Tag: Ahwaz

Iran: Crackdown on Christians continues with reports of beatings

December 19, 2018 Iran Ahwaz, Converts, House churches, Iran, Karaj, Khuzestan, Mashhad

Christian leaders in Iran have said that pressure on Christians increases every year around Christmas but that this year it is particularly severe. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

At least seven Iranian Christian converts have been arrested in Iran in the last two weeks, including two sisters who allegedly have been beaten. Shima Zanganeh, 27, and her sister, Shokoufeh, 30, were arrested by Intelligence Service officials in their homes in Ahvaz, capital of Iran’s western Khuzestan province, on 2 . . . Read More

Iranian prisoners tortured and beaten

May 19, 2014 Iran Ahwaz, Church of Iran, Iran, Karaj, Prisons, Torture

Two Christian men have been violently tortured and badly beaten in Iran’s prisons. Silas Rabbani, a deacon of the Church of Iran in Karaj, was arrested on May 5 by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. Upon his arrest he was informed of the groups’ plan to arrest other . . . Read More

Iran: Pastor’s wife released early

January 30, 2014 Iran Ahwaz, Assemblies of God, Converts, Iran, Khuzestan, Proselytism

The wife of an Iranian pastor has been released from prison three months before the end of her sentence. Shahnaz Jayzan, wife of Farhad Sabokrouh, was released on Tuesday (Jan. 28) after serving nine months in jail. She has been released on the condition that neither she nor her husband . . . Read More

Iranians released two weeks early

December 9, 2013 Iran Ahwaz, Apostasy, Converts, Iran, Proselytism

Two Iranian Christians have been released from jail two weeks before the end of their sentences. Farhad Sabokrouh, pastor of the Assemblies of God Church in Ahwaz, and Naser Zamen-Dezfuli, were released on December 4, seven months after their incarceration for converting from Islam to Christianity, proselytising Muslims, and propagating . . . Read More

Tehran church faces closure after pastor’s arrest

May 30, 2013 Iran Ahwaz, Assemblies of God, Evin Prison, Robert Asseriyan

The sign on the church in Tehran: ‘This church is closed due to major repairs. Please do not return!Article 18 The future of the central Assemblies of God church in Tehran hangs in the balance, following the arrest of one of its pastors last week. Iranian authorities continue to . . . Read More

Iranian authorities shut church in Tehran

June 8, 2012 Iran Ahwaz, Armenians, Assyrians, Behnam Irani, Churches, Farshid Fathi, Iran, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Tehran

Authorities in Iran this week ordered the closure of a church in the capital, Tehran, amid a government campaign to crack down on the few recognized churches offering Farsi-speaking services, according to a human rights group. The order came from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Intelligence branch on Tuesday (June 5). The . . . Read More

Crackdown hits official churches

March 16, 2012 Iran Ahwaz, Assemblies of God, Assyrians, Converts, Dezful, House churches, Iran, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Pentecostals, Proselytism, Shiraz

In a rare crackdown on a concentrated area, Iranian authorities have arrested Christians living in the country’s third largest city in what is seen as a tactic to discourage Muslims and converts to Christianity from attending official churches. Since last month officials have arrested about 12 Christian converts in Isfahan, . . . Read More

Churches forced to stop Farsi worship in Tehran, Iran

February 17, 2012 Iran Ahwaz, Armenians, Assemblies of God, Assyrians, Behnam Irani, Farshid Fathi, Iran, Shiraz, Tehran

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the last two officially registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language services in Tehran to discontinue them. Emmanuel Protestant Church and St. Peter’s Evangelical Church were the last two official churches offering Farsi-language services on Fridays in Tehran, according to Middle East Concern (MEC). Officials issued . . . Read More

Authorities raid house church in Shiraz

February 10, 2012 Iran Ahwaz, Behnam Irani, Farshid Fathi, House churches, Iran, Khuzestan, Shiraz

Iranian authorities this week arrested Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz, according to sources. Officials are holding the Christians at an unknown location, they said. The sources put the number of the arrested Christians, who belong to . . . Read More

Decision stalled on Iranian pastor sentenced to death

December 21, 2011 Iran Ahwaz, Baptism, Farshid Fathi, Iran, Rasht, Youcef Nadarkhani

A pastor in Iran sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith may have to wait another year for a ruling on whether the sentence will be upheld, according to sources. Yousef (also spelled Youcef) Nadarkhani, sentenced to death after a court of appeals in Rasht, Iran, found him . . . Read More

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