by Steve Dew-Jones | 27 May 2019 | News
Only 48 hours after Article18 published news of the forced closure of a church in the northwestern city of Tabriz, the Assyrian representative to the Iranian parliament wrote an open letter to the President on Saturday, calling for it to be...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 23 May 2019 | News
Seyed-Hashem Bathaee (Shabestan.ir) A member of Iran’s Expediency Council of religious leaders appointed in an advisory capacity by the Supreme Leader has implied that Muslims who convert to Christianity are stupid, poor and easily manipulated. Seyed-Hashem Bathaee,...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 23 May 2019 | News
Intelligence agents stormed the 100-year-old church, which is a National Heritage site, and tore down the cross from the tower. The Assyrian Christian community in the northwestern city of Tabriz has been left it a state of shock, after the Presbyterian church was...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 20 May 2019 | News
Two Iranian converts have been informed that their jail sentences have been upheld, four months after their appeal hearing, reports Middle East Concern. Zaman (Saheb) Fadaie and Fatemeh (Aylar) Bakhtari were sentenced to 18 months and 12 months in prison,...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 20 May 2019 | News
The UK’s immigration service has hired clerics to train its staff in religious literacy, following years of criticism that workers are ill-equipped to deal with the complex claims of converts and others claiming persecution on religious grounds. The issue came to...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 17 May 2019 | News
The Iranian parliament (Flickr / CC / Parmida Rahimi) Amnesty International has called on Iranian lawmakers to “urgently revise” a proposed amendment to the criminal code that would deny detainees facing charges such as “actions against national security”...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 15 May 2019 | News
Fatemeh Mohammadi (HRANA) A young woman who was jailed for six months for being part of a Tehran “house church” has written an open letter to Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, accusing him of violating the constitution by targeting Christians. Intelligence Minister...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 7 May 2019 | News
Dabrina Bet-Tamraz told the UN Human Rights Council last year that the charges against her parents were ‘baseless’. (World Evangelical Alliance) The daughter of an Assyrian pastor and his wife still awaiting the outcome of their appeals against prison...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 7 May 2019 | News
Embed from Getty Images Iran’s Minister of Intelligence has for the first time publicly admitted that his agency is collaborating with Shia religious seminaries in seeking to combat the perceived threat of mass conversions to Christianity across the country. Mahmoud...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 3 May 2019 | News
The situation for Christians and other minorities in Iran “has reached an alarming stage”, according to a new report conducted on behalf of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The report, which comes after the UK’s Foreign Secretary called for a global...
