“Charges include evangelism, propaganda against the regime, and creating house churches to practice their faith,” with prison sentences up to 24 years.
Iran’s persecution of Christians is so harsh and relentless that it’s hard to keep up with it, as a quick search here on Jihad Watch proves. And to think that the Obama administration had a golden opportunity to aid a true democratic uprising against the mullah’s brutal theocracy back in 2009, but instead let protesters be crushed.
“Iran Sentences 18 Christians to Prison for Their Faith in New Crackdown on Christianity,” by Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post, June 3, 2015:
Iran’s revolutionary court is believed to have sentenced 18 Christian converts to prison for their faith in a new crackdown on Christianity in the Islamic Republic, a report said.
Fox News noted that the charges include evangelism, propaganda against the regime, and creating house churches to practice their faith. It added that the total sentences come close to 24 years, but it’s not known how many years each individual received, due to the lack of transparency in Iran’s judicial system.
“The cruelty of Iran’s dictatorial leaders knows no limits,” said Saba Farzan, the German-Iranian executive director of Foreign Policy Circle, a strategy think tank in Berlin.
A number of the imprisoned Christians were arrested in 2013, and sentenced in accordance with Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, which penalizes threats to Iran’s clerical leaders.
Morad Mokhtari, an Iranian convert to Christianity who fled the Islamic Republic in 2006, added: “Iranian religious authorities prefer that they [converts to Christianity] leave Iran because the authorities can’t control them,” Mokhatari said. “Just their name is evangelism. Imagine someone says he’s a Christian and has a Muslim name.”
Christians in Iran make up a tiny minority of the 78 million-strong population, and often face persecution from the government. Watchdog group Open Doors lists the country at No. 7 on its World Watch List of nations where Christians are most heavily targeted for their faith.
Open Doors points out on its website that almost all Christian activity in Iran is considered illegal, “especially when it occurs in Persian languages — from evangelism to Bible training, to publishing Scripture and Christian books or preaching in Farsi.”
It added: “In 2014, at least 75 Christians were arrested. More Christians were sentenced to prison and pressure on those detained increased, including physical and mental abuse.”
Iran’s human rights record has faced great scrutiny, especially in light of a historic nuclear deal it reached earlier this year with the U.S. and other Western nations, which promises to lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for restricting its nuclear program.
The American Center for Law and Justice and other groups have said that the deal should not be finalized until Iran shows clear signs it is willing to improve its treatment of Christians — and release the American Christians it currently holds in its prisons, including pastor Saeed Abedini.
U.S. Senator Mark Kirt, R-Ill., has added in a statement: “The Iranian regime’s systematic persecution of Christians, as well as Baha’is, Sunni Muslims, dissenting Shiite Muslims, and other religious minorities, is getting worse not better,” Kirt said.
“This is a direct consequence of President Obama’s decision to de-link demands for improvements in religious freedom and human rights in Iran from the nuclear negotiations.”
Diane L says
Sad that this administration would even have “talks” with Iran before every christian is safely out of their jails. Stop the talks and lifting of sanctions until all are set free!
spot on says
I believe Iran is doing to Christians only what a great many of B.O.’s devoted supporters would do to Christians if given the chance. B.O.’s supporters do not say a word about all this while they look the other way. ‘Nothing here, move on.’
Alissa says
Hey Spot On. Obama and all of his traitorous supporters are opposed to anything connected to American values. He and his admin are by far the worst, the most traitorous government the US has ever know. They will go down in history, assuming there will be a future, (thanks to obama) as the beginning of the end of America as we know it. People love to demonize Bush but he was nothing compared to obama.
You don’t know what you have til it’s gone….We will all see the relevance of that saying very soon.
spot on says
Alissa, My main problem with Bush was how he handcuffed our soldiers from winning because he did not want to hurt the feelings of the enemy. He wanted to win the enemy’s hearts and minds. Bush want to make friends with the enemy. This is complete idiocy with people who are propagandized from early childhood to hate us. This is not Vietnam, Korea, or other skirmishes of the past with some small country. This is real war. The only way to win a real war is to kill the enemy or they will kill you. When you kill enough of them, you win. It is that simple. This strategy is straight out of the mouth of WWII Generals. They knew exactly what they were doing.
However, Bush is a decent person (I agree) who loves his country but was unwise, probably due to his limited liberal education in prestige schools. They do not teach students how to think for themselves anymore. Too much PC, multicultural, and propaganda in schools these day. Students get a complete false sense of reality.
But Obama dislikes our country. Obama likes our enemy. How crazy we are to elect our enemy to lead our country against our enemy. I say this because he is doing everything he can to help our enemy defeat us. How many times has he ever stood up for our country to other nations. None, He thinks we deserve the same as a third world country and that is where he is taking us.
Matthieu Baudin says
Michel Foucault was awestruck by the early revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran. Ever since then, the New Left has accommodated and made excuses for the ferocity of this Islamic Dictatorship.
mortimer says
Totalitarian Islam is showing itself increasingly to be uncivilized, barbaric and savage. There is no further reason for Westerners to doubt that Islam is theocratic fascism.
Fascism is the authoritarian opposite of our Western concept of government by the people and for the people.
Theocratic fascism benefits the priestly class at the top.
Matthieu Baudin says
Well said Mortimer. A theocracy distrusts it’s people and its ruling priestly caste holds all the cards. The Iranian Theocracy is a sham and a disgrace.
Angemon says
IIRC, that was the only revolution in the wake of the “Arab Spring” Obama did not support. Coincidentally, it was the only revolution being waged against an islamic theocracy.
Coincidence? I think not.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Well well well, the Ivy League Morons running our country figured that by helping the Persians get a nuclear bomb they’d “moderate” and return to the process of human evolution that they pulled out of in the mid-7th century. But that doesn’t seem to be happening. Prez Barack Hussein (Columbia Man and Harvard Man) and Secretary John Kerry (Yale Man and Vietnam War Coward Man) had it figured otherwise, but one assumes these two are just too dumb, too fixated on their injections of programmatic prestige, to understand that they’re getting it up the Yin Yang from the Persians. The Supreme Leader and his lieutenants must be having a good laugh at all of this, but you can bet Bibi is wearing a frown behind closed doors, which is possible for him to do because he did not spend some years in the Ivy covered halls of yearning.
Bibi gets to be smart because he went to the book of the Old Testament. The Supreme Leader Ali gets to be stupid because he went to the book of the Holy Ko-Ran, but he’s looking pretty smart right now so maybe the Ko-Ran ain’t all that bad after all. The two idiots standing between Bibi and Ali get to think they’re smart but get to be stupid because they apparently never went to any books at all.
spot on says
Alarmed, Academia gets all kinds of protection from serious criticism these days. There are no writers or media left who are educated well enough to criticize them and make it stick. Even if there were, there would be no one that would understand what they were saying.
Remember the time when these Ivy League whiz kids were popularly called “pointy heads”, “Little Lord Fauntleroys”, and other popular names that everyone clearly understood. All this criticism has been eliminated by controlling the speech and teaching in government schools. Today’s generations have no way to communicate their hostility to these pointy headed idiots. Children are also are taught to believe in and appreciate big government. A prime example of government taking care of itself.
Celtic says
Well….They certainly provoked it…
Richie says
Muslims will argue that Christians are being killed because people complained about Muslims killing Christians, which angered Muslims and prompted them to kill Christians.\
Such is the circular illogic of these barbarians
Celtic says
LOL, well put. Reminds me of the violent protests due to the drawings of Kurt Westergard. WHAT? Mohammed is depicted as violent? KILL the infidels who say Islam is violent.
Speaks for itself… Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the religion of peace at it’s finest.
Walter Sieruk says
One reason the the mullahs in so much power in Iran hate Christians is because Christians acknowledge the Bible truth that Jesus is the Son of God, as seen in ,for example Matthew 3:16,17 John 3:16,17,36 First John 2:22,23. 4:14,15. 5:12,13, 20. The Bible teaching and Christian belief that Jesus is the Son of God undermines the very foundation of Islam. Therefore with the basic Bible truth so falls is and the Islamic “Republic” of Iran.. Thus there goes all the power of the mullahs.
Alissa says
Obama has no respect or concern for the plight of Christians in the middle east because they don’t advance his personal agenda. He hates Christians along with everything else that he connects to the US and First World values.
Remember Bergdahl and that whole drama? All contrived to serve obamas mandate which is to help advance muslim infiltration and eventual takeover of the west.
Obama is the worst thing that has ever happened to the US of A.
salomon says
Thay s the permissiveness towards Iran s regime. Are the western countries ready tofight for freedom of humanbeings or to live under opression imposed by the Shariya rules. The ideology and vision of the radical islamist movements are clear but the democratic world is on a denial of the real threat!
duh_swami says
Rasool Obama Bin Kerry, will not bring up the subject of Christians, because that will lead to religious arguments that Rasool Bin Kerry is not prepared for. The Iranians will ask why Christians should be treated differently than any other violators of their law, which is sharia. Rasool Obama Bin Kerry will have no answer to that…
Mirren10 says
” The Iranians will ask why Christians should be treated differently than any other violators of their law, which is sharia. Rasool Obama Bin Kerry will have no answer to that.”
Good point.
ICH says
hopefully the next guy does a better job.
But I am betting the USA would rather cover Obamas
golf game against Will Smith than real news like
beheadings.
Hes the worst prez. I expected more from him.
Dennis Trisker says
We should not deal with Muslim Iran. I lived in that country for a time. The majority are villagers, uneducated and simple-minded, very religious, which in that country means obedience to the Mullahs. As long as Baha’is, Christians and Jews are persecuted because of their beliefs, as well as atheists and others we should have nothing to do with them….and allowing them to develop nuclear energy….they laugh at the gullibility if Ovama’S American government,