On 20 January a joint annual report was published by Article 18, Open Doors, Middle East Concern and Christian Solidarity Worldwide concerning human rights violations against Christians in Iran. It was entitled “The Tip of the Iceberg” to reflect the fact that many cases do not come to light.
The new report states that last year ninety-six Christians were sentenced to a combined 263 years in prison, compared with 22 Christians sentenced to a total of 43½ years in 2023. The reason for the significant increase is given as being partly due to the “huge uptick in arrests in the second half of 2023, which required judicial processing”. However there was also a remarkable increase in long prison sentences for individuals, with five Christians receiving 10-year prison terms and one Christian receiving a 15-year sentence for their religious activities.
An increase was noted in the confiscation of Christians’ properties and the targeting of their finances, as arrested Christians and their lawyers were increasingly questioned about having received funds from abroad. The report explains, “The Iranian government seems to have intensified its efforts to isolate and financially undermine the Christian community as part of a broader strategy to suppress its growth and influence. Making financial donations, charitable offerings, or paying tithes to support church activities are standard practices for Christians worldwide, but such activities have been criminalised by Iran’s Revolutionary Courts.”
Leaked files
In 2024 it became clear that the Christian NGOs have only been able to report on a fraction of human right violations against Christians nationwide, when the anti-Iranian government hacker group Edaalate Ali leaked the case files of over 3 million prosecutions from the Tehran judiciary’s website. The data contained the cases of at least 327 Christians prosecuted in Tehran between July 2008 and January 2023. Almost 60% of cases in the leaked files were not previously known to the authors of the report, which underlines the difficulty of documenting cases. Many cases go unreported as individuals or their families choose not to publicise their cases out of fear, as they are have been warned by the arresting authorities not to go public.
Considering the cases in the leaked files only pertained to the Tehran region in the 15-year period, it is safe to say that the number of cases is vastly higher than previously reported. “Of the 327 individuals, the vast majority (around 90%) were converts to Christianity; 60% were male; eight were foreign nationals; three had dual nationality; and 22 were of Assyrian or Armenian descent”, the report stated.
The report also stated, “The documents covered a wide range of judicial proceedings – from criminal cases involving ordinary citizens, to case files of political or religious prisoners of conscience – which shed light on the darkest corners of the Islamic Republic’s judicial system, offering researchers, experts and members of the public insights into the mindset, decision-making processes, and operational procedures of Iran’s security and judicial apparatus.”
Trends
The systematic repression of Christians is analysed in the report and broken down into different categories including:
- Vilification of Christians as members of a ‘sect’ and ‘security threat’
- Criminalisation of ‘promoting Christianity’
- Inquisition into beliefs and forced recantation
- The Bible as contraband and evidence of a crime
- Criminal charges for peaceful Christian activities and religious practices
- Forced migration and internal exile
Event at Human Rights Council
Also last week, on 23 January, Article18 co-sponsored (with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern and Open Doors) a side event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva one day prior to Iran’s Universal Periodical Review. The event, entitled “Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Legal Protections vs. Lived Realities”, included contributions from Mai Sato, the UN rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Nazila Ghanea, the UN rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Two Christian witnesses were also given the opportunity to give their personal testimonies: Christian convert Amin Afshar-Naderi, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his house church activities, and Iranian-Assyrian Christian Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, who together with her brother and parents endured many years of persecution for their Christian activities in Iran.
(Article 18, Open Doors, Middle East Concern, Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
Photo Credits: Article 18, Open Doors, Middle East Concern, Christian Solidarity Worldwide