Violation of Christians’ Rights in Iran and Arrests Double Compared to Last Year
Four Christian organizations presented their annual report on the violation of Christians’ rights in Iran.
Four institutions (Open Doors), (CSW), (MEC) and the human rights organization “Article 18” published their fifth annual report on the situation of Christians in Iran, which states that contrary to the claims of the Islamic Republic, there is no religious freedom in Iran.
This report was published on February 19, coinciding with the forty-fourth anniversary of the murder of Reverend “Aristos Siah”, the first priest who was killed by the Islamic Republic eight days after the triumph of the revolution due to his religious beliefs.
In one section of this report, it is noted that Christianity is one of the religions officially recognized in the Islamic Republic’s constitution, including Armenian and Assyrian Christians, while converts whose religion is not officially recognized by the Islamic Republic continue to be systematically deprived of performing their religious rites, which demonstrates a violation of international conventions on civil and political rights that the Islamic Republic had previously signed.
The report also emphasizes that performing religious rites other than Shia Islam is considered a threat to the Islamic Republic. Some Christians have even been sentenced to ten years in prison for holding religious ceremonies in house churches.
According to the report of the four aforementioned institutions, the arrest of Christians in Iran has not only decreased compared to 2021 but has doubled, rising from 59 people in 2021 to 134 people in 2022. This is while during Iran’s recent nationwide protests, some Christians were accused and imprisoned for actions against national security and propaganda against the regime.
According to reports from the Open Doors institution, out of every seven Christians, one has faced discrimination and harassment. Last year, approximately 4,500 Christians in Christian-persecuting countries were imprisoned, of which 80 were in Iran.
According to the reports of these four Christian institutions, Iran was identified as the eighth most Christian-persecuting country in the world in the current year. The concern of these institutions has increased with “Ibrahim Raisi” coming to power as head of government and changes in some articles of the Islamic Penal Code, as it had previously warned of the aggravation of the situation of Christians in Iran.
