by Steve Dew-Jones | 5 Dec 2023 | News
A house-church leader serving a six-year sentence for “propagating Christianity” has returned to a prison on the other side of the country from his wife and daughter, after a first visit home since his sudden transfer five months ago. Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad, known as...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 22 Nov 2023 | News
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution last week highlighting violations of human rights in Iran, including “ongoing severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”. The resolution,...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 15 Nov 2023 | Analysis
“Iran belongs to Hezbollahis.” These words, from the director of a Quranic institute near the Iranian capital, broadcasted recently on state TV, garnered widespread reaction and criticism from various quarters, including some former government ministers whom the...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 13 Nov 2023 | Features
The daughter of an Iranian Christian couple who fled Iran to claim asylum in Turkey has written a poem highlighting some of the difficulties refugees face as they await resettlement. Elina Shirani, whose parents’ Witness Statement was published by Article18 today, was...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 13 Nov 2023 | Features
Touraj and Elaheh’s youngest daughter, Elina, had just turned 10 years old and was still asleep when intelligence agents came to raid her home. In fact, it was the sound of one of the agents’ voices that awoke Elina that day, and the scene that followed was a painful...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 13 Nov 2023 | Witness Statements
For a summary of Elaheh and Touraj’s story, you can read our feature article here. Conversion Elaheh 1. My name is Elaheh Kiani and I was born in Isfahan in 1971. I was a devout Muslim and followed the religious rituals. But in my late thirties I came across Christian...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 9 Nov 2023 | News
Three “Church of Iran” members sentenced to five years in prison for their participation in house-churches have been permitted to serve the remainder of their sentences outside prison, but must report back daily to work at an adjacent factory. Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 8 Nov 2023 | News
The UN Human Rights Committee has reminded Iran of its obligations, as a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to provide religious freedom to its citizens, including to adopt a religion of their choosing and to change...
by designer | 1 Nov 2023 | News
Traditionally, many refugees have been relocated to safe countries through the UN mechanism, but this system has been paused in the past few years, and now only a small percentage of those relocated are Iranians, and an even smaller percentage are Iranian Christians....
by designer | 31 Oct 2023 | News
Uncertainty and procedural inconsistencies: Many refugees in Turkey suffer from a lack of clarity regarding their application procedure, and a clear timeline within which their claims will be processed. As per the law, an in-person interview should normally be...
