Granting Asylum to Iranian Christian Converts
“Robert Clark,” director of support for the Alliance 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 further stated: Iran’s government has a sophisticated system to identify all Iranians who have converted to Christianity, even identifying those who practice Christianity in secret.
“Roger Soriano,” director of the Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, also said on this matter: Asylum requests from individuals who are threatened with persecution due to changing their religion should be approved, and Iran’s laws regarding religious conversion are a clear example of human rights violations, and apostasy from Islam in that country is punishable by imprisonment and death.
It should be noted that the Islamic Republic was recognized in 2015 as the ninth most anti-Christian country in the world. Dr. Ahmad Shahid, the UN Special Rapporteur, has also repeatedly warned in his annual reports about violations of the rights of religious minorities in Iran such as Yarsanis, Baháʼís, Christians, and Sunni Muslims, and has declared it to remain critical.
Iran’s placement in the red zone, which indicates the endless persecution of Christians, shows that Iran’s situation, given Hassan Rouhani’s promises before the presidential election regarding the rights of religious minorities, has not only remained unchanged but has worsened.
Under the Islamic Republic government, hundreds of Christians and converts have been interrogated and imprisoned. The printing of the Christian Bible in the Persian language has been banned. Many official churches have been closed and converted into home churches, and the worship and religious services of Christian converts are conducted in secret, and if discovered, create many difficulties for them. Government media, from state radio and television to newspapers and official and semi-official news websites, also try to defame Christian converts and prejudice Iranians against Christians and converts. The Islamic Republic constantly accuses Christians of spying for Israel and calls them “Zionist Christians.” It bans any contact with churches outside the country.
