Leaked Hacked Documents Reveal: From Persecution of Christians to Fabricated Cases Against Them with Baseless Accusations

The hacking group “Ali Justice” has revealed documents related to the persecution of Christians and fabrication of false cases against them with baseless accusations following a hack.

The hacking group known as “Ali Justice,” which in the last month of last year (1402/2024) successfully gained access to confidential documents of Iran’s Islamic Republic judicial system, had announced this successful cyber attack on its social media account, and has now proceeded to reveal these documents. These documents now show government suppression of approximately 300 Christian citizens, the fining of digital platforms for selling Christian items, the arrest of foreign nationals on charges of connection to Christian activities, the hostaging of an 80-year-old dual-national Christian for the purpose of exchanging him with prisoners in America, and fabricated charges including soft overthrow and Zionism, possession of the Bible as contraband, among other content revealed by the Ali Justice group. According to documents in these records from Tir 1387 (June 2008) to Dey 1402 (December 2023), 123 cases of suppression by government agents have been reported, several of which relate to Christians and include 327 cases of Christian citizen arrests, broken down into 198 men and 129 women. This group stated regarding Christian persecution: “The arrested Iranian Christians were not only converts, and in the hacked documents, the arrest of 4 Armenian citizens, one belonging to the Orthodox Church, three from the Catholic Church, and 9 Assyrian citizens is also present.” Additionally, files related to 7 priests are contained in these documents, in which priests “Victor Bet-Tamraz” is accused of spreading falsehoods through the dissemination of missionary teachings, “Sergoz Benjamin” is accused of rebellion against officials during the performance of duty because he prevented the locking of church doors and is also accused of smuggling unauthorized missionary items and actions against national security through the administration of the illegal Iran Evangelical Council organization. Priest “Soren Sarkissian” is also accused of foreign travels and contact and cooperation with missionary organizations and institutions and intelligence services. Priest “Bet-Tamraz,” who was sentenced to ten years in prison and his wife “Shamiram Eesavi” to five years in prison, have left Iran. Beyond these, the files of eight foreign Christian citizens also appear among these victims, including three citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, one Georgian citizen, and four South Korean citizens. The Islamic Republic government, which refers to possession of the Bible, books, and publications related to Christianity as contraband and unauthorized goods, in attacks carried out by security agents on Christian homes, has confiscated their Bibles and used them as evidence of crime in court. Furthermore, in the hacked documents of the judicial system, files related to the managers of Divar, Sheypoor, and Digikala websites are present, who are accused of damaging public morality and decency through advertising for the sale of missionary books and items for the purpose of commerce, which is certainly not surprising since the Islamic government has for decades referred to the existence of the Bible, especially in Persian, and other books related to Christianity, as unauthorized and contraband goods. According to these hacked documents, three dual-national individuals were also arrested in connection with Christianity, one of which relates to “Alexander B,” an 80-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen, with details in this file regarding his defense and complaint against case fabrication by the interrogator based on fictional and incorrect concepts and names. In these documents, Alexander B’s defense statement, which was submitted to the appellate court by his lawyers, is also present, which considers all charges, with evidence and reasoning and reference to law, as baseless and resulting from case fabrication by the interrogator, with hollow words. Alexander B’s lawyers, referring to the thousand-page file contained in five volumes regarding their client, stated: “After thorough review of the file and upon general observation, we found that a friendly gathering in which prayer and worship in the style of Christian religion took place, the interrogator in charge of the file gradually, by adding attributes such as pastor, Zionist, and soft war, intended to guide our client toward multiple criminal charges that would ultimately, with the conviction of the aforementioned, reach his final goal, which is the exchange of our client with Iranian prisoners in America.” Another document exists in which a judge references statements by Ali Khamenei and sources of emulation that have legitimized the persecutions. This judge quoted Ali Khamenei’s statements and stated: “Within the country through various methods, the foundations of people’s faith, especially the young generation, are being shaken. From the spread of unrestrained debauchery and obscenity to the promotion of false mysticism, the promotion of Bahaism, and the promotion of networks of house churches. These are actions that today, by the study, deliberation, and foresight of the enemies of Islam, are being carried out.” He also, quoting Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, says: “Today Wahhabism, Bahaism, and missionary Christianity are creating commotion in this country, house churches are creating commotion, Bahaism is determined, to the extent that it seeks to take control of the pharmacies of this realm. It is the duty of the government to stand against them. Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani have also expressed concern about the propaganda of the missionary sect and the activities of house churches and have warned officials.” “Mohammad Nasirpour,” Deputy Attorney General and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran and Administrator of the 33rd District Prosecutor’s Office of Tehran, also wrote in a letter to the head of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court: “Christianity, as one of the divine religions, has the largest statistical population among religions, comprising three main sects: Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, and their followers in Iran have Armenian and Assyrian ethnicities. In the field of threat assessment, Armenian and Assyrian Christians in the Catholic and Orthodox denominations have been aligned with the Islamic Revolution and are even considered an opportunity to advance the goals of the Islamic Revolution, but Armenian and Assyrian Christians in the Protestant denomination, with their missionary nature and mission of Christianizing Iran, with the aim of removing the pillar of Islamicity from the Islamic Republic system, are considered a security threat to the Islamic Revolution, so much so that one can say that Persian-speaking missionary movements are supported by fundamentalist and Zionist evangelical Christians.” The existence of these documents shows that judicial officials, without presenting any documents or evidence, with unfounded claims and accusations, have imprisoned many Christian citizens, and have not even provided a definition and explanation of fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. All of these accusations and fabrication of false cases against Christians occur while the Islamic Republic government has repeatedly used Armenian and Assyrian representatives in parliament and many religious leaders considered second-class citizens as a tool to confirm its claims regarding equal rights for religious and sectarian minorities. These individuals even take positions against other Christians who are considered bad Christians by the government and are unwilling to submit to the government’s demands and orders.