"Confiscation" of property belonging to a church by the "Imam's Command Executive Headquarters"

The website of the "Article 18 Christian Organization" says that a property belonging to the Rabbani Christian Congregation Church in Iran was confiscated last week by the "Imam's Decree Executive Headquarters."

According to this report, on Wednesday, March 6, officers from the "Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam's Command" set a three-day deadline to evacuate "Sharon Garden," a church property owned by the Council of Congregational Churches.

In a ruling issued earlier on July 4, 2015, the Third Branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court accused the Council of the Congregational Churches of Iran of having ties to the "CIA spy agency" and ordered the confiscation of a garden in favor of the "Imam's Command Executive Headquarters."

Sharon Garden, owned by the Council of Churches of the Congregation of the Rabbani of Iran, was purchased in the early 1950s. The council was officially registered as a church institution in Iran in 1974 and again in 1979 after the revolution.

Sharon Garden is located near Karaj, and according to the website of the "Article 18 Christian Organization," this property is currently worth about three million dollars.

It is said that the garden was used as a place for church camps by branches of the Congregational Church throughout the country.

As reported by Article 18, the ruling issued by the Revolutionary Court states: "The Council of the Rabbani Christian Congregation in Iran is a branch of the Philadelphia Church in America, which was formed with American funding and by the CIA to infiltrate the countries of the Islamic world, especially Iran, and conduct missionary activities."

In recent months, a number of evangelical Christians have been sentenced to long prison terms. In many cases, the charges have been “acting against national security by establishing and participating in house churches.”

Last July, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed concern about the persecution of Christians in Iran, citing the long prison sentences handed down to several Christian converts in less than two months.

Since the 2018 Iranian revolution, at least six church leaders have been killed in Iran, and hundreds of Christians have been interrogated and imprisoned. In addition, the printing of Christian Bibles in Persian has been banned, and some churches have been closed and Persian-language church services have been prevented.

In an interview with Kiarash Alipour, spokesperson for the "Article 18 Christian Organization" that defends the rights of Iranian Christians, I first asked him about the reason for the confiscation of this property.

Source: Radio Farda