capital Tehran amid international concern he may be executed for allegedly spreading Christianity in the Islamic nation and deceiving people about his faith, BosNewsLife monitored Saturday, February 5.
47-year old Hamid Pourmand of the Assemblies of God Church was arrested with over 80 other Christian leaders in September in Karaj, a town 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) west of Tehran during a police raid against the annual General Council of his denomination. All but Pourmand have since been released, church sources and human rights watchers said.
Before the trial began last week, the European Union lodged a formal protest with Iranian authorities over the arrest and alleged harassment of Pourmand and other members of religious minorities, as well as detained journalists, and staff of non-government organizations.
The EU protested the arrests of Christians and in particular Christian pastors like Pourmand as an "infringement of the freedom of religion or belief”. It urged the immediate release of Pastor Pourmand, who was recently moved to a military prison.
ARMY COLONEL
An army colonel, Pourmand converted from Islam to Christianity nearly 25 years ago, although Iranian laws prohibit non-Muslims from serving as military officers. However, Pourmand declared in court last week that he had "documented proof" that the army knew he had become a Christian before he was ever given an officer rank, reported the Compass Direct news agency, which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians.
Compass Direct said Pourmand will likely be discharged from the military over the deception accusations, but warned he also faces another trial on two separate charges of "apostasy and proselytizing", which under Iranian law is a capital offense.
In July 1994, Mehdi Dibaj, another minister of the Assemblies of God Church, was killed after spending nine years in prison for refusing to abjure his Christian faith and return to Islam, said the well informed Catholic AsiaNews Internet website. Several other Christian leaders are also known to have died.
CHRISTIAN WIFE
Since his arrest, Pourmand has been able to talk briefly to is wife, an Assyrian Christian, by phone and tell her that he was alright, news reports said. At the time of his arrest, she and their children were apparently in Tehran visiting relatives, and later discovered that their home had been searched and family documents and photos taken.
Last year’s raid against Pourmand’s Assemblies of God Church came after several reported arrests of Christians in northern Iran earlier in 2004, as Islamic hardliners are apparently concerned about the growing interest in Christianity across the nation.
Shiite cleric Hasan Mohammadi from the Ministry of Education said in a speech to Tehran high school students recently that "on average every day, 50 young Iranians convert secretly to Christian denominations," reported AsiaNews.
"The persecution of Christians in Iran has especially decimated the leadership of [the fast growing] Protestant evangelical community in Iran and created an atmosphere of terror under which the church is presently suffering," concluded Jubilee Campaign, a human rights pressure group, in a recent statement. It stressed that "evidence points to a deliberate campaign of persecution against the church in Iran, orchestrated at the highest political levels."
There are an estimated 360,000 Christians in Iran out of a population of roughly 65 million.
(With: BosNewsLife News Center, Stefan J. Bos, wire reports)
