Iran is reported to have launched a new crackdown against Iranian Christians this month following the re-arrest of two men.
Article18, an NGO based in the U.K. dedicated to safeguarding religious freedom in Iran, reported on Feb. 10 that two Christians in their 60s, who had previously spent a total of six years in prison for leading house churches, have been re-arrested.
Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian, the two Christians, were detained again by Iranian regime intelligence agents and taken to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. Gol-Tapeh has gone on a hunger strike to protest his “unlawful re-arrest,” according to Article18, which is an advocate for persecuted Christians in Iran.
Quoting the latest U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Iran (2023), it is mentioned that “the government continued to control Christian religious activities. Christian gatherings conducted in Farsi were prohibited, and official documents and state media continued to portray private Christian home churches as ‘illegal networks’ and ‘Zionist propaganda institutions’.”
The number of Christians in Iran is difficult to pinpoint because of the widespread repression of the faith. According to the State Department report, the Iranian regime’s Statistical Center claims there are 117,700 Christians of recognized denominations as of the 2016 census.
Iranian women prisoners sit inside their cell in Tehran’s Evin prison, June 13, 2006. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl )
Boston University’s 2020 World Religion Database notes there are roughly 579,000 Christians in Iran, while Article 18 estimates there are 500,000 to 800,000. Open Doors reports the number at 1.24 million.
The Trump administration re-imposed, in early February, its maximum economic pressure campaign on Iran’s regime to reverse Tehran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon and stop its spread of Islamist terrorism.
Vojoudi, an associate fellow at the U.S.-based Gold Institute for International Strategy, told Fox News Digital, “Now is the time for European nations and the United States to take meaningful action, not only by holding the Islamic Republic accountable for its support of terrorism and extremist groups, but also by prosecuting it on the international stage for violating one of the most fundamental human rights: the freedom of religion.
“This is critical not only for the safety of Christian converts but also to reaffirm the values of freedom and human dignity that these nations claim to uphold.”
Multiple Fox News Digital press queries to Iran’s foreign ministry and its U.N. mission in New York were not returned. Fox News Digital asked if the government would release Iranians imprisoned for merely practicing their Christian faith.
