Injustices Inflicted on Christians Since the Victory of the Islamic Revolution Until Now

Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1357 until now, religiously dissenting individuals have been under pressure, assault, harassment, and persecution by the Islamic Republic government. Christians, Bahá’ís, Jews, Zoroastrians, Sunni Muslims, Gonabadi Dervishes, and Muslims who have converted to Christianity or other religions have not been spared from suppression, harassment, and persecution by the system, to the extent that many of them, particularly Bahá’ís, Christians, and Jews, have preferred fleeing to staying in Iran and have taken the path of emigration. Many others who have remained in Iran continue to face harassment, oppression, and torment by the government.

Unfortunately, Iranian Muslims who convert to Christianity have paid an extremely high price, and in some cases have lost their lives in this process. After the victory of the 57 revolution, in addition to attacks on Bahá’ís, the killing of priests and harassment of Christians began. The first priest victim was “Aristotle Siahkali” in Shiraz, who was killed in a horrific manner just one week after the Islamic Revolution.

Bishop “Hassan Dehqani” was also shot five times while sleeping in the city of Isfahan but survived this horrific assassination attempt. In 1359, “Bahram Dehqani,” the son of Bishop Dehqani, was kidnapped in Tehran and shot to death. “Manouchehr Afghani” was also killed in 1367 in Isfahan by the Council of Protestant Priests.

The harassment of Christians continued until 1371, when Priest “Hossein Soudmend” from the Evangelical Church in Mashhad was sentenced to death on charges of apostasy and the sentence was carried out. Priest Soudmend was the first priest to be sentenced to death after a court trial, and his execution was the first to take place openly and publicly rather than through assassination.

In 1365, Priest “Mehdi Dibaj,” who was imprisoned, was also sentenced to death in a court in Sari on charges of apostasy. The Christian community in Iran, particularly Priest “Haig Hovsepian-Mehr,” made great efforts to save him, to the extent that Priest Hovsepian, the leader of the Evangelical churches, launched international campaigns and drew the attention of Christians and world public opinion to this issue, so that his humanitarian efforts played a very important and effective role in Priest Dibaj’s release. Priest Hovsepian wrote a letter to the Council of Evangelical Churches for participation in an international appeal. In this letter, he stated: “The matter is as follows: our brother Mehdi Dibaj has been sentenced to death by the Sharia judge of Sari. Dibaj sent me a copy of his death sentence, which is clear evidence that according to Islamic law he is an apostate and should be executed. They want to free themselves from the grip of only the Protestant churches and we have become the best targets for them. I commend your goal for taking action and our executive office has also concluded that the policy of ‘silence and waiting’ is a satanic policy. Even if we die or are imprisoned for our beliefs, we want to make all Christians in the world understand what befalls our brothers and sisters in a country that claims to be religious.”

Priest Hovsepian’s letter caused the Islamic Republic to overturn Priest Mehdi Dibaj’s death sentence, and finally Priest Dibaj was released on December 26, 1372, after 7 years of imprisonment; however, three days after his release, Priest Haig Hovsepian-Mehr was kidnapped and disappeared by the Islamic Republic’s secret police on the way to Mehrabad Airport. His family, after 11 days of relentless effort to find Priest Haig, finally received his mutilated corpse from the forensic medicine morgue, which had been cut by 26 stab wounds. His killers had created a deep hole in his chest, directly over his heart, with a sharp instrument. His brutal murder was carried out as revenge, a lesson, and to create fear among the people.

Six months after Priest Haig’s murder, Priest “Tataeus Mikaelian,” the head of the Council of Protestant Priests, disappeared after leaving his home in Tehran, and after a few days his son was summoned to identify his father’s body, who had been killed by several shots to the head. His killers had placed a piece of paper with the address of Priest Mehdi Dibaj’s body on Priest Mikaelian’s corpse. The body of Priest Mehdi Dibaj, who had been killed by stab wounds, was also found in forests around Karaj. After the murders of Priest Mikaelian and Priest Dibaj, security officials, by arranging fabricated confessions, identified three young women as members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization responsible for these murders.

In 1375, Priest “Mohammad Bagher Yousefi,” nicknamed “Revanbakhsh,” a member of the Evangelical churches, was also hanged in the Halqeh-Aviz forest.

The killing of priests and church members and their harassment and the confiscation of their property continued until November 2005, when “Qorban Dordi-Turani,” a member of the house churches, was also killed, and his family found his body drowned in blood with his throat cut in front of their home.

After that, in June 2007, “Mohammad Jabbari” and “Mohammad Ali Jafarzadeh,” members of the house churches, were also killed. In 2008, “Abbas Amiri,” who before converting to Christianity had participated in the Iran-Iraq War as a Basij member and had been wounded, was killed by security forces in Malard, Isfahan, and three days after his death, his wife also died as a result of injuries from torture by security officers.

In addition to these individuals, many other Christians are also constantly subject to persecution and harassment by the Islamic Republic system and are deprived of the right to education, suitable employment, and many other civil rights, and many of them are even imprisoned. Every year, on the eve of the birth of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the new Gregorian year, many Christians, especially Muslims who have converted to Christianity and are engaged in worship and prayer in house churches, are arrested by regime agents and convicted on frivolous charges.

The Islamic Republic system, during the 45 years since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, despite committing crimes against religious minorities, continues to harass and persecute them, in violation of its signing of the human rights treaty and freedom of religion and belief.