WASHINGTON, D.C., United States — In a report released Monday, the United States painted a dark picture of religious freedom in Iran, documenting how the government there oppresses the followers of virtually every religious minority in the country, restricting their religious activities, limiting their economic prospects, and imprisoning them when they tell others about their beliefs.

“Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shia religious groups, most notably for Baha’is, as well as for Sufi Muslims, evangelical Christians, Jews, and Shia groups that did not share the government’s official religious views,” said the 2011 annual US Department of State’s report on International Religious Freedom in its section on Iran.

“Baha’i and Christian groups reported arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions, and confiscation of property. During the year, government-controlled broadcast and print media intensified negative campaigns against religious minorities, particularly Baha’is.

“All religious minorities suffered varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and housing. Baha’is continued to experience expulsions from, or denial of admission to, universities,” the report said.

Issued annually since 2001, the report analyzes the status of religious freedom around the world, examining progress or regression in every nation outside the US.

The report gave special attention this year to the impact of political and demographic transitions on religious minorities, the effects of conflict on religious freedom, and “the rising tide of anti-Semitism.”

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, introducing the report at a press conference at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance,” said Secretary Clinton.

Suzan Johnson Cook, the US Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, said that freedom of religion is not just an American right but the right of all people.

“It goes hand in hand with freedom of expression, freedom of speech and assembly, and when religious freedom is restricted, all these rights are at risk,” said Ambassador Cook. “And for this reason, religious freedom is often the bellwether for other human rights. It’s the canary in the coalmine.”

The section on Iran was especially critical, stating that the “government’s respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom continued to deteriorate.”

“The legal system fosters religious abuse and discrimination,” said the report, noting that the “constitution and other laws and policies severely restrict freedom of religion.”

The report sought to document such abuse, and it found that virtually all religious groups outside the Shia Muslim majority faced discrimination.

“Harassment and arrests of Sufis also continued during the year,” said the report, noting that some 60 Sufis had been arrested in September after confrontations with security forces.

Christians also faced continuing discrimination. The government last year confiscated some 6,500 Christian Bibles, the report said, and it continued to imprison Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been sentenced to death for apostasy.

“Zoroastrians also reported detentions and harassment,” the report said, describing the October arrest of Yashin Jamshidi, a Zoroastrian in Karaj.

Situation of Baha’is highlighted

The situation of Iran’s 300,000-member Baha’i community was highlighted prominently throughout the report. Among other things, the report noted that Baha’is are precluded from enrollment in state-run universities, banned from the social pension system, and prohibited from “officially assembling or maintaining administrative institutions.”

The report also stated clearly that Baha’is are persecuted because of the religious beliefs.

“The government arbitrarily arrested Baha’is and charged them with violating Islamic penal code articles 500 and 698, relating to activities against the state and spreading falsehoods, respectively,” said the report, noting that 95 Baha’is were imprisoned and 416 had active cases in the judicial system at the end of 2011.

“Often the charges were not dropped upon release, and those with charges pending against them reportedly feared arrest at any time. Most were released only after paying a large fine or posting high bail. For some, bail was in the form of deeds of property; others gained their release in exchange for personal guarantees from a “guardian” that the offender would appear in court, or the granting of a work license.

“Government officials reportedly offered Baha’is relief from mistreatment in exchange for recanting their religious affiliation, and if incarcerated, made recanting their religious affiliation a precondition for release,” said the report.

The report noted that “Baha’i graveyards in a number of cities were desecrated by unspecified actors, and the government did not seek to identify or punish the perpetrators.”

It also said Baha’is and their properties had been the subject of arson attacks. “In all cases, police said nothing could be done to find the perpetrators,” said the report.

Baha’is also “experienced an escalation of personal harassment,” the report said, “including receiving threatening notes, compact discs, text messages, and tracts.”

The report also discussed actions by the State Department last year in support of Iranian Baha’is, noting that its spokespersons had called “unprecedented” the re-imposition of a long, 20-year prison sentence for seven imprisoned national Baha’i leaders, and that they had also last year criticized “the lack of due process” in that sentencing, saying it was a violation of Iran’s commitments under international law.

Iranian human rights activists report that Baha’is are being arrested in several Iranian cities. The Society Against Education Discrimination reported on Wednesday that more than 10 Baha’i citizens were arrested in the past day in Esfahan, Shahin Shahr, Villa Shahr and Yazd. The group also reports that a number of Baha’is have been arrested in Arak.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) confirmed that Esfahan Baha’i citizens were arrested, adding that on Tuesday, Esfahan intelligence ministry officials arrested these people at their homes and transferred them to an unknown location.

The report adds that the homes of these citizens were searched and their computers, CDs, books and documents were confiscated.

In the past three weeks, some 20 other Baha’i citizens have been reportedly arrested in Tehran, Shiraz and Mashhad.

The Baha’i faith is not recognized as an official religion in the Islamic Republic constitution and Baha’i citizens face widespread discrimination in Iran in all walks of life.

courtesy Payvand News

  ]]> http://georgepwood.com/2012/01/12/with-the-help-of-god-they-dare-1-thessalonians-21-2/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:00:25 +0000 georgepwood http://georgepwood.com/2012/01/12/with-the-help-of-god-they-dare-1-thessalonians-21-2/ On December 23, 2011, the Iranian Intelligence Agency raided an Assemblies of God church in Ahvaz during a worship service. Church members, including children, were arrested, detained, and interrogated. Hours later, most of the members were released. As of today, however, Pastor Farhad Sabokrouh, his wife, Shahnaz Jizani,  and church members Naser Zamen-Dezfuli and Davoud Alijani are still under arrest. Their location and condition are not known.

Another Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, has been in prison since 2009. Tried and convicted for apostasy because he converted from Islam to Christianity as a teenager, Nadarkhani sits in jail with a death sentence hanging over his head.

This is not the first time Iranian Christians have faced persecution. (All religious minorities in Iran—Christian, Baha’i, and Jewish—are subject to a variety of legal impediments and social obstacles.) In 1993, for example, Mehdi Dibaj was arrested, tried, and convicted of apostasy, and sentenced to death. His pastor, Haik Hovsepian Mehr, initiated and led a global protest of Dibaj’s sentence. On January 16, 1994, Dibaj was released. Three days later, Haik was abducted and murdered, most likely by the regime. On June 24, Dibaj was abducted. His body was found on July 5. He had been killed, most likely by the regime.

With these stories in mind, consider what Paul, Silas, and Timothy write in 1 Thessalonians 2:1–2:

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.

The missionaries arrived in Thessalonica after ministering in Philippi (Acts 16:11–17:9). In Philippi, a mob attacked Paul and Silas, and the Roman magistrates had them stripped, beaten, and imprisoned. While in prison, they suffered an earthquake. When the Roman magistrates discovered that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, who shouldn’t have been beaten, they apologized but nonetheless asked them to leave the city. In Thessalonica, a mob went searching for the missionaries. Not finding them, it abducted Jason and some other believers, dragged them before the courts, and accused them of sedition. The Thessalonian believers hustled the missionaries out of town under cover of darkness. However, despite the absence of the missionaries, the Thessalonian believers continued to suffer (1 Thes. 2:14, 3:3).

Whether in the first century or the twenty-first, persecution is the fate of many Christians around the world. Those of us who live in America or other countries that practice religious freedom should thank God every day that he has given us this grace. We should also pray for and advocate the freedom of our suffering brothers and sisters in Iran and elsewhere, as my father has done with regard to the persecuted Iranian Christians. But mostly, we should drink deeply from the well of their courage.

If, with the help of God, they dare to preach his gospel in the face of strong opposition, what is our excuse for not doing the same in our much pleasanter circumstances?

WASHINGTON (BP)–Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces execution unless he renounces his faith in Christ, a written verdict from the country’s supreme court has confirmed.

Baptist Press reported July 8 that Christians in Iran were challenging news reports that Nadarkhani’s death penalty had been annulled. The Christian Solidarity Worldwide human rights organization reported July 14 that the court’s written verdict had been released, confirming that Nadarkhani faces execution unless he renounces his faith.

The original verdict on charges of apostasy was based on “fatwas” by Iran’s most powerful religious leaders — Ayatollahs Khomeini, Khamenei and Makarem Shirazi – meaning the Supreme Court may have been reluctant to overturn the verdict for fear of inviting controversy, CSW advocacy director Andrew Johnston said in a press statement.

Following reports of the verdict, the U.S. State Department issued a statement expressing “dismay” over the situation, according to Fox News. Human rights advocates, however, say apostasy isn’t even identified as a crime under Iranian law.

“From a human rights perspective, you can’t criminalize someone’s choice of religion, much less execute them for that,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, told Fox News.

Other religious groups also face persecution for their beliefs in Iran, the State Department pointed out. Seven Baha’i leaders have been sentenced to 20 years in prison for practicing their faith, and hundreds of members of Islam’s Sufi sect have been flogged in public because of their beliefs. Iran has been fairly tolerant of the country’s Armenian and Assyrian Christian groups, which date from the early days of Christianity, but Muslims who profess faith in Christ have been pressured.

Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 while attempting to register his church. His arrest is believed to have been due to his questioning of the Muslim monopoly on the religious instruction of children in Iran, according to news reports. He initially was charged with protesting; however, the charges against him were later changed to apostasy and evangelizing Muslims.

Johnston said Christian Solidarity Worldwide is urging “the Iranian regime to respect the stipulations of international treaties to which it is party, including the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of religion and freedom to change one’s religion or belief…. The international community must act urgently to press Iran to ensure … that Pastor Nadarkhani in particular is acquitted of a charge that is not in fact recognized under Iranian civil law.”

Courtesy of http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=35761

Editor Note: Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in Iran. Also pray for God to show his mighty arm for pastor Yousef Nadarkhani.

According to Elam Ministries, there are at least 25 Christians still being held behind bars out of around 120 imprisoned by the authorities since last December.

Elam director Sam Yeghnazar is appealing to Christians to pray for their brothers and sisters in Iran, that they would be mentally prepared to face interrogators. It is also asking that they pray for the persecutors, that they would realise that what they are doing is wrong, and for fellow prisoners, that they would hear the Gospel.

“Prison is a place that people dread,” said Yeghnazar.

“This is where our brothers and sisters are suffering. It is where they win victories or suffer defeat.

“So it would be good to start [our prayers] from prison.”

The Christian community in Iran has been hit by a wave of arrests since last December. On February 13, around 45 Christians were rounded up and detained overnight in several towns and cities across Iran. At least five of them were held in Tehran’s notorious Evan prison.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide suspects that the arrests and detentions are part of a wider attempt by the Iranian government to intimidate the Christian community.

Christians are regarded as an enemy of Islam and the Iranian state. Tehran Governor Morteza Tamadon recently likened Christian missionaries to the Taliban and warned of more arrests.

Elam Ministries said some of the Christians to have been released have reported being placed in solitary confinement and subjected to harsh interrogation in Section 209 of Evin Prison.

“Ex-prisoners who have endured Section 209 testify it is the worst part of the whole grim experience of arrest and imprisonment,” said Elam.

“They say the mental pressure is unbearable.”

Pastor Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani was released on bail on February 15 after being detained in Shiraz since last June. He stands accused of crimes against the Islamic order and blasphemy, and now awaits a further hearing, expected to take place in April.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide said there was still no news on the fate of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who is appealing against a death sentence for blasphemy.

CSW’s national director Stuart Windsor condemned the harassment of Christians.

“CSW deplores the systematic targeting of religious minorities by the Iranian government,” he said.

“As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran is illegally obligated to uphold international standards of religious freedom for all its citizens.”

Courtezsy of http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.urged.to.pray.for.believers.in.iran/27576.htm