New Iranian President Unlikely to Free Imprisoned Christians
Iran’s new president is unlikely to change things around for the Christian minority any time soon, including for eight Christian converts who were recently sent to prison for up to a total of nearly 45 years, says an Open Doors analyst.
Two rounds of voting resulted in a majority for the Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian who beat the ultraconservative Saeed Jalili last week.
“The fact that Pezeshkian, a rather unknown Reformist lawmaker, was able to beat the hardline candidates – despite the low turnout of below 50% – shows how low the support is for the hardliners among the Iranian population,” says Michael Bosch, persecution analyst with Open Doors’ World Watch Research unit.
“However, his election won’t bring any radical change, simply because the power is in unelected hands, not the elected ones. Remember that during Rouhani’s term, the previous moderate president, protests were also bloodily suppressed, and Christians kept receiving high prison sentences. So, we will see a continuation of the arrest and heavy prison sentences, especially since the regime knows it doesn’t have much support and therefore has to crack down hard on all dissent. This affects Christians as well as other minority groups.”
Prison, fines and floggings
In recent months, Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on Christian converts and those active in proselytizing, with many receiving harsh prison sentences.
In June the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court found eight Christians guilty after they had been arrested over the Christmas period in the western city of Izeh, reports Article 18.
While not all members of the group can be identified, it was Yasin Mousavi who reportedly received the highest sentence of 15 years in prison for “membership in a group intent on disrupting national security” and “propaganda against the regime through the promotion of ‘Zionist’ Christianity” [Mohabat News].
Other converts who received prison sentences include Hamid Afzali (10 years), Nasrullah Mousavi, Bijan Qolizadeh and Iman Salehi (5 years each), and Zahrab Shahbaze (9 months). Another two persons whose names are not yet known, were given 2 years each. A few weeks earlier, another member of the group who was arrested at the same time, Esmaeil Narimanpour, was sentenced to five years.
“It is worrying that almost all Christians detained during the two main waves of arrest in 2023 want to remain anonymous, out of fear of being exposed to reprisals from the Iranian authorities,” Bosch said. “Several were sentenced to months or years in prison, while others had to pay fines or were flogged, but the worry about staying anonymous is a sign of the rising pressure on Christians, as part of the general increase in oppression in Iran.”
Despite being a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines religious freedoms, Iran is ranked number 9 on the Open Doors World Watch List, the top 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
While the constitution guarantees religious freedom for the ethnic Christian minorities such as Armenians, Iranian converts to Christianity face high levels of pressure involving social and legalized discrimination, including prison sentences.
