Statement by Over 300 Christian Citizens Condemning Suppression of Protesters
Hrana News Agency – Over 300 Christian citizens in Iran issued a joint statement expressing solidarity with nationwide protests and condemning the suppression of protesters by the Islamic Republic. In part of their statement, they wrote: “Inside and outside Iran, in both virtual and real spaces, we remain united with one another and continue.”
According to Hrana News Agency, the news outlet of Iran’s human rights activists collective, 309 Christian citizens in Iran released a statement expressing their solidarity with nationwide protests.
In part of this statement, while recalling the violent treatment of the Islamic Republic toward Christian citizens over the past four decades, it stated: “We stand together and remain and we do not fear. Just as we regard ourselves as part of society’s body and not separate from it, as before, in nationwide protests and people’s rightful demands, both inside and outside Iran, in virtual and real spaces, we remain united with one another. We continue. And we are partners in bearing the cost of the struggle for Iran’s freedom from captivity and darkness.”
The full text of this statement follows exactly as below:
“We are deeply saddened and angered by the murder of Mahsa Amini. As before, our hearts have ached and bled from the countless killings of freedom-loving women and men. But we do not believe sadness alone is sufficient, and instead of the cliché of ‘verbal condolences,’ we consider ‘practical action’ necessary and essential in response to this bloody and infected 43-year-old cesspool.
“For consecutive days, the brave and fighting people of Iran have taken to the streets across Iran against oppression, tyranny, and dictatorship. Women and men, old and young, from different ethnicities and religions, cry out with one voice for freedom, equality, and justice. A loud cry that emerges from throats full of pain and suffering that for over forty years have endured suppression and suffocation.
“Despite the regime directing gun barrels and tear gas at people and narrowing internet access, in these days we witness more than ever the courage, devotion, and unity of people toward complete revolution; revolution against oppression and injustice that seeks not only the destruction of women but the destruction of humanity itself.
“We Christians too, from the first day the Islamic Republic set foot in our country, have not been safe from its brutal suppression. From serial killings to imprisonment, torture, humiliation, rejection, whipping, exile, forced covering, deprivation of privacy even in our own homes, deprivation of work and education, confiscation of property and destruction of our churches—which are only part of the regime’s relentless effort to break us—we have endured, yet we have not retreated. For our Christian beliefs and conviction in freedom and freedom of thought and conscience, by saying a firm ‘no’ to ‘forced religion,’ we have accepted for years the punishment of our steadfastness and resistance, ourselves and our families, with pride.
“We all share this pain. Our pain is from the wounds inflicted by the sharp claws of tyranny upon our bodies; bodies that in these days bleed freedom ever more loudly with our entire being. So we stand together and remain and we do not fear. Just as we regard ourselves as part of society’s body and not separate from it, as before, in nationwide protests and people’s rightful demands, both inside and outside Iran, in virtual and real spaces, we remain united with one another. We continue. And we are partners in bearing the cost of the struggle for Iran’s freedom from captivity and darkness.”
Through this statement, Christians condemn the suppression of people while expressing their solidarity and practical participation in nationwide popular protests in Iran.
The Kehama campaign (abbreviation for ‘Church of Christians’ Rights’) began its activities from 2018 at the initiative of a group of Christians and civil activists inside Iran. The main substance and content of this campaign is the necessity of stopping violence against Christians, advancing it through addressing one of the major problems of Christians (namely, the lack of church and security, which according to ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ is among basic human needs).
Parsa Ahmadi / Shahin Ahmadi / Mehyar Ahmadi / Osman Asadi / Malika Eskandari / Omid Afshar / Amin Afshar Naderi / Parham Afshar / Arvin Afkar / Elna Amiri / Mona Bavi / Arezo Bakhshi / Pooya Barati / Pooria Bozorgniah / Mehran Bakhtiari / Fateh Bahdel / Banafsheh Behzadian / Sina Bighi / Mohsen Bighi / Shirin Parandavar / Milad Panahee / Amin Pahlvani / Sahar Piram / Hassan Turkmen / Mohsen Taghizadeh / Rihaneh Tosoli / Hananeh Tofighi / Arash Sabetghadam / Donia Javideih / Soheil Javid / Shapoor Jozi / Shirin Jozi / Solmaz Hejati / Nazanin Hagighat Parast / Azam Heidari / Maryam Heidari / Payam Kharaman / Sam Khosravi / Roshanak Khamsih / Rooh Khoshshamadi / Aysan Khoshniyat / Shokofeh Rafti / Younes Rahmati / Mabina Rahim Zadeh / Behnam Rahimi Sartelli / Kimia Rastgaar / Keyvan Rostami / Mahan Rasoli / Golrokh Rezazadeh / Amir Rezaee / Sogand Rezaee / Mostafa Rezaee / Erfan Rafiei / Shaghayegh Ramazani / Mahsa Ramazani / Ismail Rahpoor / Parviz Riahi / Maryam Darkhshan / Danial Dehghan / Sima Dehghan / Matin Dehganpoor / Baran Zakeri / Peter Zaraei / Masoud Zahedi / Sima Zangeneh / Abbas Sarjaloo Nezhad / Sana Sarmadi / Halma Sarmad / Elnaz Saedat / Shahla Saadipoor / Mani Shaebani / Asma Shafii / Hessam Shams / Ali Shirazi / Maryam Salehi / Rihaneh Talebzadeh / Parasto Zariaftash / Mojtaba Zariaftash / Ehsan Azizi / Parvin Fateh / Raihane Fatehi / Mabina Fathi / Farzad Fatoohi / Behrouz Farahani / Hamed Faraji / Ibrahim Forutan / Niloofar Farhadi / Parasto Farhangi Pour / Kiana Fallah Doost / Kavian Fallah Mohammadi / Aria Fallahi / Maryam Fallahi / Reza Qodsi Qomi / Hadis Qashqaei / Farnoosh Qalandaria / Shirin Kazemzadeh / Perinaz Kermani / Leila Karami / Bashir Kamali / Mehran Golrokh / Shervin Majd / Ashkan Mostoufi / Parsa Mostafavi / Morteza Massoumi / Ismail Maghribinezad / Anahita Moghadam / Sarah Mohammadpoor / Sezavar Mohammadi / Shokofeh Mohammadi / Leila Mahmoodi / Marie Mohammadi / Shabnam Malkmohammadi / Bahare Naderi / Zahra Nejati / Aida Najafloo / Atena Nasiri / Ashkan Nehaandi / Kamil Novaee / Kamran Norfazli / Arslan Vaezi / Bahare Varste / Arash Hedayat / Mohammad Hedayat / Vahid Yegane / Shadi Madadi / Elham Sadeghloo / Elham Kazemee / Elah Azari / Roshanak Ghaffuri / Saba Sadeghloo / Sharare Ghareeb / Bahar Valee Beigi / Raena Rooh Parvar / Hamid Ismaili / Setare Shahmuradi / Nada Rahmani / Narges Bazargan / Anoushe Ghariban / Atena Amini / Anahit Mortazaei / Baharnaz Soleimani / Parisa Alavi / Paria Ghazi Zadeh / Chekavok Shirazi / Samin Roustai / Ghazal Hejati / Golshid Mehrani / Mehshid Ighbalniah / Mahsa Banitalabi / Mona Askari / Nadia Ghajarlo / Negar Bakhtiari / Negar Mousavi / Negin Bardbar / Shabnam Rasoolpoor / Faramarz Selim Zadeh / Mehrnoosh Foroughi / Niki Majallali / Fargol Emami / Helena Salimi / Atoosa Mirzai / Azar Saeidian / Azadeh Salim / Azita Ashrafnejad / Alale Babaei / Bemani Ahmadipoor / Baharak Hashemi / Amir Arsalan / Nilo Jaffari / Mithaam Khalili / Rambad Sadeghian / Arslan Khanloo / Trane Zaraati / Saghar Fathinizhad / Hadishe Khani / Rababe Nemati / Hasna Javaanmard / Taha Zarinpoor / Nastaran Ghaedi / Nastaran Mirzaaqaei / Mina Farazar / Nasrin Khiatazadeh / Rasool Bahraiee / Alireza Hermez / Nima Sharif / Pegah Mirzadeh / Shahrrokh Afzali / Soheil Jabaryan / Mobin Shokrallahi / Mohsen Radmanesh / Parham Azarian / Peyman Aslani / Amir Ghorbani / Omid Tayebi / Saeed Khoini / Milad Chamani / Ahmad Zand / Roozbeh Shiravan / Kamran Mehryar / Romina Aghai / Nafiseh Abdollahzadeh / Yousef Khanipoor / Negar Rastak / Mahtab Farrokhzad / Kasri Rahmanian / Afshin Ahangrani / Ahura Miralvand / Yashar Tayeb / Kaveh Yousefi / Saman Nikmanesh / Iman Shirkani / Ramin Asadi / Samira Ghaffarnezad / Sorosh Arabbnia / Soherab Abdi / Hanieh Kooshanfar / Fereydoon Farschi / Hedieh Rashidi / Dorsa Hosseinzadeh / Fariborz Roshanzamir / Naser Zandi / Kambiz Pakzad / Dariush Mohabbizadeh / Aadel Farshadi / Habibeh Abbasi / Bahman Saber / Shahrzad Meini / Behnam Darvish / Sepideh Meridi / Pejman Shahmir / Fahimeh Roshan / Komand Zarabi / Shakiba Fakoor / Sahar Karimi / Sara Behrang / Naghmeh Golestani / Payam Sabouri / Kourosh Etesammi / Asal Molai / Mahor Rabaei / Sofia Moghadam / Moradi Ezdiari / Shahyar Moghadam Nia / Faezeh Poorkazem / Ghazal Kianuosh Rad / Hadi Yazdani / Tara Ghanbari / Maryam Safroundi / Sama Akbari / Zahra Ranjbar / Mehri Torabi / Aylar Malkezadeh / Sasan Rad / Farnaz Abteahi / Babak Ahmadpoor / Behrad Mokhtari / Davoud Pouyanfar / Shima Jahani / Mehrzad Safa / Semaneh Hatef Nia / Sarah Nabati / Maryam Haghtolob / Saheb Aziz Nia / Bagher Hosseinian / Ketayoun Poorsalehi / Kouthar Faraji Vand / Raha Ghassemi / Farzaneh Melk / Amin Kia / Mitham Kianfar / Kianush Mehrab / Mehrsa Bayati / Danial Mirzai / Susan Dara / Nada Dosti / Behzad Solhjoo / Mandana Yaghubi / Mojgan Nazmi / Ava Samangan / Navid Ezzati / Sadegh Haghani / Hamid Momtaz / Farshte Azadakia / Firozan Hedayati / Azam Mohajeri / Soheil Taghaddomi / Elnaz Mahdavi / Sadaf Faridouni / Davoud Asadi / Rooh Angiz Kiani / Maryam Keshvari / Yashar Komangar / Nima Goodarzi / Shakila Abdi / Gilda Kamali / Sam Yarahmadi / Poone Nouri / Donia Rezaeian / Donia Javideih / Parsa Mostafavi / Nina Ulson Aslani / Shahram Alipoor / Fouad Salamat / Aref Azizi / Sahar Maleki / Siavash Norouzi / Fariba Aqamiri / Sepehr Motamedi
The September 2022 protests are referred to as nationwide protests that began on September 16 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini as a result of the actions of the moral policing police force in Tehran, and continue to this day.
For viewing the latest developments in nationwide protests, please refer to this link.
Source: Hrana
