by Steve Dew-Jones | 3 Jul 2019 | News
Left to right: Pooriya Peyma, Fatemeh Talebi, Maryam Falahi, Sam Khosravi, Khatoon Fatolahzadeh, Sasan Khosravi, Marjan Falahi, and Habib Heydari Eight converts to Christianity, including five members of one family, were arrested in the southwestern city of Bushehr on...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 3 Jul 2019 | News
Left to right: Simin Fahandej, Javaid Rehman, Hamid Gharagozloo, Bob Blackman MP, Mattie Heaven, and Richard Ratcliffe. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran spoke yesterday of his “serious concern” over the “disturbing” mistreatment of converts to...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 28 Jun 2019 | Features
Mariet Michaelian gave birth to her firstborn, Anna, on the day it was confirmed her father had been murdered. Tateos Michaelian, who led an Armenian evangelical church in Tehran and had been an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime’s mistreatment of Christians, had...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 28 Jun 2019 | News
Tomorrow will be the 25th anniversary of the forced disappearance of Tateos Michaelian, an outspoken Iranian Armenian church leader and Bible translator who was found dead three days after going missing. His son identified his body, which according to one report was...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 24 Jun 2019 | News
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the forced disappearance of Mehdi Dibaj, a Christian convert who had been released from nine years in prison just five months earlier. Mehdi’s body was found days later in a park in a suburb of Tehran, with multiple stab wounds to...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 17 Jun 2019 | News
Aliakbar Gorji Azandaryani (http://www.lvp.ir/) A senior legal adviser to the Iranian president has publicly questioned the legality of the recent closure of a church and banning of religious-minority teachers from nursery schools. Aliakbar Gorji...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 6 Jun 2019 | News
Iran’s continued violations of religious freedom are highlighted in the UK Foreign Office’s latest global Human Rights and Democracy report, published yesterday. The comprehensive annual report lists Iran among 29 “human rights priority countries”,...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 4 Jun 2019 | News
(IRNA) The Iranian government has banned members of religious minorities from teaching in nursery schools, except in special schools where all children already belong to that minority. The directive, passed by Iran’s Social Welfare Organisation on 27 May, is the...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 29 May 2019 | News
UN General Assembly (Patrick Gruban / Flickr / CC) The UN General Assembly yesterday voted to adopt 22 August as the annual UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. The proposal, tabled by Poland, was adopted...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 28 May 2019 | News
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) Tony Perkins says it’s “absurd” that Christians in Iran “who practise their faith peacefully” face charges of acting against national security. The commissioner was speaking at an International Christian...
