farsi literature. They are being monitored and interrogated very closely and have to be very careful with their actions. Unrecognised Christians, who are Evangelicals, Assemblies of God, Protestants, these believers are not recognised as even minorities in the country and are facing severe restriction and discrimination for their faith. Most of these pastors, leaders and regular believers have been forced to leave the country after their churches were shut down. And like my own family, my own relatives have either left the country or are very restricted in their gatherings in Iran – in finding jobs and making a living. So the life for Christians is not easy in the country. For some it’s a little bit easier, but it’s not the same rights as a normal Iranian citizen. A18: An Assyrian bishop interviewed in another recent Press TV video says his church can conduct all its services and courses freely. Your father was also once head of an Assyrian church in Iran. Was he able to work freely, without hindrance? Dabrina: Not as far as I can remember. My father has always been interrogated, questioned, limited. We went through a very difficult time in the early, late 90s, where pastors and Christians were persecuted and murdered even. We have always faced restrictions and limitations to our gatherings and assemblies. My father had to often give answers about his meetings, about his services. We were afraid to conduct services in Assyrian and in Farsi, and my father served both people groups for years. But since 2009 this was declared as illegal and they shut down our church in Tehran, and other churches followed until 2014 when all Evangelical churches offering services in the Farsi language were shut down. And today he is completely not allowed to get together to have a church meeting. He wasn’t even allowed to officiate my brother’s wedding – his own son’s wedding. A18: Your parents are still awaiting the outcome of their appeals. It’s been a very long process. How has this long period of waiting, and not knowing what will happen, impacted them? Dabrina: It is absolutely nerve wracking and it’s also torture for them. My mother has suffered with heart problems, with nerve problems. Every time that they get a new court hearing, there’s so much nervousness and there’s so much anticipation of what’s going to happen, then nothing happens, the next court hearing. It’s been years now that they haven’t processed their cases. It’s very hard on them. It’s like a mental torture for my parents. A18: And how has it been for you, as you have been advocating their case and also raising awareness of the situation of ordinary Christians in Iran. How has this impacted you? Dabrina: It has left all of us really in limbo, not knowing what is going to happen, what we’re going to do. We can’t even plan to meet each other, because every time there’s a new court hearing or there’s a new process, we say, “Well, we have to wait and see.” We can’t plan for the future. We can’t move around, we can’t meet each other. I haven’t seen my parents for years now. And not knowing what’s going to happen… My father is 65 years old, my mother is 64 years old. They’re not that young anymore. And now in November they will have their next court hearing. I just don’t want to imagine … My father really hopes that the charges will be dropped.
Ebrahim Firouzi returns home from prison but now faces exile 28 October 2019 News Christian convert Ebrahim Firouzi has returned home after six years in prison for his religious activities, but he now faces two years’ exile in remote Sistan and Baluchestan province. Ebrahim, 32, has requested a few weeks at home first, though there is no guarantee it will be granted. During his six years in prison, Ebrahim was not given a day’s leave. He was not even permitted to visit his mother in the weeks before she died, in December 2018, despite her plea, nor to attend her funeral. If, as expected, Ebrahim’s exile is enforced, he will become the first Christian to endure such a punishment, though others such as Yousef Nadarkhani and Mohammad Reza Omidi – also converts to Christianity – are facing years in exile at the end of their sentences. Ebrahim was first arrested in 2011 as part of a wave of arrests during which a number of Christian converts from all over Iran were detained. Ebrahim was initially sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the regime, insulting Islamic sacraments and acting against national security”. He was re-arrested in March 2013 and charged with “establishing and managing a website about Christianity, receiving and distributing Bibles, cooperating with student activists, promoting Christian Zionism, and acting against national security”. In July 2013, he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment to be followed by two years’ exile in Sarbaz, near the Pakistan border in the southeast – far away from his home in Robat Karim, near Tehran. On 21 August 2013, prior to commencing his sentence, Ebrahim was re-arrested in Karaj and returned to Tehran’s Evin Prison. Six weeks later he was relocated to Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj. He was due to be released in January 2015, but he was instead detained and re-tried on new charges of “gathering and collusion”, as well as “actions against national security”. In April 2015 he was sentenced to five years in prison. His appeal was eventually heard 18 months later, in December 2016, but the sentence was upheld. Ebrahim went on hunger strike in July 2017 after several fellow converts were given ten-year prison sentences. In an open letter, he wrote: “Following the mistreatment of new Christian believers and converts by the judicial authorities, refusing Christian prisoners access to Christian literature, and issuing unjust and hefty verdicts and sentences against new Christian believers and converts to the point that in the recent months tens of Christians have been sentenced to long years of imprisonment, I hereby announce going on hunger strike, commencing on 17 July 2017, for a period of 10 days, in support of the rights of fellow Christians.”
Protecting converts against deportation to countries where Christians are persecuted 23 October 2019 Reports Christian converts seeking asylum in Germany are half as likely to succeed in their applications today as they were two years ago, according to this survey . by Christian charity Open Doors Germany reviewed the experiences of over 6,500 converts – 70% of whom are Iranian – from 179 German churches between January 2014 and September 2019. It found that the acceptance rate of Germany’s Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has “fallen drastically” for Christian convert asylum seekers of “almost all nationalities” since mid-2017, and that in several federal states it has halved. For the 4,557 Iranians in the survey, 50% had claims accepted before July 2017 and only 22% since. The majority of rejected claims were successfully appealed in administrative courts (AC), but Open Doors Germany says the great disparity between BAMF’s findings and those of the appeal courts “must give rise to concern”, as they show “thousands of wrong decisions”. The authors of the 100-page report estimate that the survey sample represents 15-30% of the total number of convert asylum seekers in Germany, a country that has seen an influx of over two million asylum seekers since 2014. Many of the converts – whether they converted in their home countries or in Europe – are Iranian, as indicated by the survey. As Article18 has highlighted frequently, Iranians who convert to Christianity face immense pressure, leading many to flee. Open Doors accuses Germany’s migration service of failing to recognise the dangers faced by Christian converts in primarily Islamic countries like Iran. The report notes that while Germany’s overall acceptance rate for asylum seekers has fallen largely in line with the figures for converts since mid-2017, the protection rate for converts has dropped to an even greater degree. Open Doors says converts’ “situation of special vulnerability, and thus their need of protection, is not acknowledged in many cases”. Instead, “authorities bring forward the argument that there is no sincere change of faith, therefore persecution is not to be expected in the event of deportation”. So what’s changed since 2017? The report says there is “no evidence” to suggest anything has changed in the profile of the converts seeking asylum today than pre-2017, including no indication of an increase in “strategic” conversions – as is often claimed in the verdicts for those rejected asylum. In contrast, the pastors who contributed to the report claimed confidence in the genuineness of a convert’s faith in 88% of cases. The report’s authors note how significantly Germany’s approach to asylum seekers has shifted over the past few years – from an initially warm welcome, to “the political will to remove as many asylum-seekers as possible from the country”. Open Doors says such political will “must not lead to these asylum-seekers and refugees being deprived of their human right of religious freedom”, which “includes the right to change religion, enabling converts to live their faith in public and privately”. The report says it is therefore not appropriate to claim a convert can avoid danger by keeping their faith secret upon their return to a country like Iran, where the freedom to change one’s religion does not exist. It also questions the appropriateness of interrogating asylum seekers on the sincerity of their faith. A German bishop is quoted as saying “faith tests for converts are an attack on the Constitution”. The report also suggests that, as the verdict is “almost exclusively focused on the applicant, the outcome of the hearing is therefore highly dependent on the type of person, i.e. introverted or extroverted, and on the applicant’s level of education and thus his or her ability to express himself or herself”. Recommendations Open Doors Germany calls on BAMF to treat the testimonies of church pastors seriously and to rely on them as experts in the assessment of whether or not a convert’s faith is genuine. The researchers found that, rather than proving helpful to a converts’ case, both a clerical affidavit testifying to the authenticity of a convert’s faith, and a baptism certificate, are in fact detrimental to the convert’s chances of success. The report includes observations from several pastors who express serious concerns about the current asylum process. The pastor of a church in Berlin says the discrepancy between verdicts in different parts of Germany is “insanely huge” – even in some neighbouring states. For example, the pastor says that “in the courts [just] outside Berlin, the judicial appeals of our church members, as far as I was present, were granted by far more than 90%. In the AC [of] Berlin, the recognition rate is under 20%, even at 0% with some judges”. The report says there is “no consistent legal practice concerning the fate of converts in Germany. The protection rates of the federal states differ significantly from one another”. Another unnamed pastor, whose letter to the appeal courts is included in the report, writes of his concern that the political climate in Germany “influences, or can influence, the verdict”. “In the first trials to which I was summoned as a witness,” the pastor writes, “almost all verdicts were positive for our Iranian brothers and sisters. This has changed greatly in recent months. Almost all appeals are dismissed. “For me, the question is whether the politically charged situation in Germany should have an influence on asylum decisions.” Another contributor, German MP Volker Kauder, cautions against assumptions that “strategic” conversions have increased, saying “there is simply no evidence of this”. “We must not place Iranians who have converted to Christianity under general suspicion,” he writes. “Iranian converts can be found in non-state churches, Catholic and Protestant congregations. It [should be] primarily the task of these churches to examine the sincerity of the change of faith.” Open Doors Germany’s report also includes, in full, the ten-page report released earlier this year by researchers at Open Doors International, providing “considerations for immigration officials, government agencies and advocates of Iranian Christians”. That report urges immigration officials to focus their questions on the claimant’s “personal experience of Christianity”, rather than the extent of their theological understanding; to “explore when and where the claimant’s personal experience of Christianity began, and the steps taken on the way to full acceptance of the new faith”; and for the interview “not [to] be reduced to a mere collection of data describing the journey from Iran to the country of destination, or to a description of exact dates when the person was first introduced to the new faith”. What’s the situation elsewhere? The report ends with a comparison of similar studies carried out in other European countries in recent years. A March 2019 study in Sweden also found the “rhetorical ability of converts to reflect on their faith” was central to the success of their applications, so that “ultimately it was not the sincerity of their faith that was assessed, but their intellectual capacity”. A 2018 study in the Netherlands said the Dutch migration agency’s guidelines on cases involving Christian converts were “deficient” in 60% of cases and that newly published guidelines in July 2018 “had not led to a noticeable improvement” because “new, inappropriate arguments had been added on the grounds of which conversions were rejected as implausible”. A 2017 study on Denmark found that “statements by pastors/churches were explicitly mentioned” in a quarter of cases “evaluated as plausible”, and that asylum was granted in 75% of those cases. However, it was denied in the remaining 25%. And earlier this year the United Kingdom hired clerics to train its staff in religious literacy after a 2016 report by a UK parliamentary group noted a discrepancy between “guidelines and actual practice” and recommended that “all cases involving persecution should be reviewed by a higher-level specialist in order to grant consistency and proper proceedings”. Meanwhile, a June 2019 report for the UK Foreign Office on the persecution of Christians worldwide showed “few instances of assaults of Christians were recorded for Afghanistan … lead[ing] to the misconception that violence against Christians did not occur in Afghanistan and that it was secure to deport Christians to that country”.
Nine converts given five-year sentences 18 October 2019 News Clockwise from top-left: Mohammad Vafadar, Kamal Naamanian, Hossein Kadivar, Khalil Dehghanpour, Behnam Akhlaghi, Mehdi Khatibi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Shahrooz Eslamdoust and Abdolreza (Matthias) Ali-Haghnejad. (Middle East Concern) Nine converts have been sentenced to five years each in prison for “acting against national security”. The nine men – Abdolreza (Matthias) Ali-Haghnejad, Shahrooz Eslamdoust, Behnam Akhlaghi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi Khatibi, Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Naamanian and Mohammad Vafadar – are all members of the non-Trinitarian “Church of Iran” in the northern city of Rasht. The verdict was pronounced on 13 October after a final hearing on 23 September. All nine are appealing. The men were arrested during raids on their homes and house-churches in January and February. Seven of them – all except Abdolreza and Shahrooz – were released on bail in March, after posting the equivalent of $13,000 each. Abdolreza and Shahrooz were detained. In July, five of the men – Abdolreza, Shahrooz, Behnam, Babak, and Mehdi – had their bail increased tenfold after insisting upon being defended by their own lawyer. Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, who has earned the nickname the “Judge of Death” for his harsh treatment of prisoners of conscience, rejected their choice and demanded they were defended by a lawyer of the court’s choosing. When they refused, the judge increased their bail amount to the equivalent of $130,000 each, and, being unable and unprepared to pay such an amount, they were transferred to Ward 4 of Tehran’s Evin Prison. The other four – Khalil, Hossein, Kamal, and Mohammad – decided to defend themselves and were therefore released on their pre-existing bail (the equivalent of $13,000 each) until their next hearing, when the judge accused them of promoting Zionism and said the Bible had been falsified. The nine men are all members of the same church as imprisoned pastor Yousef Nadarkhani and fellow converts Zaman (Saheb) Fadaie, Mohammad Ali Mossayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi, who are all serving ten-year prison sentences. Pastor Yousef recently ended a three-week-long hunger strike, which he had undertaken to protest against the denial of education to his two sons – because they refused to study Islamic Studies and the Quran. Members of recognised religious minorities – including Christians, as well as Jews and Zoroastrians – are ordinarily exempt from classes in Islamic Studies and the Quran, but children of converts, such as Yousef’s, are not afforded this right as they are still considered Muslims.
Yousef Nadarkhani ends hunger strike after 21 days 15 October 2019 News Iranian Christian prisoner Yousef Nadarkhani yesterday brought an end to his 21-day hunger strike. Yousef, who is serving a ten-year sentence for his Christian activities, was protesting against his 15-year-old son Youeil being barred from school because he refused to take Islamic classes, while his elder son, Danial, 17, was only readmitted to school as a “guest”. There has been no change in his children’s circumstances, but Yousef was given reassurances by the prison authorities that the matter would be looked into. Both of Yousef’s children have been denied certificates showing their completion of the past two academic years – as a result of their refusal to take Islamic classes. Members of recognised religious minorities – including Christians, as well as Jews and Zoroastrians – are ordinarily exempt from classes in Islamic Studies and the Quran, but children of converts to Christianity, such as Yousef’s, are not afforded this right as they are still considered Muslims. Yousef and his wife Tina – both converts from Muslim backgrounds – have been fighting for the rights of their boys to identify as Christians for the past decade. Indeed, it was this very issue that led to Yousef’s first arrest, which resulted in his 2010 death sentence for apostasy. And although that conviction was quashed in 2012, following international outcry, Yousef still had to serve three years in prison for evangelising and was then re-arrested in 2016 on the new charges for which he is now back in Tehran’s Evin Prison, in the second year of his ten-year sentence for forming a “house church” and “promoting Zionist Christianity”. Before he was taken back to prison in July 2018, Yousef tried again to ensure his sons were recognised as Christians, but the matter is still to be resolved after local authorities in Gilan Province, where the Nadarkhanis live, appealed against the higher education authority, which had ruled in the family’s favour. As a result, at the end of the past two academic years, Yousef and Tina’s sons were not provided with certificates to show they completed their studies, because they failed to sit exams in Islamic Studies and the Quran. Youeil was due to begin 10th grade this year, but he has yet to receive a certificate to show he completed 8th grade, let alone 9th. Meanwhile, Danial, who was due to begin 12th grade, has not received a certificate since completing 9th grade. Last year, the boys were accepted as “guests” – and also fully paying students – pending the ruling in the family’s case. But this year, although Danial was accepted again as a fully paying “guest”, Youeil was told that, having failed to attain his certificate for the previous academic year, he could not return to school. Yousef Nadarkhani with his two sons, Danial (right) and Youeil, before his incarceration. In a letter to the prison authorities, Yousef said his decision to go on hunger strike was “motivated by the necessity to defend my children as members of the Christian minority who are violated by discriminatory measures taken at the initiative of officials of the Ministries of Information and National Education”. “This is the cry of a father, unjustly imprisoned,” he said, adding that it was “now 11 years that I have been fighting on legal grounds to assert their rights”. Yousef appealed to the Minister of National Education and said he hoped the minister would “heed this appeal and that he will do, in accordance with the law, what is necessary to put an end to the injustices that my family are suffering as Christians”. Background A fatwa by Iran’s Supreme Leader at the time of Yousef’s initial apostasy seemed to pave the way for children of converts to be recognised as Christians. It stated: “The [convert] himself may be considered an apostate, but if they married after the apostasy, according to their own new religious principles, their children will not be considered apostates.” But it is believed that the Ministry of Intelligence is pressurising the higher education authorities not to set such a precedent by ruling in the Nadarkhanis’ favour. Article18’s Advocacy Director, Mansour Borji, said this highlights the power of the Ministry of Intelligence in Iran – that they would even go so far as to contradict a ruling by the Supreme Leader, their commanding officer. The local education authorities in Gilan, in their appeal against the ruling of the higher education authorities, said that while Yousef may have been recognised as a Christian, the same cannot be said of his wife, Tina. Yousef and his wife object to this view, saying that Tina was never a practising Muslim and is willing to testify to this in court, and also to provide a copy of Youeil’s birth certificate, which shows that he was registered as a Christian. They also object to being regularly referred to as kafirs (infidels) in the appeal launched by Gilan’s education authority, saying that they ought to instead be considered, like other Christians, as “people of the book” (the Bible). Article18 calls for Iran to provide Danial and Youeil, and all children of converts, the opportunity to be educated as Christians, as is their right under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified and which provides parents with the right to pass on their own religious teachings to their children, and denies authorities the right to intervene. Mr Borji used the Nadarkhani family’s story in his testimony to the recent review of the persecution of Christians worldwide, commissioned by the UK government.