Religious reeducation didn’t work on Esmaeil Narimanpour.
First arrested by the Iranian government in 2021, he and 7 other converts to Christianity were cleared by the state prosecutor, who stated that their change of faith was not against the law under Iranian law. The following yr, he was ordered with several others to attend ten sessions with Muslim clerics to “guide” him back to Islam.
Last December, Narimanpour was arrested again, this time on Christmas Eve.
The case is considered one of several highlighted by “Faceless Victims: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran,” the 2024 annual report released jointly by advocacy organizations Article18, Open Doors, Middle East Concern, and CSW and presented on the British Parliament.
“This is an important example of agencies working together,” stated Mervyn Thomas, founding president of CSW (formerly Christian Solidarity Worldwide), on the event. “Iran claims to make sure freedom of faith or belief for all; but that’s nonsense, as this report shows.”
Not yet convicted, Narimanpour is considered one of 166 Christians arrested and 103 detained by Iran through the 2023 reporting period. Another 22 have been sentenced, and 21 imprisoned.
While sentencings decreased by 8 from 2022, this yr witnessed an extra 32 arrests and 41 detainments. Article18 has tracked incidents in Iran since 2015, when arrests were at a peak of 193. Detainments have fluctuated yearly between 26 in 2018 and this yr’s high, while sentencings ranged between 12 in 2015 and a high of 57 in 2020.
The British parliament gathering included testimony from former prisoner Farhad Sabokrooh. Arrested together with his wife in 2011, the couple served one yr in prison and had their previously registered church closed down after 25 years. Accused of being a spy for Israel and the United States, he told the gathering that he was forced right into a false confession, sentenced without his lawyer present, and once released was threatened with death if he didn’t leave Iran inside one month.
“My plea to you is to carry the regime accountable,” Sabokrooh stated. He later noted, “They in some way feel Christians are orphans and haven’t any one to guard them. We should reverse that.”
The 36-page sixth report was released on February 19 to coincide with the forty fifth anniversary of the murder of Arastoo Sayyah, the primary Christian killed for his faith within the Islamic Republic of Iran—eight days after the revolution began. It notes that while the structure formally guarantees the rights of Christians to “perform their religious rites and ceremonies,” in practice this refers only to the ethnic Armenian and Assyrian communities, that are prevented from conducting services in Farsi (Persian) or otherwise promoting their faith.
Their population of fifty,000–80,000 is dwarfed by the report’s estimation of as many as 800,000 Iranian Christians overall. And while Iran lacks a law against apostasy, the report lists the six criminal code provisions often used to charge Christians with religious blasphemy or propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
This only makes it “hurt much more,” the report quotes Nazila Ghanea, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of faith or belief, as saying ultimately yr’s presentation on the UK parliament.
“Your [real] crime is that you just are Christian,” stated Ghanea. “Your crime is that you just gather with other Christians in house churches, and your crime is that you just converted.”
This yr the event was hosted by Fiona Bruce, the UK prime minister’s special envoy for freedom of faith or belief (FoRB).
“All of us listed below are dedicated to protecting FoRB around the globe,” she said, “and particularly for Christians.”
Once arrested, they’re further abused by the Iranian government.
Iran signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1975. The report cited violations against 11 of its articles and a complete of 19 subpoints. Shahnaz Jizan—wife of Sabokrooh—was detained without charges. Anooshavan Avedian was denied a hearing in person. Touraj Shirani was kept in a tiny cell with dirty blankets. Ali Kazemian was tortured.
“In all those years my biggest fear was all the time for my husband and children,” Jizan stated. “If they left home, I didn’t know in the event that they would come back.”
Image: Courtesy of Article18
Shahnaz Jizan (left) and Touraj Shirani (right)
Each of those individuals is pictured within the report. But within the “overwhelming majority” of cases, Christians select to not publicize their stories in hope of receiving a greater legal consequence. These faceless victims, per the report title, are represented within the collective.
But the Christian organizations sponsoring the report consider advocacy will be effective. A death sentence in 2010 was not carried out as a result of international pressure. Furthermore, a judge is quoted as saying that the one reason the civil code lacks an apostasy provision is concern for Iran’s global standing.
“Iran does care about image and desires to play in the general public arena,” stated Mansour Borji, research and advocacy director for Article18, advocating sanctions against offending judges. “They don’t want the negative publicity.”
Several Christians were pardoned in 2023, though the report notes that almost all were already near their maximum term of imprisonment. And on the identical day that one Iranian-Armenian pastor was let loose, one other was arrested as a warning to recognized Christian communities that they have to not preach to Muslims.
Other trends indicate that, as with the similarly violated Bahai community, arrests of Christians are likely to are available waves, with increased surveillance of suspected converts and people released from detention. Bible distribution can be a very sensitive activity, as one-third of those arrested had multiple copies of Scripture of their possession.
The report also features a timeline of rights violations in 2023. In addition to non-public accounts of arrest, detainment, pardon, and release, it describes the March designation of sale of a historic Assemblies of God church constructing, founded by Haik Hovsepian, who was martyred in 1994.
The pattern is familiar, stated the report. Churches are forced to shut, later are quietly confiscated, after which appropriated by the Iranian state. May marked the tenth anniversary of the forced closure of the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran, which was then the most important Farsi-speaking congregation in Iran.
Only 4 such fellowships remain open—to those that can prove their Christian faith predates the Islamic revolution of 1979. No further membership is permitted. Other churches belonging to ethnic minority Christians remain closed since COVID-19.
Image: Courtesy of Article18
Nima Rezaei (left) and Parham Mohammadpour (right)
Member of parliament Jim Shannon, a part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for FoRB, responded in tears to the “hard reading” of details within the report.
“As a Christian I’ll say crucial thing is prayer,” he stated on the gathering. “And I pray fervently for our brothers and sisters in Iran, including those that I won’t ever meet.”
But the report also issued several recommendations to Iran. They included:
- Amend Article 13 of Iran’s structure to increase civil rights to convert communities, consistent with ICCPR Article 18.
- Drop charges and free individuals imprisoned for his or her faith, in keeping with Iran’s Supreme Court decision that deemed church activity lawful.
- Reopen closed churches, return confiscated properties, and make clear where Farsi-speaking Christians can worship of their mother tongue.
The report exhorts the international community to carry Iran accountable for its violations and to acknowledge the “well-founded fear of experiencing persecution” when considering refugee testimony and asylum requests. Turkey is highlighted as a hosting nation where Iranian Christian converts are vulnerable to being forcibly returned back to Iran.
Until then, the religious reeducation attempts proceed.
Hamed Ashouri was required to attend the course with a member of the family after refusing a suggestion to act as a government informant. Nima Rezaei had his session filmed because the cleric grilled her for incriminating information. Two anonymous individuals were threatened with seven-year sentences through the classes. And Parham Mohammadpour, like others, was forced to sign a pledge that he wouldn’t evangelize.
But not before he gave his testimony: “Even when you cut me into pieces, I won’t abandon my faith in Jesus Christ.”
