Twenty-five Iranian Christians have signed a joint statement highlighting the Islamic Republic’s deprivation of Persian-speaking Christians’ right to work.

The statement, released on Sunday to coincide with International Workers’ Day, says this deprivation is just one of the ways the Islamic Republic has targeted this unrecognised religious minority over the past four decades, with the ultimate aim of its elimination.

“If there is no work, a child will not be born, and if it is born, probably its durability and quality of life won’t allow it to continue in its mother’s and father’s ways or aspirations,” the statement says. “The Islamic Republic is therefore depriving this child through its parents’ deprivation of the right to work, so that it does not inherit any traces of its parents’ undesirable beliefs.”

The statement was signed by numerous former prisoners of conscience, including Sam Khosravi and his wife Maryam Falahi, whose judicial punishment for membership of a house-church included deprivation of their right to work in their specialist professions.

Another signatory, Mary Mohammadi, has also spoken previously of how she was prevented from returning to work as a gymnastics instructor after her arrest, saying it was “very clear” her employer had been put under pressure by intelligence agents.

A translation of the statement, and list of signatories, is included below:

From the first days of the rise to power of the Islamic Republic, Persian-speaking Christians, this unofficial religious minority, have faced various forms of deliberate discrimination and oppression – from serial killings, executions, and imprisonment, destruction, closure and confiscation of churches and their properties, to deprivation of human, civil, social, cultural, and economic rights, among other things.

While in many countries we see advanced debates over the elimination of “employment discrimination”, in Iran, in the case of Persian-speaking Christians, we must protest simply against the violation of the right to “have a job”.

Unequal distribution of public wealth and impoverishment is one of the policies that is being implemented with special will by the Islamic Republic against the Persian-speaking Christian community, with the intention of disabling and eliminating them. 

The Islamic Republic has deprived Persian-speaking Christians of the right to work and employment, has created serious obstacles in the way of being a freelancer or self-employed, making it very difficult or even impossible and leaving no share of job opportunities for them. 

Many Christians, in spite of being deprived of the right to education, acquired lots of expertise and abilities in various fields, but in spite of the urgent need of the country to use specialists and elites in order to solve the frequent and numerous social crises, in none of the managerial levels, legislation, science, medicine, in any of the ministries, important government institutions and other important positions have they any place at all to build their future and the future of others.

Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 28 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, and Article 6 of the Labour Law specifically emphasise the right to have a work and to be employed for “everyone”.

Regardless of race, colour, language, religion, gender, or any other characteristic, the right to work is one of the most fundamental rights of every human being. Lack of the right to work and of employment not only removes bread from the table, but also eliminates anyone who sits around it and makes a living from it.

When the government does not have the power to transform the beliefs of an individual or a group, and deems it harmful, it takes the path of their physical elimination and existence. 

The institution of power does not always put their hands in the pocket to overthrow undesirable individuals and groups, and does not spend money on buying ropes and bullets. On the contrary, he rapes their tablecloths and steals their bread to take their lives.

If there is no work, there is no marriage or childbearing. If there is no work, there is no roof and no house. If there is no work, there is no education and training. The mind is not calm; the body is not healthy. If there is no work, it means there is no bread. If there is no bread, the thieves of independence of thought and deed will attack to take away a piece of bread.

Without work and bread, the body does not remain. Without the body, there is no opportunity for beliefs to manifest. If there is no work, a child will not be born, and if it is born, probably its durability and quality of life won’t allow it to continue in its mother’s and father’s ways or aspirations. The Islamic Republic is therefore depriving this child through its parents’ deprivation of the right to work so that it does not inherit any traces of its parents’ undesirable beliefs.

Violation of this right at the micro level causes fatal damage to the deprived person and his family, and at the macro level causes work-related damage to the integrity of society. Today, 1 May 2022, on the occasion of International Workers’ Day, for the first time, we are collectively breaking this heavy silence against injustice and deprivation of the right to work of Persian-speaking Christians, because silence in the face of great oppression threatens to deprive them of the right to work and employment. 

We consider it vital not only for the Christian community but also all sections of society and future generations. Violation of the right to work and bread of every human being is equal to his removal; eliminating every human being equals eliminating a thinking brain; and the elimination of every thinking brain is tantamount to the imperfection and regression of society.

Amin Afshar-Naderi
Jafar (Philip) Ansari
Milad Ighani
Gilda Bordbar
Mostafa Bordbar
Donya Javideh
Shapoor Jozi
Sam Khosravi
Nathan Roufegarbashi
Amin Zare
Maral Zare
Maryam Zarei
Mahsa Zare
Parastou Zariftash
Farshid Fathi
Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi
Maryam Falahi
Mohammad Hossein Karandish
Shirin Koholat
Soroush Mohammadi
Mary Mohammadi
Ali (Parsa) Mustafa
Esmaeil Maghrebinezhad
Mahsa Maghrebinezhad
Reza (Davoud) Nejat Sabet