other religious minorities in Iran amid reports that evangelicals fear for the safety of a jailed pastor , a month after his arrest, BosNewsLife monitored Saturday October 9.
John Hanford, the State Department’s Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, told the Voice of America (VOA) network that Christians as well as Bahai, Jews and Sunni Muslims "continue to face imprisonment, harassment, intimidation and discrimination."
Islamic leaders in Iran have called the United States a "Great Satan", while President George W. Bush described the Middle East nation as part of the "Axes of Evil."
The latest row over human rights in Iran come as evangelicals there say they fear for the safety of a pastor arrested four weeks ago by Iranian security police.
Iranian authorities have so far refused to give a reason for the arrest and prolonged detention of Hamid Pourmand, 47, a lay pastor in the Assemblies of God Church, Compass Direct news agency reported.
NO CONTACT
It said "no one has been allowed" to see Pourmand since September 9, when he was arrested along with 85 other evangelical church leaders. All of them, except the pastor, were later released, although church sources say many of them are monitored by Iran’s feared secret police.
That incident underscored concern among human rights watchers about a possible wide spread crackdown on Christians in Iran, which critics call "the world’s only theocracy."
Compass Direct, which has close contacts with persecuted Christians, said Pourmand, a colonel in the Iranian army, was allowed one "very short telephone call" to his wife last week, "without saying where he was or giving any other details."
ABANDONING ISLAM
Pastor Pourmand reportedly converted from Islam twenty-five years ago and is married with two children. The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM), a Christian human rights watchdog, recently urged its supporters to "pray for protection for Pastor Pourmand" and to "pray for peace and strength for his wife and children," as well as other persecuted Christians.
Pourmand is among Iran’s estimated 30,000 evangelical pastors, many of whom reportedly abandoned the Muslim faith, despite the risk of imprisonment or even the death penalty under the country’s strict Islamic law.
Iran’s government estimates the Christian community to number up to 120,000 persons, but the U.N. Special Representative said the figure could be as high as 300,000, the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor said in a 2002 report.
100,000 NEW CHRISTIANS
Iranian Christians International reported as many as 100,000 people have become Christians as a result of radio, satellite television, or Internet evangelism. Involvement of Christian ministries in relief efforts during last years devastating earthquake in Bam is also said to have added to interest in Christianity, Christianity Today magazine reported.
Only 3,000 evangelicals lived in the country in 1979, according to church sources. Missionaries were expelled after the Islamic revolution, and as many as 90 percent of the churches were closed.
While there are an estimated 150 house churches in Iran, security concerns often curtail gatherings. Several Christian leaders have disappeared or been murdered, including four Assemblies of God pastors in the 1990s, Christinaity Today and other sources said.
Jewish people have also been suffering under persecution, according to human rights groups. Estimates on the size of the Jewish community vary from 20,000 to 30,000.
These figures represent a substantial reduction from about the up to 80,000 Jews who resided in the country prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, reported the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
WITH AUTHOR STEFAN J. BOS
