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Islamic Republic of Iran: Authorities raid Christian homes, ask them to leave country

Mar 1, 2015 10:26 pm By Robert Spencer

Iranian Christians“Irani, a convert from Islam, had originally been charged with ‘Mofsed-fel-arz’ or ‘spreading corruption on Earth,’ which carries the death penalty.”

“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.” (Qur’an 5:33)

“Authorities in Iran Raid Christians’ Homes, Ask Them to Leave Country,” Morning Star News, March 1, 2015:

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – A Christian in Iran who received 80 lashes for drinking communion wine has been asked to leave the country, human right activists said.

Agents from the Iranian intelligence service, known as VEVAK, on Feb. 16 raided the home of Mehdi Reza Omidi and two other members of house churches in Rasht, Saheb Fadaie and Yasser Mosayebzadeh, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a United Kingdom-based advocacy group. Omidi was one of four men sentenced on Oct. 6, 2013 to 80 lashes for drinking communion wine and owning a satellite antenna. Rights advocates believe the flogging was carried out within a month after sentencing.

After the Feb. 16 raids on the homes of Omidi and the two others, authorities ordered the three Christians to report the next day for questioning, where officials asked them to leave Iran.

The agents also confiscated their Bibles, laptops, Christian CDs and religious literature, according to CSW. Kiri Kankhwende, press officer for CSW, said authorities asking Christians to leave the country is just one of the many ways the government pressures religious minorities and suppresses Christian growth. Other ways include harassment, confiscation of property, arrests and imprisonment on false charges.

“All of these things are designed to get converts to recant or stop their involvement with churches,” Kankhwende said. “But sometimes it is easier, as prison sentences can result in a lot of unwanted press attention, to make the lives of Christians difficult and untenable, so that they choose to leave of their own accord. Sometimes veiled threats are made, or other times – as is the case here – they can be politely asked to leave.”

The impetus for the raids remains unknown. Omidi was detained previously on Dec. 31, 2012, for his involvement in a house church.

On the same day the raid took place, authorities released Rasoul Abdollahi from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, according to Middle East Concern (MEC), another advocacy group. Officials, however, placed strict conditions on Abdollahi, a convert from Islam, including prohibiting him from participating in Christian activities with others. If he violates any of the terms of his release, he could be forced to serve the one year left on his sentence.

Authorities arrested Abdollahi on Dec. 26, 2010, along with a group of other Christians. In December 2013, he was sentenced to three years in prison on convictions of “collusion against the government” and evangelism. He was sent to Evin Prison, but in October 2014 officials transferred him to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.

The release resembles the conditional release authorities gave to Vahid Hakkani. On Jan. 26, after holding him for three years, Iranian authorities released Hakkani from Adel-Abad prison in Shiraz. According to MEC, the Revolutionary Court made Hakkani sign a document stating that he would not attend or host any Christian-related activities or house-church services. A condition for issuing his release order was that he would sign the disclaimer.

Previously, Hakkani engaged in a hunger strike starting on March 20, 2014, after authorities denied him a conditional release that inmates are eligible to obtain after completing half their prison terms.

Authorities arrested Hakkani on Feb. 8, 2012, along with several others at a house-church meeting, and charged him with numerous criminal offenses related to his faith. Hakkani was tried with three others over the course of two court hearings, one on Oct. 15, 2012 and another on Dec. 28, 2012. In June 2013, the Shiraz Revolutionary Court issued a verdict, finding all four guilty on charges of attending a house church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign ministries, propaganda against the regime and disrupting national security, according to advocacy groups.

Another pastor, Behnam Irani, who is serving a six-year sentence, last month was refused the same conditional release granted to Abdollahi and Hakkani. According to CSW, prison authorities agreed to Irani’s conditional release, but a judge did not.

Jason Demars, president of Present Truth Ministries, said that it is common for Iranian authorities to force Christians to sign agreements to refrain from Christian activities when they are granted an early release.

“A lot of the times when they let them out, they have them promise that they won’t engage in the activities like they did before,” Demars said.

Demars said it is possible that the Iranian government tried to get Irani to sign such an agreement to be released, which he likely refused. Demars is trying to confirm this with sources in Iran.

On Oct. 19, 2014, Irani was sentenced to six years in prison for “action against national security” and “creating a network to overthrow the system,” catch-all terms the Islamist government uses to suppress Christians and political opponents it perceives as threats. When the verdict was handed down, Irani was already serving the remainder of a prior five-year sentence for his involvement with house churches.

Irani, a convert from Islam, had originally been charged with “Mofsed-fel-arz” or “spreading corruption on Earth,” which carries the death penalty. But those charges were reduced on Oct. 2….

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Filed Under: Featured, Iran, Muslim persecution of Christians Tagged With: Mehdi Reza Omidi, VEVAK


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Comments

  1. Jay Boo says

    Mar 1, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    Dear President Obama:

    Please help bring our daddy home children plead:
    Christian pastor Saeed Abedini

  2. st. patrick says

    Mar 1, 2015 at 10:55 pm

    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3770/the_islamic_future_of_britain.

    Why Robert is right..

  3. mortimer says

    Mar 1, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    The Death Cult carries on! Obama should pay attention. It could be him charged with leaving Islam!

    • M S case says

      Mar 2, 2015 at 8:13 pm

      The only possible meaningful thing to do to the Islamic world is complete destruction.. Not necessarily life destruction but maybe. but the destruction needed is the destruction of the cult islam itself…..I know that life destruction sounds harsh and probably some innocents would be destroyed but rather that than what may be coming if we in the west don’t do it. Try first to destroy islam ideology, very hard to do with imams and mullahs and clerics preaching such nonsense as they do to kids. It is driven into their brain. We are demonizing their religion ,is their way of thinking. In order to save them from utter destruction then we must try and change their way of thinking, (almost an impossibility), otherwise what is the
      other alternative. I mentioned that above. But there will be no resolve to do that.. You don’t poke a stick at a poisonous snake you cut off it’s head but seems the only ones who has the knife to do the job are them.

      • ZAHEER HUSAIN KHAN says

        Apr 18, 2015 at 6:09 am

        DOES NT M S CASE DESERVE MORE THAN THIS TREATMENT .WHY HE IS SPARED.
        IRAN DOES THE BEST JUSTICE TO EVERY ONE IRRESPECTIVE OF RELIGION CASTE
        CREED BECAUSE IT ADHERES TO TRUE ISLAM .
        I WRITE THIS FROM INDIA BECAUSE I KNOW IRAN IS THE ONLY TRUE COUNTRY WHICH
        ADHERES TO TRUE ISLAM IRRIGATED SPREAD BY MOHAMMAD WA AALE MOHAMMAD .

  4. Richie says

    Mar 1, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    Obama doesnt’ care about Christians

    • Godwin says

      Mar 2, 2015 at 3:03 am

      But where is Jesus Christ and the Pope’s assistance to these Ill-treated Christians.?

      • eib says

        Mar 2, 2015 at 8:16 am

        The kingdom of God is a heavenly kingdom. I do not hold the powers of earth in reverence. The Muslim worships only the ground, it is all he seeks. Islam is profane, demonic to its core.

  5. Matthieu Baudin says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 1:32 am

    Persia was the cradle of a truly great world religion – Zoroastrianism. Islam has been a very poor cousin as a faith for Persian speaking people. Perhaps one day the people of Iran can rediscover their momentous social and political history, learn about their locally inspired religious traditions and open up to the faiths and ideas of the outside world including Christianity. Meanwhile the Mullahs chew up and spit out the best that the country has to offer.

  6. dumbledoresarmy says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 2:57 am

    These are the saints, martyrs and confessors of the Church in Persia.

    These, who cling to Christ even in an Islamic prison in the Islamic hellhole that is Shiite Muslim Iran, are the bravest of the brave.

    I pray that they may be preserved, as once Daniel was in the lion’s den, and the three young men in the furnace of fire.

    And it isn’t just within Iran that there is a Persian church comprised largely of apostates from Islam.

    Outside of Iran, among those somewhat-less-Islamic Iranian Muslims who fled from Khomeini, there are many who are ditching Islam and becoming fervent and faithful Christians. During this season of Lent, let all of us who are Christians pray that these our new brothers and sisters may be multiplied in number, and that they may be freed from all influence of Islam and firmly established and strengthened in the Christian faith.

  7. Marty says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 5:45 am

    There is a simple remedy for such situations.
    It’s not ideal, since Christianity predates islam in those regions, but it could save millions of lives in the long run.
    Bring into the civilised world, all Christians who wish to leave the oppressive rule of islam and throw out
    every single muslim in the civilised world, exporting them to appropriate states, sunni, shiite, whatever.
    It’s much better than the worldwide civil wars we’re being led in to.

    • Lesley says

      Mar 2, 2015 at 7:02 am

      Marty, I agree. I think a factor that hasn’t been addressed is the possibility that Muslims working with the UN relief effort throw Christians’ asylum application paperwork into the trash can as soon as they leave the office, and push the paperwork of their brothers and sisters in the umma on through…

      I found a video to this effect on the http://www.shoebat.com site, and I’ve been trying to find it to share. I think the video was linked by a commenter in a comment on one of their articles (so not the main articles on the website itself).

      The video I saw was in German with subtitles. It was an interview with a German nun who had worked on the relief effort in Syria, and said that the Muslimas were throwing out the Christians’ paperwork to apply for asylum.

      >;-(( grr!

      • Ryan Muhammad says

        Mar 3, 2015 at 4:59 am

        This is the video you are looking for. I could not even watch it again because I can’t see straight with all of the anger I feel knowing this is going on and nobody cares. To get American churches to even care about this is like pulling teeth! Groups like Shoebat.com, ABN, Act for America and the like are the rare exceptions.

  8. bewick says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 6:37 am

    An iranian (persian) family lived in my village 25 -30 years ago. The mother had been a TV presenter in Iran and the father an architect. They had been persecuted and forced to flee because they were of the Bahai faith. It seems that the persecution only began after the 1979 revolution and the emergence of the mullahs and Khomeini. So, nothing has changed in 1400 years.

  9. Angemon says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 10:05 am

    asking Christians to leave the country is just one of the many ways the government pressures religious minorities and suppresses Christian growth

    Christian growth, eh? Man, that has got to sting so hard Khomeini can feel it in his grave…

  10. mariam rove says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 11:57 am

    “Mofsed-fel-arz” …. This along with Moharebeh Ba Khoda, war against god in this case Allah is also punishable by death. I was talking to my mom yesterday and she complaining how expensive things are there. Very high inflation. I told her you guys supported them when the came to power! She said: Goh Khormim! In Farsi it means I hate S….!! Essentially it mean I f…up! She then went on to say Bala begiran!! Which means I hope they get the plague!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! m

  11. Shelly says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 1:04 pm

    I would take in these Christians in a minute. I can’t help but fear the day when this comes to the west and it is we who are enduring this!

  12. Jeff says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    I think Surat 5:33 is perhaps the worst of all the violent verses in how it can be interpreted and is interpreted in Islam. It allows for the wholesale slaughter of non-Muslims living in “Muslim” lands. Funny how Muslims try to use the one before it (5:32) as representative of Islam, when it is meant only for the Jews.

  13. michael johnson says

    Mar 2, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    the muslims can preach their false belief in the west but in their backwards countries Christians get arrested this is true islam I don’t care what these people say about islam being tolerant

  14. Joginder Singh says

    Mar 3, 2015 at 4:29 am

    No doubt we will be deafened by the silence from the human rights/multi-cultural/policital correctness industry and the useful idiots in the MSM, government etc on this the same useful idiots who defend their beloved muslims from every offence

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