Like many other places in the Muslim world in Iran, the so called Religion of Peace is not a religion of tolerance. According to sources, at least 70 Christians have been arrested in the Tehran province of Iran since Christmas. The arrested Christians have been detained based on trumped up charges of planning religious and cultural attack
s on the Islamic Republic.
The governor of Tehran, Morteza Tamaddon, vowed to find and detain members involved in a movement he called “deviated” and “corrupt.”
"The leaders of this movement have been arrested in Tehran province and more will be arrested in the near future," he said, according to official news agency IRNA on Tuesday. It is unclear whether the Christians being held are Iranian or foreigners, as the government has yet to reveal their identities. But Tamaddon has described them as “tabshiri” or missionaries.
Before you start thinking "same old Iran" remember that in the "moderate" country of Saudi Arabia, owning a Christian Bible, or putting up a Christmas tree can earn you a visit from the Religious Police.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a U.K.-based human rights group, the detained individuals are evangelical believers and include pastors and leaders from within the house church networks of Iran.
“The government puts severe pressure on such individuals interrogating them brutally and holding them in solitary confinement in order to obtain the names of other church members, to deter them from continuing to practice their faith and to threaten them with further ramifications for Christian activities,” the group said.
The Iranian Authorities are also beginning to use propaganda to incite the Muslim populace against the Iranian Christians.
Tamaddon claimed the Christians were engaged in a “conspiracy” initiated by the British in the Islamic Republic. "Just like the Taliban ... who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, they have crafted a movement with Britain's backing in the name of Christianity," he said.
Gee the Iranians are getting creative, usually they make up stories and blame the Jews and the Americans.
While Islam is the official religion in Iran, the constitution recognizes Christians, who account for less than one percent of the population, as a "protected" religious minority. However, the government has severely restricted freedom of religion in the country. Over 70 Christians were reportedly arrested by officials over the Christmas period.
Many church services are continually monitored by the secret police, while active believers are often interrogated and beaten.
When you add Iran to the horrors faced by Christians in Egypt, Gaza, Iraq and Turkey for example, one realizes that the "Religion of Peace," is nothing of the kind.
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