Iran

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- A prominent Iranian Christian musician was again behind bars Wednesday, May 7, after being released in December, while an evangelical house church official has been detained as part of a wider crackdown, Christians said.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- A jailed evangelical pastor in Iran says he has forgiven the prison guards who mistreated him and nearly 30 other inmates.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Six out of eight detained Iranian Christians have lost their appeal against long prison terms on what friends view as trumped-up charges, trial observers said late Thursday, April 3.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian man has begun a hunger strike in an Iranian prison to protest the rejection of his conditional release appeal by the Revolutionary Court, despite concerns over his health, Iranian Christians told BosNewsLife Sunday, March 30.

BosNewsLife Middle East Service with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran has jailed dozens of evangelical Christians, many of whom are converts from Muslim backgrounds, according to a new United Nations report seen by BosNewsLife Monday, March 17

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran's feared intelligence service continues to detain a pastor and two fellow believers, nearly a week after armed agents violently broke up a Christian picnic, an official assisting the Christians with advocacy told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Eight Iranian Christians have been detained and interrogated by security forces over their Christian activities, rights activists said Friday, March 7.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- A pastor of Iran's largest evangelical church movement will return to prison after undergoing surgery for injuries linked to mistreatment behind bars, Iranian Christians said Monday, February 24.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian authorities have released two prominent Christian prisoners, but concerns remained Wednesday, January 29, over the future of their church. Shahnaz Jayzan, the wife of a pastor of the evangelical Assemblies of God Church (AoG) in Iran's southwestern city of Ahwaz, was released Tuesday, January 28, some three months before her prison term was due to be completed, Iranian Christians said. Earlier Davoud Alijani, an AoG leader in Ahwaz, was reportedly freed from Karoon Prison on January 13, about 20 days before the end of his sentence.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Many Iranian Christians have been forced to usher in the New Year without a church service in their native language amid a government crackdown on Farsi-speaking Christians and congregations, local believers told BosNewsLife.