The European Parliament has included specific mention of the pressures Christian converts face in its latest resolution on Iran.

The resolution, adopted last week, “condemns the Iranian regime’s … persecution of minorities”, including “Christians facing persecution after conversion”. 

It adds that Christian converts, as well as Kurds, Baluchis, and Baha’is, are among the groups “facing ethnic and religious discrimination, arrest and violations of fundamental rights aimed at silencing dissent”.

Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský hailed the resolution for “speaking about Christians who are living under the pressure of Iran’s Islamic regime”, saying: “This is the first time in the European parliament where we openly speak about people who are converting to Christianity and they are under the pressure. And this is the victory of this democratic institution.” 

Italian MEP Silvia Sardone added that it was important “not [to] forget the persecution of minorities by the Iranian regime, including Christians, Kurds and Bahá’ís” and “all victims of ethnic and religious discrimination”.

Among other concerns and recommendations, the resolution also called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated as a terrorist organisation, and for sanctions to be imposed on Iranian officials responsible for human rights violations, including the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, and notorious Revolutionary Court judge Iman Afshari.

No mention of converts at UN

There was no specific mention of Christian converts in the comments from member states at Iran’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva last week, although four states – Costa Rica, Belgium, Canada and Israel – highlighted the situation of Christians more broadly. 

Meanwhile, Belgium’s representative called on Iran to ensure that the “constitutional and legislative order guarantees the enjoyment of all human rights on an equal basis to all religious minorities, including … Christians … of every denomination on an equal basis”.

Article18’s joint submission ahead of the UPR had made clear that the primary violation of Christians’ rights in Iran comes from the State’s failure to recognise the majority of its Christians – converts from nominally Muslim backgrounds – and as a result denies them the rights afforded to the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent.

This was further evidenced during the second of two contrasting side events ahead of Iran’s UPR, as the Assyrian MP brought along by the Iranian delegation, Sharli Envieh, claimed that only the Assyrian and Armenian Christians who “believed in Christianity in the first decade” were the “true Christians of Iran” – as opposed to evangelical Christians and converts.