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According to the report of the Aryan community news agency, according to the annual report of the Christian organization “Open Doors”, about Christians in Jaffa, which was published on Wednesday, January 29, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the ninth “anti-Christian” country in the world.
In the annual list of the global monitoring of persecution of Christians published by “Open Doors”, with the effectiveness of the Islamic State, Afghanistan is at the top of the table, and after this country, North Korea and Somalia are in second and third place. Last year, North Korea was at the top of the table, followed by Afghanistan and Somalia.
Iran was ranked eighth in the report published in 2021, and in 2020 it was the ninth most anti-Christian country in the world.
The countries of Libya, Yemen, Eritrea, Nigeria and Pakistan are on the list before Iran, and the countries of India and Saudi Arabia are after Iran and are in the 10th and 11th places.
The possibility of worsening the situation of anti-Christianity in Iran
“Darhai Baz” writes that there has not been much change in the situation of Christians in Iran compared to last year, but it is feared that with the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi as the president, and the changes in some articles of the Islamic Penal Code (499 and 500), the situation could change. Make the anointing worse.
The annual report of “Open Doors” states that “the government of Iran considers the growth of the church in Iran as an attempt by the West to weaken the government of the Islamic Republic, and Christian converts are persecuted more than other Christians.” Oftentimes, secret (house) churches are attacked and their leaders and members are arrested and sentenced to long prison terms on charges of “acting against national security.”
Persian language churches have been closed by the government of the Islamic Republic in the past years, and security agents have attacked home churches and even confiscated Christian Bibles as evidence of crimes.
In this report, the number of Christians in Iran is estimated to be around 800,000.
Most of Iran’s Christians are Christian converts who do not have a church building for worship, and the government harasses them by attacking their house churches and homes.
Recently, a campaign entitled “Church is the right of all Christians” was launched by the initiative of a group of Christian converts who have faced imprisonment and deprivation in Iran because of their faith.
At least 33 Iranian churches in ten different countries have announced their support for this campaign.
“Open Doors” adds that unlike converts, “Armenians and Assyrians are Christians who are recognized as a religious minority in Iran’s constitution, but even they face discrimination and are considered “second class” citizens. They don’t have the right to talk about their faith in Christ with others or to speak in Farsi in a church ceremony.”
Armenians and Assyrians who do not follow the government’s red line and talk about their faith with Muslims will be targeted by the Islamic Republic. Christian leaders like Hayek Hospian and Tatavos Mikailian, who stood against the demands of the Islamic Republic, were killed by the security forces.
