Iran’s Christians experiencing ‘1984-style nightmare’

The persecution of Christians in Iran has echoes of Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, religious freedom advocates have said.

That is the warning in a latest report by Article 18 in partnership with Open Doors UK, Middle East Concern and CSW. 

The report, Faceless Victims – Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran, was launched in Parliament this week and says that Christians are being subjected to high tech surveillance, including spyware that can extract data, photographs, screenshots of conversations, and recordings of video calls from applications like WhatsApp and Telegram without the user knowing.

One shocking incident was recounted by Iranian Christian convert Touraj Shirani: “We were talking once, when one in all my daughters asked, sadly: ‘Why won’t they only leave us alone?’ That very moment, the Ministry of Intelligence called us and said: ‘Shut up!'”

Detained Christians have described gruelling interrogations where they were put under extreme pressure to recant their faith. 

One such Christian was Mojtaba Keshavarz Ahmadi, also a convert from Islam, who said: “My interrogators told me frankly and boldly: ‘You haven’t any rights and no alternative because your religion has already been chosen for you.'”

Others had to participate in lengthy Islamic “re-education” sessions, even after they’d been acquitted. 

Christian convert Nima Rezaei recalled the authorities attempting to catch her out in a re-education session that was filmed. 

“We talked with this theologian for a couple of hours, and it felt just like the whole aim was to attempt to coax answers from us that may cause us further trouble if we were arrested,” she said. 

The report also describes Christians being offered money to stay inside the Christian community and inform on other believers. 

Iman Shahvari, a Christian convert, said she was once approached by the authorities and asked “to cooperate”. When she refused, they threatened to kill her.  

According to Article 18’s Mansour Borji, “The parallels between Orwell’s ‘1984’ and the experiences of Iranian Christians usually are not mere fiction but a harrowing reality.

“Christians have long been surveilled and violently pressured in Iran, it is the extent of this which has grown, especially the usage of latest sophisticated types of cyber surveillance that’s so shocking.

“It’s a call to the worldwide community to recognise and reply to the systemic suppression faced by Christians in Iran.”