Granting asylum to Iranian Christian converts
Robert Clark, the advocacy director of the Coalition for Defending Freedom (ADF), said in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (CNA): Iranians who have left Islam and converted to Christianity (Christian converts) face serious danger. He also added: The Iranian government has a robust system in place to identify all Iranians who have converted to Christianity, and even those Christians who practice Christianity secretly.
Roger Severino, director of the Center on Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, also said in this regard: "The asylum applications of people who are threatened with persecution due to religious conversion should be approved, and Iran's laws regarding religious conversion are a clear example of human rights violations, and returning from Islam in that country is considered apostasy and faces the risks of imprisonment and death."
It should be noted that the Islamic Republic was recognized as the ninth most anti-Christian country in the world in 2015. Dr. Ahmad Shahid, the UN Special Rapporteur, has also consistently warned in his annual report about the violation of the rights of religious minorities in Iran, such as Yarsans, Baha'is, Christians, and Sunni Muslims, and has declared it a crisis.
Iran's position on the red line, which indicates extreme persecution of Christians, has not only changed, but has also worsened, given Hassan Rouhani's promises before the presidential election regarding the rights of religious minorities.
In the Islamic Republic, hundreds of Christians and converts were interrogated and imprisoned. The printing of the Christian Bible in Persian has been banned. Many official churches have been closed and turned into house churches. Christian converts hold their religious services in secret, which creates many problems for them if they are identified. Similarly, state media, from the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation to official and semi-official newspapers and news sites, also try to make Iranian public opinion skeptical of Christians and converts by accusing them of Christian converts. The Islamic Republic constantly accuses Christians of spying for Israel and calls them Zionist Christians, and prohibits any connection with churches abroad.
