Faith
Under Fire........
Hostile Anti-Christian Rhetoric Turns Up Heat on Iranian
Christians
Public statements against Christianity may indicate a rift between
political leaders based in Tehran (pictured) and religious leaders
in Qom.
Anti-Christian statements said to reflect leaders’ dismay with
house church growth.
LOS ANGELES, June 22 (CDN) — Increased public statements against
Christianity in Iran have intensified pressures on Christians,
sources said, but at their core they reflect Islamic leaders’
dismay with the growth of house churches and may signal dissension
within Iran’s leadership.
“The reality is most of the house churches are so hidden that the
government can’t do anything, and they know it,” said a regional
expert who requested anonymity. “They just see how the house
churches are still growing.”
The source said that since mass arrests at the beginning of this
year, Christians have been more cautious.
Another Iranian Christian, a pastor, said the comments likely
foretell more arrests.
“I believe that a new wave of persecution is underway,” he said.
“The authorities are in the process of evaluating the situation.”
Some sources told Compass the comments of Islamic leaders may
indicate a power struggle between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This bodes ill for
Christians and minorities in general, they said.
“When there is conflict in the government and division, then all
the minorities will have a hard time,” said another Christian
Iranian who requested anonymity. “If, for example, Ayatollah
[Mohammad Taghi Mesbah] Yazdi says ‘We have to end the Christian
movement,’ as he said a few weeks ago, that is enough for his
followers in the government to go and arrest Christians.”
In May Yazdi said authorities have not done enough to quench the
growth of Christian house churches, considering the “massive
funding” the government has spent toward that end. Yazdi made his
statement in a meeting with the heads of the Islamic Propagation
Center of Qom. His statement was originally publicized on the
Iranian Student News Agency website, according to Iranian
Christian news agency Mohabat News.
Given the “the growth of Christianity in some of the provinces,
the actions taken by the government and the judicial authorities,
and the massive funding of such programs, the desired results have
not been achieved, and this is partly due to the undisciplined
attitude and lack of proper supervision of these programs,” Yazdi
reportedly said.
Yazdi suggested that the government set up a central system to
monitor and coordinate the suppression of churches.
Another Christian source said the political situation in Iran is
too complicated to predict future arrests on the basis of
religious leaders’ public statements. The source, who requested
anonymity, said that Yazdi is one of Iran’s most influential
clerics and receives government funds to carry out his work. This
year he has received a fraction of the funds he has in the past.
His public statement could be a request for more money, the source
said.
“Maybe he’s just asking for more money,” said the source. “There
are elements that indicate there could be another wave of arrests,
but maybe he’s saying something different: ‘We should be changing
our tactics [against Christians], so I need more money.’”
Today Mohabat reported that a faculty member of Mehdi Seminary in
Qom claimed that “the enemies of Islam” are providing US$50,000 a
year to some house churches. The general director of comparative
religious studies, Hojatoleslam Tarashioon, was speaking at the
seminary in Qom, the country’s Shiite center and breeding ground
for Iran’s Islamic clerics and leaders.
“This cult in recent years has become active, and today they work
under the pretext of cultural and educational centers and have
expanded their activities in several provinces,” Tarashioon said,
according to Mohabat.
Religious leaders also publicly attacked the country’s underground
house church movement last fall. In October, Khamenei said Iran’s
enemies wanted to shake the country’s religious and societal
values through the spread of Baha’ism and a network of Christian
house churches.
Experts believe these public attacks on Christians, and
particularly Khamenei’s, resulted in authorities arresting over
120 Iranian Christians between December and January. Most of those
detained were converts from Islam.
Still in Prison
Of those arrested at the beginning of this year, all but three
were released, according to a recent report from the Elam
Ministries.
Farshid Fathi, 32, has been incarcerated since Dec. 26, 2010 at
the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Authorities refuse to release
him and have pressed no formal charges. They have kept Fathi in
solitary confinement for months and have used psychological
torture methods on him to extract more information on Christian
networks in Iran. They have allowed him to speak to his family
only once a week, according to Mohabat. Fathi is married and has
two children.
Authorities have kept Abrahim Firuzi in prison at Robat Karim near
Tehran since Jan. 8, according to Elam. They charged him with
evangelizing, keeping many copies of the Bible and apostasy, or
leaving Islam, reported the ministry. His family is unable to pay
bail.
Another Christian, Noorollah Ghabitizadeh, has been in prison
since Dec. 24, 2010, in Defzul in western Iran, according to Elam.
A fourth Christian, Masoud Delijani, was arrested on March 17 in
Kermanshah and remains in prison.
Ethnic Armenian Christian Vahik Abrahamian has been in prison
since Sept. 4, 2010. On May 1 authorities released his wife, Sonia
Keshish-Avanesian, who was imprisoned with him, according to Elam.
Abrahamian also spent two months in prison between February and
April of last year. He was released on bail and re-arrested in
September.
Yousef Naderkhani, a Christian from Rasht, has been in prison
since October 2009. Authorities found him guilty of apostasy on
Nov. 13, 2010, and handed him the death penalty. His lawyer has
filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, and Nadarkhani is awaiting
a trial date. Authorities have allegedly treated Nadarkhani
harshly, both physically and mentally.
On May 31, authorities arrested another Christian, Behnam Irani of
Karaj, according to a reliable source.
Iran’s Constitution gives Christians “protected” religious
minority status, but in practice they face substantial societal
discrimination, according to the U.S. Department of State’s
International Religious Freedom Report 2010.