Christians proselytes are arrested in different cities in Iran whilst their statue is vaguely unknown.
Details of theses arrests are published several weeks after while number of charges against these detainees are on State-media outlets whatsoever.
According to the Times of Israel, November 16, 2018, Behnam Ersali and Dawood Rasooli (David), two proselytes, were arrested in Mashad and Karaj by security forces and moved to an unknown location. Also on Saturday, 17th of November, Sara Karim Aghaei, Shohreh Darvishi, Babak Hayati and Hamid Khobyary in Shiraz, and on Monday, November 19th, Ali Eshtiagh, Gorgik Issaian, Edwin and Maria Margourian (Armenian couple), and Kourosh in Tehran were Arrested.
According to reports, Behnam Sadeghi, a former member of the Jamaat-i-Rabbani Church in Tehran and a resident of Karaj who visited Mashhad, was arrested on Friday, November 16, 2018, at a friend’s house by security guards and transferred to an unknown location, which There is still no news about him.
Also, Dawud Rassouli (brother David), another Christian, was arrested in Karaj by two plainclothes agents the same day (November 16th), which did not reveal his status and destiny and his whereabouts.
The Mohabat News website, the Christian News Agency of Iran, had at the same time announced that the security guards had inspected the residents of Mr. Rassouli and Mr. Ersali and seized items related to Christianity.
The report also said that on Saturday, November 17, Sarah Karim Aghaee, Shohreh Darvishi, Babak Hayati and Hamid Khobyari were arrested in Shiraz at Babak Hayati’s place, whose homes, according to neighbors, “were inspected and some items, including satellite receivers and books, were confiscated. “
According to the report, on Monday, 19th of November, other Christians named Ali Eshtiagh, Georgic Issaian, Edwin and Maria Margorian (Armenian couple), and a Christian proselyte named Brother Kourosh, along with the aforementioned Armenian couple, in Tehran at Mr. Issaian’s house were arrested. No information has been released on the situation and where the detainees were kept, but they were told that they were being held at the Evin prison, as the families of the detainees are told.
A few days ago, media close to the security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran reported the arrest of a number of citizens, including citizens of other countries, on charges of “relation to the Zionist Christianity,” and according to seized books and CDs From the detainees, they claimed that these people were seeking “to conquer Iran,” and “some documents in this regard are seized showing insult to Islam, the sanctity, and the Shiite.
One of these IRGC-affiliated media claimed that “members of the arrested group, who, apart from internal factors, consist of alien nationals, with direct guidance from the Zionist regime (Israel) had been promoting and evangelizing Christianity in various parts of Iran, and a number of people were attracted to the evangelical Christian denomination.”
In recent years, Christian proselytes living in Iran, according to Persian-speaking Christians, have been subjected to security and judicial pressure and human rights abuses that have been committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and a large number of these Christians have been detained and convicted.
