Iran: Detention of four Christian converts

According to Harana's report, IRGC Intelligence agents raided a home church in Neishabur in Khorasan province on Sunday, July 5th, and arrested four Christian converts, including Gholamreza Keyvan Menesh.

These four Christian citizens were initially imprisoned in Mashhad prison.

According to the reports, these four people were accused of "propaganda against the system" and "insulting holy things".

According to this report, 16 citizens were present in a home church, 12 of them were released the same day after being questioned, and four others were arrested by the security forces.

After a while, three of these citizens said in a phone call to their families that they had been transferred to Neishabor prison and that they were ordered to be detained for a period of 2 months. But another person whose identity is Gholamreza Kivan Menesh, 65 years old, born in Tehran and a resident of Neishabur, has been transferred to Mashhad, and until the time of writing this report, there was no information about his condition.

According to an informed source, the people who tried to follow up on the situation of these citizens were also threatened with arrest by the agents, and some members of this church were also summoned and a written commitment was taken from them.

The security agents also confiscated ten volumes of the Bible and mobile phones of these people during the raid on the house church in Neishabur.

In their raids on Christian homes, security agents confiscate Bibles and books related to Christianity, and Christian Bibles have been used many times in court as evidence against Christians.

Dealing with Christian converts in Iran takes place while, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, every person has the right to freedom of religion and change of religion based on belief, as well as the freedom to express it individually or collectively. and have it openly or secretly.

In the past months, the Islamic government has intensified the persecution of Christians and has issued heavy sentences against them.

Last week, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom once again announced in its report the repression and gross violation of the rights of Christians, especially converts, in Iran.

 

_{Source: HRA news, Article 18}