Iran’s security forces detained eight members of a nationwide Protestant church movement in Tehran Friday, June 19, as part of a government crackdown on the growing number of Christians in the strict Islamic nation, a Christian leader told Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife.
Iran has acquitted “on all charges” two young women who were detained fourteen months ago “for their Christian faith and activities” and abandoning Islam, Iranian church officials confirmed Sunday, May 23.
Iran’s government has launched a massive crackdown on devoted Christians, including church leaders, as part of efforts to halt the growing Christian church in the Islamic nation, Iranian Christians and rights activists said Friday, April 23.
An Iranian pastor jailed for 54 days on charges of “converting Muslims” to Christianity, spent Easter in freedom this weekend after he was temporary released on bail along with several other believers, Iranian Christians and rights investigators said.
The detained Assyrian pastor of an evangelical church in Iran has been tortured and told he may be executed for converting Muslims to Christianity and related charges, his wife and Christians with close knowledge about his situation said.
Iranian Christians on Monday, March 1, were searching a Christian couple after they were detained by Iranian security forces for apparently leading an unauthorized house church, Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife learned.
An evangelical pastor and eight other Christians were behind bars in Iran Friday, February 26, after authorities closed their church as part of a new government crackdown on devoted Christians in the Islamic nation, rights investigators said.
An Iranian court forced a Christian convert with a Muslim background to sign a confession that she is “mentally unstable” and placed her under three months of house arrest in the city of Mashhad, 850 kilometers (530 miles) east of the capital Tehran, trial observers said.
One of the world’s largest mission agencies, Open Doors, named North Korea and Iran Wednesday, November 6, as “the worst persecutors of Christians”.
A Christian mother jailed in Iran was apparently still prevented from meeting her family Tuesday, January 5, nearly three weeks after she was detained by police for allegedly contacting foreign Christian broadcasters.
Christians in Iran are anticipating a difficult Christmas after security forces reportedly raided a worship gathering and detained two of the group’s leaders.
Two young Christian women who faced execution or at least life imprisonment in Iran for converting from Islam to Christianity were to be released as early as Tuesday, November 17, after international pressure and prayers, their representatives told Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife.
Iran’s government has ordered one of the country’s largest Protestant churches to halt Friday services, while a pastor remains detained for protesting plans to “impose the reading of the Koran” on Christian children, Worthy News monitored Monday, November 9.
A group of ex-Muslims who converted to Christianity were preparing Wednesday, September 16, for an upcoming court hearing in Iran on suspicion of “apostasy”, after they were temporarily released on bail from one of the country’s most notorious prisons, BosNewsLife learned.
Women dressed in white have gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London as part of a prayer vigil to highlight the plight of two female Christian converts from Islam who have been held at Evin Prison in Teheran “without charge”for the last six months, organizers said.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims around the world to mobilize their troops alongside Iran against Israel and the United States to prepare for the coming of the “Mahdi” seen as “the savior of Islam”.
Iran has detained dozens of Christians in the last two weeks, including former Muslims, and at least eight of them remain imprisoned, a well-informed advocacy group told Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife Wednesday, August 12.
Two young Iranian women who may face the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity have told a court that they will not abandon their faith in Christ, despite harsh treatment in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, Christian trial observers confirmed to Worthy News Monday, August 10.
(ADDS DETAINED ACTIVISTS, CHANGING LEAD)
At least 10 reformists were detained before dawn Sunday, June 14, hours after Iranian officials said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a landslide victory, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported.
Iranian family members and friends were still searching Saturday, May 29, for several former Muslims who converted to Christianity, after Iranian security forces detained them during a raid at a house church.