Building of Jama’at Rabbani Church in Gorgan Put Up for Auction
Building of Jama’at Rabbani Church in Gorgan Put Up for Auction
In recent weeks, a banner was placed on the building of the Jama’at Rabbani Church announcing the sale of the building under special conditions and with facilities, which provoked numerous reactions.
This church is classified on the website of an institution under Ali Khamenei’s supervision as “cultural-religious.” The church, which has been officially registered and operated as a church since 1969 with legal permits, was managed by some of the most prominent Protestant Christian leaders. After the suspicious killing of the church’s last leader in 1996, the church was also closed.
Now the property, which was confiscated by a state institution and, according to residents of Gorgan and Christians, was stolen, after no action was taken following the placement of a banner for the sale of the property, was finally auctioned on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, on the website of the Executive Headquarters of Ali Khamenei’s Decree (Organization of State Properties and Real Estate) for 63 billion tomans.
According to Article 18 organization, one of the leaders of this church who was responsible for the church for some time, said in an exclusive interview with Article 18: “After hearing the news about the advertisement for the sale of Gorgan Church, the same pain and the same bad feeling came to me that I experienced a few years ago when the confiscation and seizure of Sharon Garden (church property in Karaj) happened, or when I first heard the news of the confiscation of the residential home of one of the founders of our churches.”
He added: “The bitter truth is that the Islamic Republic government does not want or cannot officially recognize the existence of Persian-speaking Christians.”
The Islamic Republic regime has subjected Christians to pressure and persecution throughout all years of its rule, even though the holding of religious ceremonies by religious minorities in Iran has been officially recognized and this agreement has been accepted and signed by the system.
