by Steve Dew-Jones | 17 Jan 2019 | News
Iran’s mistreatment of religious minorities, including the imprisonment of 37 converts to Christianity, is highlighted in the Iran chapter of Human Rights Watch’s latest annual World Report. “As of September 30, Iran has sentenced 37 Christians who converted from...
by designer | 17 Jan 2019 | News
An “unprecedented” wave of raids on private house gatherings of Christians at the end of 2018, leading to more than 100 arrests, was the culmination of a year in which religious freedom continued to be violated in Iran, reveals Article18’s inaugural annual report. One...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 16 Jan 2019 | News
Iran has risen to 9th on Open Doors International’s ranking of the 50 countries where it’s hardest to be a Christian. Last year, Iran was 10th on the charity’s World Watch List, but this year it has risen above neighbouring Iraq, which has moved down to 13th place,...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 13 Jan 2019 | News
Photographs have emerged appearing to show 10 Gonabadi dervishes with bandaged heads and bruised faces posing for police mugshots. The photographs, published by the BBC, are purported to show injuries sustained by the dervishes during their recent arrest and transfer...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 6 Jan 2019 | News
Two sisters who were arrested in Ahvaz earlier this month and charged with “action against Iran’s national security through evangelism” have been released on bail. Shima and Shokoufeh Zanganeh, who are aged 27 and 30 respectively, were arrested on 2 December by...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 19 Dec 2018 | News
Four Christian converts, including two sisters, have been arrested and detained in the western city of Ahvaz. Shima Zanganeh, 27, and her sister Shoukoufeh, 30, Farzad Behzadi, 30, and Abdollah Yousefi, 34, were arrested in a series of raids by plainclothes...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 16 Dec 2018 | News
Sixty-four-year-old Jamshid Derakhshan has been released on bail after two weeks in solitary confinement in Karaj’s Rajaei-Shahr Prison. Jamshid was interrogated multiple times during his incarceration and told he had been arrested for “spreading evangelical and...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 14 Dec 2018 | News
A 64-year-old convert to Christianity who failed to come home from a visit to a “house church” in Hashtgerd on 30 November has spent the last two weeks in Karaj’s Rajaei-Shahr Prison. Jamshid Derakhshan, who has been a Christian for 30 years, called home...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 5 Dec 2018 | News
At least 114 Christians have been arrested in the past week following a series of raids in nine different cities across Iran. Most of those arrested were released after a few hours, but only after they had written down details of their Christian activities and been...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 28 Nov 2018 | News
Farhad Sabokrooh with his wife Shahnaz, in an undated photo. An Iranian pastor who fled the country with his wife four years ago after they were both threatened with execution for apostasy has shared his story at the US State Department. Farhad Sabokrooh, who was a...
