As Iran is an Islamic republic, it considers conversion away from Islam to be an act of rebellion against the state, and prosecutes the people who dare to convert accordingly.
“Iran targets minorities one year after Mahsa Amini’s death, 69 Christians arrested,” AsiaNews, August 11, 2023 (thanks to Tom):
Tehran (AsiaNews) – Iran arrested scores of Christians, mostly converts from Islam but also some Assyrian-Chaldeans baptised as children, over a seven-week period in June and July in 11 different cities of the country, this according to Article18, a human rights organisation that advocates on behalf of Iranian Christians and religious freedom.
In an early report, the NGO had reported 50 arrests by mid-July in five cities, but its latest update indicates that at least 69 people were taken into custody, 10 of which – four men and six women – are still held by the authorities.
The arrests occurred between 1 June and 17 July in the following cities: Tehran, Karaj, Rasht, Orumiyeh, Aligoudarz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Semnan, Garmsar, Varamin, and Eslamshahr.
In the capital Tehran and the other cities, after their arrest, people were forced to sign statements pledging to refrain from Christian activities or undergo Islamic re-education in order to be released.
Some say that after their release they were summoned for further questioning, or were ordered to leave Iran. One said he lost his job at the request of intelligence agents. For those granted bail, families had to pay between US$ 8,000 and US$ 40,000.
The majority of those arrested are converts from Islam, but at least two are Iranian-Armenians, who were born into Christian families….
The wave of arrests among Christians also coincides with a new crackdown on Iran’s Baha’i community, which, along with Christian converts, is a minority religious group not recognised by the Islamic Republic….
Keys says
There’s no compulsion in Islam.
They lied imitating their prophet and god, the best of all deceivers.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Ironically, this example demonstrates that the sunnah trumps the quran
FYI says
And the Torah trumps the koran.
allah confirms the Torah{koran 3:3} and muslims accept it as true.However the teachings of the koran itself violate the Torah.
allah even gives muslims permission to check with the Bible people as they know the Torah/pentateuch{koran 10;94}..and NOT the islamic ‘scholars as they wouldn’t know it.
To stop muslims figuring this out 1]the Bible is banned in islamic countries and 2]islamic holy men falsely claim it has been corrupted{A lie}
The Laws of Moses were written down for all posterity in the Torah/Pentateuch and cannot be altered.The Law is based on 2 chief commandments which are MISSING/IMPOSSIBLE in islam.So allah confirms the Torah but his claim he gave it to Moses is a FRAUD as all the laws in the Torah are broken by the koran.It is obvious the koran is a hoax.
FYI says
Q Why is the Bible banned in Islamic countries if allah confirms the Bible{koran 3:3}claims he gave the TORAH to Moses:koran 2:87}and even gives permission to muhammed to check with the Bible people if looking for answers?
A Because if muslims checked with those who know the Bible they would know allah’s koran VIOLATES the Laws of moses and Christians don’t worship 3 gods[allah,Jesus and MARY!}.The Bible has never been corrupted and the TORAH which contains the laws of Moses has never been changed.
Q Why do islamic ‘scholars’ not want muslims to figure this out?
A they would lose their control through fear.
Q What is in the Bible that is so threatening to the ‘holy men’ of islam?
A the 2 chief commandments are MISSING in islam{‘the whole of the law of Moses’}* in islam and cannot be satisfied by what the koran teaches and the Golden Rule too{‘the meaning of the law of Moses} is impossible due to the classification of non muslims as the WORST of created beings; koran 98:6
note;the koran TOTALLY violates the Laws of Moses in the TORAH and Jesus Christ knows MORE about the law of Moses than allah,
*The whole of the Law Matthew 22 v 40
The Meaning of the Law Matthew 7 ,12
FYI says
kudos to anyone who leaves islam:no matter what you do afterwards- it is impressive.
Ex-muslims are pretty cool:of course you are now an infidel.You are definitely nicer people for it.
That you reasoned your way out of this appaling cult is amazing.
Gurek says
True, FYI, ex-Muslims are very principled and brave people, especially if they are living in an islamic country. One must question whether if the qur’an is from the god and muhammad is a prophet, and then they leave islam if they have conscience and use their mind. An ex-Muslim famously said that “if there is God, it’s not muhammad’s”. This quote is very true. The god of muhammad was one of the worst imaginations that a person ever imagined. He punishes good non-Muslims and even Muslims alike in a horrible eternal hell for not believing in islam or not fully observing it. It not only leaves peaceful people alone in this world but also threathens to do the worse in the afterlife. This is one of the reasons that ex-Muslims are very brave and intelligent.
FYI says
What do ex-muslims bring to the table?
Pretty good,well reasoned arguments and good critical thinking skills:good enough for them to reason their way out of a terrible idiotic cult.
What do muslims bring to the table?
Idiotic,infantile,poorly reasoned arguments devoid of any critical thinking skills;so bad that they will have to stay in their islam {either through stupidity or for evil purposes}as they apparently cannot figure it out… or don’t want to figure it out.
What do jihadists bring to the table?
Apart from Explosives… no sense of irony and no capacity whatsoever for critical thinking.
Jihadists subscribe to a cult that insists that it is THE religion of peace .
Irony is always lost on muslims.
Walter Sieruk says
This reveals that those in power in Islamic Iran,with it’s Sharia, use the fear of imprisonment retain many people in “The House of Islam” because that religion terribly lacks good valid reasons , either from the Bible or logic ,for people to stay in it ,
Alice says
This is how they turned Christian conquered land to Islam, by fear and imprisonment and violence!
Dear God, please release these brothers and sisters from jail!
Walter Sieruk says
Concerning the subject of the persecution regarding the harassment and imprisonment and even torture of Christians of Iran further expose the intolerant brutal and murderous “mullah regime “ of Iran
First, it would be naive 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 so 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.