A Christian convert was arrested and Bibles, musical instruments and communication devices were confiscated in a raid by at least twenty plainclothes officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a gathering of Christians in Gatab in northern Iran’s Mazandaran province on 6 February. Around eighty Christians from the nearby cities of Gorgan and Babol had gathered at the event, which was held in a private garden.
The officers arrested Somayeh Rajabi (pictured) and confiscated Bibles, musical instruments and communication devices, demanding access to personal details and phone passwords. Mohabat News reports that the IRGC agents also conducted body searches, singling out those wearing cross necklaces and forcibly tearing them off, injuring several individuals. Agents reportedly prevented emergency medical personnel from treating the injured.
A day after her arrest, Somayeh was permitted a brief phone call to her family, informing them that she had been transferred to a prison in Sari, the capital of Mazandaran province, where she remains in detention. No official charges have been announced against her.
Iranian authorities often raid house-church gatherings and the homes of Christian converts and seize Bibles, crosses, musical instruments used for worship and other personal belongings.
At the launch of Article 18’s annual report in Geneva last month, former prisoner Amin Afshar-Naderi testified that a songbook he had used for leading worship “was cited in my court verdict as evidence of illegal Christian activities… even used as a justification for accusation of my leadership role in a house-church. In the reports about me, even playing music was described as a tool for misleading others, despite the fact that music is universally recognised in Christian worship as a means of glorifying God.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea, noted at the Geneva launch that “unsubstantiated national security-related crimes, along with penalties for taking Communion wine, gathering for prayer, Christmas celebrations, and even a picnic, effectively criminalise normal Christian practices and social activity, while restricting the freedoms of association, expression and the right to manifest their religion or belief, even in private.”
On the same day that Somayeh was arrested, intelligence agents re-arrested Christian convert Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Armenian-Iranian house-church leader Joseph Shabazian in the Tehran region and returned them to Evin Prison, where they had both previously been imprisoned.
(Article 18, Mohabat News)
Photo credit: Mohabat News