AJC Calls for End to Persecution of Christians in Iran
December 8, 2010 -- New York -- AJC is urging the international community to press Iran to release without harm dozens of Christians who have been detained since Christmas, and to end the official persecution of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic.
“We are deeply concerned about the fate of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “This latest assault on Christians, the detention of dozens since Christmas, tragically fits the pattern of human rights abuses in Iran. The regime has unabashedly persecuted and repressed Bahais, Christians and Jews, leading many to flee their historic homeland.”
One Iranian official called the detained Christians deviant and corrupt, while promising more arrests. "Just like the Taliban, who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, [evangelicals] have crafted a movement in the name of Christianity," said Morteza Tamaddon, the governor of Tehran.
“This kind of rhetoric reflects the twisted ideology of the ruling regime that dangerously threatens further repression of non-Muslim Iranians who desire to practice their faiths,” said Harris.
While Christians comprise about one percent of Iran’s population, they have been harassed and threatened since the 1979 revolution. An Iranian Protestant pastor is awaiting execution after his death sentence was upheld in September.
“The words and actions of Iran’s leaders and institutions contravene both Iranian and international law regarding religious minorities,” Harris said.
Iran’s constitution recognizes Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians as protected religious minorities, but members of these groups regularly suffer discrimination and repression, according to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Further, Iran is bound by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it ratified. The covenant calls for freedom of religion.
“The Iranian regime must face universal condemnation for its violations of human rights and religious freedom,” said Harris.
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