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Islamic Republic of Iran begins arresting Christians in run-up to Christmas

Dec 18, 2019 12:00 pm By Robert Spencer

“If you are a Christian in Iran and do not evangelize, and do not advertise your religion, you will not go to jail. Christians that do go to jail in Iran are converts or evangelizing.”

This is in accord with Islamic law, which forbids non-Muslims to proselytize.

“Iran arrests evangelical Christians before Christmas holiday,” by Emily Judd, Al Arabiya, December 15, 2019:

The Iranian regime has begun cracking down on evangelical Christians in Iran in the run-up to Christmas, experts and Iranian Christians said.

Security officials routinely arrest Christian citizens during the Christmas season, according to the 2019 US Commission for International Religious Freedom report, which found the regime arrested 114 Christians during the first week of December in 2018.

Authorities started to arrest Christians last week, said Dabrina Tamraz, who suffered persecution as an evangelical Christian in Iran. “Christmas celebrations make it easier for Iranian authorities to arrest a group of Christians at one time,” said Tamraz, who escaped Iran nine years ago and now lives in Europe.

Tamraz shed light on the harassment evangelical Christians in Iran are facing today, recounting details of how authorities raided her family’s Christmas gathering in Tehran in 2014.

“My brother opened the door only to be confronted with about 30 plain clothes officers who pushed their way in. They separated men from women and conducted strip body searches. Three people, including my father, were arrested and charged with acting against national security and conducting evangelism,” said Tamraz, whose father is an evangelical pastor.

Their treatment is just one example of the Iranian regime’s intolerance towards religious minorities – Baha’i’s, Christians, and others – who are frequently subject to harassment, detention and even execution, despite being recognized as protected religious minorities free to perform their rites “within the limits of the law,” according to Iran’s constitution.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in July that “the regime’s crackdown on Baha’ís, Christians and others continues to shock the conscience.”
Evangelicals targeted

The Iranian government considers evangelism – the sharing of the Christian faith – a criminal act.

Christians cannot pray or sing in public in Iran because the acts are considered illegal…

Marina Nemat, an Iranian Catholic arrested and detained for being politically active in Iran following the 1979 revolution, told Al Arabiya English that Iran was “allergic to people converting and people evangelizing.”…

“If you are a Christian in Iran and do not evangelize, and do not advertise your religion, you will not go to jail. Christians that do go to jail in Iran are converts or evangelizing. Historically Christians are known to evangelize. This is what makes them a threat,” said Nemat in an interview with Al Arabiya English….

According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2019 report, the Iranian regime sentences Christians to prison terms for holding private Christmas gatherings, organizing and conducting house churches, and constructing and renovating houses of worship….

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Filed Under: Featured, Iran, Muslim persecution of Christians Tagged With: 2019 US Commission for International Religious Freedom report, Christmas, Dabrina Tamraz, Marina Nemat


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Comments

  1. Infidel says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 12:08 pm

    How much cash do they have left before they’re forced to start a war?

  2. Michael Copeland says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 12:10 pm

    The Egyptian sheikh Yassir al-Burhani in an interview:

    “For example, is it the right of the Muslim to convert to Christianity or another religion?”

    “Of course this is not a right.”

    https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/05/farages-fatal-flaw/

  3. mortimer says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    The mullahs of Iran know they have MUCH TO FEAR from Christmas. Christians have the best cultures, the most life-affirming and joyful cultures. Christmas celebrations are examples of this claim. What a MAGICAL and DELIGHTFUL season is. It is a perfect example of happiness-producing CHRISTIAN culture. It is a celebration of the Incarnation … a teaching that makes Muslims apoplectic when they realize it is a complete contradiction of Mohammed’s claims.

    The mullahs of Iran are THE GRINCH THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS.

    They will fail … CHRISTMAS IS STRONGER THAN ISLAM.

    • gravenimage says

      Dec 18, 2019 at 9:04 pm

      So true, Mortimer!

  4. No Muzzies Here says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 1:12 pm

    It is called the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no freedom of religion under Islam. You are persecuted and can be killed at any time. All with the approval of the regime.

    • Keys says

      Dec 18, 2019 at 2:24 pm

      But I thought Allah said “there is no compulsion in religion” (Koran 2:256) !

      Or is this about making the kaffirs feel subdued ?
      “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (Koran 9:29)

      If anyone during Christmas in Iran looks delighted, use Sura 9. Subdue them.
      There is no fun in Islam, and there is no such thing as Christmas in Iran or in the world of Islam.

      • Lion heart says

        Dec 19, 2019 at 2:17 am

        And yet some ignorant people say that white Islam is better than the Sunni Islam 😂😂😂 actually , both sects are as an Iraqi colloquial saying goes like the following in English :It’s the same shirt with different smell”

  5. Walter Sieruk says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    Concerning the subject of the arresting and imprisonment of Christians of Iran in a “run up” to Christmas further exposes the intolerant brutal and murderous “mullah regime “ of Iran

    First, It would be naïve not to understand the those mullahs and ayatollahs didn’t have a hand in having their stooges , who are Islamic state police, the Revolutionary Guard s arrest many Christians because those in power in the Islamic tyranny are ruthless and cruel.

    Second, this is further proof that Islam is such a weak and fragile religion that the arrest of those few Christians was felt necessary by the ayatollah, mullah and imams of Iran. For those Muslim clerics are afraid that if the Iranian people even have a chance to examine and thus compare and contrast the Bible and the Quran the people of Iran might discover that the Bible of the super of those two books.

    Since the foundation for the tyrannical regime of the Islamic “Republic” of Iran is based on the Quran, which is also the entire foundation for of Islam, the Muslim clerics fear that their power base might collapse. So the arrests and sentencing to death of Christians reveals extreme fear those Muslim clerics have of the Bible, For this also show that those Muslim clerics in power in that “mullahs regime” of Iran will use .the Islamic state police and their tools to stop Christians and keep the Iranian people in in ignorance of the Bible and in the darkness of Islam.

    Third, those mullahs and ayatollahs and imams of Iran with their falsehoods and deceptions of the many false doctrines of Islam in which they brainwash the Iranian people in believing is something that is both sad and tragic. Those ayatollahs and mullahs are, no doubt, just as deluded as the people who they thoroughly indoctrinate with false teachings of Islam. Of such demonic deception by false teachers who are also deluded such men a have been predicted in the Bible. For in the Bible it’s written that “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived.” Second Timothy 3:13. [K.J.V.] All those mullahs and ayatollahs are, according to the doctrines of the Bible, Isaiah 8:20. false religious teachers .Meaning false teachers who teach and indoctrinate the false doctrines of the false religion of Islam into the hearts and minds of others . Such false teachers are described in the Bible ,in Second Peter 2:1. “There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

    In addition, it should be make clear that in the context and meaning of the above Bible verse Second Peter 2:1. The word “destruction” does not mean “loss of being but loss of well-being ,as the destruction of well- being . That is “going to ruin” by ending up and a terrible place of awful suffering which the Bible call hell, Luke 16:19-31.

  6. Walter Sieruk says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    The many arrests of many Christians is even worse now since Christmas day will soon come is a further example of the vicious religious intolerance of that “Mullah tyranny of Iran For those ayatollah and mullahs as well as the others in power in Iran are so thoroughly deceitful, demonic, wicked, vicious and cruel that they will not change their malicious ways in their harsh persecution Christians . As it is written in Proverbs 15:15. “All the days of the oppressed are wretched.” Likewise, Ecclesiastes 4:1 reads “ I saw the tears of the oppressed – and they have no comforter; power was in the side of the oppressors …”

    Furthermore, Proverbs 28:15 very well describes such wicked characters who rule Iran as president Rouhani and ayatollah Khamenei . For it reads “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.” [N.I.V.] Furthermore, such a vicious mindset of heinous arrogance of Rouhani, Khamenei and the other hateful and spiteful Islamic clerics in this “mullah regime” of Iran is reflected in the words from the Bible describing tyrannical villains in power of an oppressive regime. For Psalm 73:6—9 read “Therefore pride is their necklace:: they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil ;their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.”

    As least one Christian writer came right out and wrote about this reality when he revealed, in his book, that “The creation of an Islamic republic in Iran has had the effect that many from that country in Iran have become disillusioned with Islam are looking to leave.” [1]

    [1]HOW ISLAM PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD by William Wagner page 208.

  7. CogitoErgoSum says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 2:22 pm

    It is so fitting that Christmas is celebrated at the time of year when darkness dominates (in the northern hemisphere anyway). The message is clear. Do not despair. There is hope that the Light will prevail and all things will be made new. Oh God, please help your people in Iran to come out of the darkness.

  8. Mario Alexis Portella says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    While it’s horrible, Trump and Pompeo should be calling out the Saudis!!!! At least in Iran Christians have their churches. True, they cannot proselytise but there are over 600 churches and numerous synagogues. How many in Saudi Arabia? Zero!!!

    • Michael Copeland says

      Dec 18, 2019 at 4:44 pm

      “There are lots of churches in Saudi Arabia”, said the leader of Worcester City Council in UK.
      This exposes the lack of knowledge – and extent of assumption – in so many people. It is the job of the counter-jihad to help spread accurate information to those who are not aware, and encourage them to inform themselves.
      https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/02/mosques-learning-curve-needed/

      • gravenimage says

        Dec 18, 2019 at 9:09 pm

        Astonishing ignorance from politicians in the UK, Michael. Thanks for the link.

        • Mario Alexis Portella says

          Dec 19, 2019 at 4:12 pm

          +1
          However, what’s worse is thinking that the Saudis are our allies. They’re no more our friends than Vladimir Putin! Incidentally, those Brits should go over to Saudi Arabia and start preaching Christ. Let’s see how far their lies would go.

    • gravenimage says

      Dec 18, 2019 at 9:08 pm

      I see that Mario Alexis Portella is blaming the ‘filthy Infidels’ for the horrors of Islam again–as well as whitewashing Iran. He has done this many times before.

      He is right about how awful Saudi Arabia is–but not that this is the fault of America.

      That being said, we should no more consider the vile Suadis our allies than we do the appalling Mullahs.

      • Mario Alexis Portella says

        Dec 19, 2019 at 9:29 am

        I’m not saying it’s the fault of America, but ONLY America has the strength to put a halt on the vile Saudis. Trump’s 90-Day travel ban excludes Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Who flew the planes on 9/11? You may find this one informative https://thegreatarchitect.blog/2019/12/07/3642/

        • gravenimage says

          Dec 19, 2019 at 5:21 pm

          I have said many times that Saudi Arabia is as bad as Iran, and that *no* Western nation should consider these vicious thugs an ally–including above.

          And the idea that this poster needs to inform me of the horrors of Saudi Arabia–when I have been writing about them here for thirteen years–is *quite* mistaken.

          I hope President Trump *does* take on Saudi Arabia in future.

          As for the article at that link, I note that while Mario Alexis Portella glancingly touches on taking out Al Bagdadi and the “Muslim ban” before sneeringly dismissing them, that he studiously neglects to mention the US dismantling the Islamic State–as though ending that foul polity’s genocide and enslavement of Infidel girls to use as sex slaves were nothing.

          Could President Trump be better in his understanding of the threat of Islam? Certainly, he could–as I have also said many times. While he is refreshingly and consistently Anti-Jihad–something we unfortunately cannot count on these days–he is, like most Westerners, still sadly ignorant of Islam itself, which causes his inconsistencies.

          Still, he has so far instituted the “Muslim ban”–even as limited as it is, Muslim immigration into the US is down 90%–surely an achievement; he has taken out the new Caliphate, something many thought would take decades if achievable at all; he has taken out the leader of that Caliphate, Al Baghdadi; he has moved the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and has been unflagging in his support of that nation; a *true* ally of ours; and he has dismantled this appalling deal Obama set up with Iran.

          Would Hillary Clinton have done any of this? Of course not.

          And of course, Mario Alexis Portella goes way beyond criticism of Trump, warranted or not, and often blames the West in general for the existence of Jihad terror. Nothing could be more absurd.

        • Save Europe says

          Dec 20, 2019 at 1:23 am

          Wrong! As a collective – yes indeed, you are correct with the USA – BUT also the U.K., France, Germany should desist in selling the Saudis weapons, buying their Oil, but also investing in huge building projects, universities, museums and owning our debt!

        • gravenimage says

          Dec 20, 2019 at 1:26 am

          Agreed, Save Europe.

  9. gravenimage says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 9:04 pm

    Islamic Republic of Iran begins arresting Christians in run-up to Christmas
    ………………..

    These poor Christians.

    God, I hate Islam.

    • Mario Alexis Portella says

      Dec 19, 2019 at 4:14 pm

      What about the Jews? The only Jew that has free range in that crappy country is Jared Kushner!!

      • gravenimage says

        Dec 19, 2019 at 4:42 pm

        I have also written about the plight of Jews in Iran–this poster’s implication that I have not is *quite* false.

        And the idea that Iran welcomes Jared Kushner is just ludicrous. Here’s the Mullah’s media mouthpiece:

        “‘Kushner behind US withdrawal from Iran deal’ – Press TV”

        https://www.presstv.com/DetailFr/2019/06/28/599668/Kushner-behind-US-withdrawal-from-Iran-deal

  10. Lydia Church says

    Dec 18, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1; 8

    “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5; 10

    “Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. But they will treat you like this on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” John 15; 20-21

    “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10; 32-33

    “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10; 38-39

    It’s not optional.
    We can’t hide our faith as a Christian.
    If someone asks us, we must confess Him, if one denies Jesus, He denies them.
    Being His witnesses is part of the deal.
    You can’t pick and choose what part of carrying the cross you want to keep.
    “But… but…. this and that will happen to me…!”
    Then go back and read those passages above again.
    It’s not about a path of ease and comfort, as most false teachers claim today.
    That is the message and moral of this whole comment.
    Christians need the right perspective, and in the days ahead that will be more vital and more clear by the day.

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