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Wall Street Journal, NY
Sept 1 2014
A Christian Prisoner in Iran
Pastor Farshid Fathi shares a cell with common criminals.
Iran's leaders are preparing for another visit to New York this month
for the U.N. General Assembly, but many of their citizens aren't going
anywhere as they languish in the regime's prisons for political
crimes. One notable case is Farshid Fathi, an evangelical Christian
pastor who this week will spend his 35th birthday in jail.
The intelligence ministry arrested Pastor Fathi in December 2010. The
father of two then spent a year in solitary and semi-solitary
confinement in Evin prison's Ward 209, reserved for political cases.
There he was interrogated for hours on end and subjected to
psychological abuse, according to an Iranian Christian convert who has
also spent time in prison for his beliefs, currently resides in the
country and is familiar with Pastor Fathi's case.
A Tehran revolutionary court in February 2012 convicted Pastor Fathi
of acting against national security and sentenced him to six years
including time served. More recently he has been transferred to Rajai
Shahr prison on the outskirts of Tehran, where he is sharing a cell
with addicts and other common criminals who routinely harass and
threaten him. When he inquired about the reason for this latest
transfer, the pastor was told that it was because he sang Christian
hymns.
The Iranian regime knows the political value of punishment and
humiliation all-too well, and in Pastor Fathi's case his harsh
imprisonment is meant to send a message to his followers. Iran's
traditional Christian communities, such as Orthodox Armenians and
Assyrians, are protected under the Islamic Republic's constitution as
so-called People of the Book. Their daily lives are subject to various
legal restrictions, however. Their schools and church activities are
closely watched, and they can't lead most public institutions.
Converts to Christianity receive harsher treatment since Tehran's
authoritarians won't tolerate Shiites leaving the official religion.
Apostasy is punishable by death under Shariah law, and
Persian-language Bibles are banned (though contraband editions can be
purchased in some bookstores). Yet the Internet has made it
increasingly difficult for Tehran to root out evangelical
Christianity, and the movement by some estimates claims up to 500,000
Iranian believers.
Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have recently given the world
a display of brutal vigilantism against minority religions. Pastor
Fathi's case is a reminder that persecution also is conducted by
long-established states, a truth to keep in mind as the world's
leaders sit down to tea with Iran's dictators.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/repression-of-christians-in-iran-1409594497
From: A. Papazian
Sept 1 2014
A Christian Prisoner in Iran
Pastor Farshid Fathi shares a cell with common criminals.
Iran's leaders are preparing for another visit to New York this month
for the U.N. General Assembly, but many of their citizens aren't going
anywhere as they languish in the regime's prisons for political
crimes. One notable case is Farshid Fathi, an evangelical Christian
pastor who this week will spend his 35th birthday in jail.
The intelligence ministry arrested Pastor Fathi in December 2010. The
father of two then spent a year in solitary and semi-solitary
confinement in Evin prison's Ward 209, reserved for political cases.
There he was interrogated for hours on end and subjected to
psychological abuse, according to an Iranian Christian convert who has
also spent time in prison for his beliefs, currently resides in the
country and is familiar with Pastor Fathi's case.
A Tehran revolutionary court in February 2012 convicted Pastor Fathi
of acting against national security and sentenced him to six years
including time served. More recently he has been transferred to Rajai
Shahr prison on the outskirts of Tehran, where he is sharing a cell
with addicts and other common criminals who routinely harass and
threaten him. When he inquired about the reason for this latest
transfer, the pastor was told that it was because he sang Christian
hymns.
The Iranian regime knows the political value of punishment and
humiliation all-too well, and in Pastor Fathi's case his harsh
imprisonment is meant to send a message to his followers. Iran's
traditional Christian communities, such as Orthodox Armenians and
Assyrians, are protected under the Islamic Republic's constitution as
so-called People of the Book. Their daily lives are subject to various
legal restrictions, however. Their schools and church activities are
closely watched, and they can't lead most public institutions.
Converts to Christianity receive harsher treatment since Tehran's
authoritarians won't tolerate Shiites leaving the official religion.
Apostasy is punishable by death under Shariah law, and
Persian-language Bibles are banned (though contraband editions can be
purchased in some bookstores). Yet the Internet has made it
increasingly difficult for Tehran to root out evangelical
Christianity, and the movement by some estimates claims up to 500,000
Iranian believers.
Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have recently given the world
a display of brutal vigilantism against minority religions. Pastor
Fathi's case is a reminder that persecution also is conducted by
long-established states, a truth to keep in mind as the world's
leaders sit down to tea with Iran's dictators.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/repression-of-christians-in-iran-1409594497
From: A. Papazian