NEWS ALERT: Christian Couple Killed In Iran; Other Evangelicals Remain Detained

Abba Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama, both in their 60’s,  were attacked by security forces late Sunday, July 27, while hosting an evangelical house church meeting in Malek-Shahr, a suburb of the central town of Isfahan, said Farsi Christian News Netwerk (FCNN), which has close contacts with Christians in Iran.

Due to his old age and "the extent of his injuries" Amiri died three days later, Wednesday
July 30, at a hospital in the city of Isfahan, reported FCNN. His wife Rahnama died Sunday,
August 3, because of her injuries and what FCNN described as "the painful stress of separation from her husband" in the city of Masjid-Sleiman.

Up to 15 other evangelical Christians, including the daughter of the couple, were also mistreated and remained detained Thursday, August 7. Christians said. Their condition was not immediately clear Thursday, August 7.

FUNERAL TROUBLES

Secret police reportedly tried to prevent Christians from attending the funeral of Amiri, but friends and family managed to attend the service. Rahnama’s funeral service was also made difficult, forcing the family to leave the city, said Open Doors, a rights group investigating the plight of reportedly persecuted Christians.

"The fact that Amiri was a former Muslim who even attended the pilgrimage to Mecca, also made it more difficult for him," said Open Doors. In addition, Amiri was a veteran soldier of the Iran-Iraq war, a symbol of Iranian national price, reported FCNN.

Iranian officials had no comment. It comes amid mounting pressure on Iranian churches, human rights groups say. Last month some 12 Christians were reportedly detained after they attempted to travel to Armenia through Tehran. Two other former Muslims, including a diabetic patient, are already two months jailed in the town of Shiraz, the fifth most populated city in Iran.   

SEVERE TORTURE

Last month, after his release from a month of interrogations and what fellow believers described as "severe torture under secret police custody" Iranian Christian Mohsen Namvar managed to flee across the border into Turkey with his family.

Traveling by train, the apparently badly beaten Christian arrived July 2 in eastern Turkey
with his wife and son. Namvar, 44, had been held incommunicado by a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards from May 31 until June 26, when authorities reportedly told his family they were releasing him "temporarily."

Although the secret police demanded $43,000 in bail, officers refused to issue a court receipt for the family’s cash payment, Iranian Christians said. Witnesses said during his release, Namvar experienced fever, severe back pain, extremely high blood pressure, uncontrollable shaking of his limbs and recurring short-term memory loss.

He has reportedly linked his mistreatment to his refusal to give police names or information about other converts and house church groups in Iran. In the spring of 2007, he had been arrested and apparently severely tortured with electrical shocks, allegedly for baptizing Muslims who had become Christians.

UNHCR INTERVIEW?

Three months after back surgery for those injuries, he regained the ability to walk, but still
suffered pain and discomfort, Christians said. Namvar presented himself in July to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ankara to apply for status as an asylum-seeker.

They must reportedly wait in Turkey some 11 months, until June 8, 2009, for a UNHCR interview in which they will detail their reasons for requesting asylum.

The incidents comes amid reported concerns among authorities over the growing number of Muslims converting to Christianity in the country. There are an estimated 100.000 Muslims who have converted to Christianity living in Iran and "their number is growing rapidly," said Open Doors spokesman Jenö Sebök.

Under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, conversion could be punishable by death. However even Armenian and Syrian Christians, who are allowed to openly express their faith, can not legally own own Bibles or other Christian literature in the Farsi language, observers say. Open Doors said it would continue to help churches in Iran by distributing Bibles and Christian literature in Iran. (With BosNewsLife Research and reporting from Iran and the Netherlands).