Published on: 7 July 2020
DOHI News
In a series of new arrests, 12 Christians were arrested in three cities, Tehran, Karaj and Malayer, Iran.
Dozens more Christians were ordered to provide their contact details and told they will be soon be summoned for questioning.
Photo by sina drakhshani on Unsplash
According to Article 18, the first arrests took place on June 30, at around 8pm in western Tehran’s Yaftabad district.
On June 30, at around 8pm, ten intelligence agents – eight men and two women – raided the home of a recent Christian.
The agents were armed and wore masks. As they filmed the raid and separated the men from the women, they were reportedly polite, but later turned the cameras off and treated the Christians harshly.
All present were taken down to the building’s car park, where several cars and a van with blacked-out windows awaited. All cars belonging to local residents apparently were moved for the agent cars and to make space for a quasi interrogation room.
The agents then proceeded to read out a list of names written on an arrest warrant.
Six names read out were:
Armenian-Iranian Christian Joseph Shahbazian, and five Christian converts named Reza, Salar, Sonya, and elderly sisters Mina and Maryam – were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away.
They have not yet been able to contact or inform their families where they have been taken.
Others, whose names were not read out – many of them recent converts – had their mobile phones confiscated and were ordered to fill out forms providing information of another method by which they could be reached. They were told not to follow-up for at least 72 hours on the confiscation of their phones and were also ordered to write down that no property had been confiscated.
The six arrested Christians, and some others whose names were not on the list, were driven to their homes in Tehran and Karaj were the agents proceeded to carry out searches of their properties.
According to witness reports, some Christians and some non-Christian family members were beaten.
The agents later drove to the homes of three Christian converts who were not present but whose names were read out – two men called Farhad, and another named Arash – and arrested them.
Coordinated operation
At the same time in the city of Malayer, three Christian converts, Sohrab, Ebrahim and Yasser were called and told to report to the Revolutionary Guard intelligence office the next day for questioning. They were arrested the next morning before they had the chance to turn themselves in.
After posting bail of 30 million tomans (around $1,500) each, they were released the following day.
All that is known about the fate of the other arrested Christians is that two of them had their bail set at 50 million tomans (around $2,500), and are currently seeking to raise the amount to secure their temporary release.
It is believed that the raids were coordinated with the help of an informant, who had infiltrated the group within the past few months and gained their trust.
This individual is reported to have accompanied the intelligence agents in their raid on the Tehran house-church, and to have even stood next to the judge as he later read out his bail demands.
