IRAN: CASE STILL OPEN AGAINST RELEASED CHRISTIANS

Compass Direct News
Feb 9 2009
CA

Charges still unknown; another convert faces possible ‘apostasy’
accusation.

LOS ANGELES, February 9 (Compass Direct News) – Arrested on Jan. 21
in Tehran, converts from Islam Jamal Galishorani and his wife Nadereh
Jamali have been released on bail with an open case, though charges
against them are still unknown, sources told Compass.

Authorities released Galishorani yesterday, and officials at Evin
Prison freed his wife last week. Iranian Christians and international
human rights agencies have feared that they could be charged with
"apostasy," or leaving Islam – potentially punishable by execution
in the Shia Islamic republic.

A third Christian also arrested in Tehran on Jan. 21, Armenian Hamik
Khachikian, was released after one week without charges.

The Galishoranis and Khachikian are members of Tehran’s Assemblies
of God Church, an officially registered church, and were said to have
held Bible studies in their home. The arrests of the Galishoranis and
Khachikian, according to a source, are just part of the government’s
increased harassment of Iran’s Christians.

"The pressure is continuous," the source said. "In the past it came
and went with waves."

Possible Apostasy Charge

Sources told Compass that Mahmoude Azadeh, a 55-year-old Christian
who has been incarcerated in Mashhad since last August, could face
charges of apostasy.

He is expected to learn of exact charges, which also could include
forming a Christian house group and propagating Christianity, at a
Mashhad court hearing on Thursday (Feb. 12).

Azadeh has been in jail since security agents raided his house church
in Nishapur; five others arrested with him were released shortly
after. Azadeh has spent two months of his time in jail in solitary
confinement, the sources said.

He was first arrested in June 2007 in Nishapur for two days, and
after he and his family moved to Isfahan, authorities arrested him
there in September of the same year, a source said.

In 2008, there were 73 documented arrests of Christians in Iran. A
source working closely with churches in Iran expects there to be more
arrests this year. A high-profile church leader was also taken into
custody this year, the source said, and is still being held.

"With elections coming this year, there will be more arrests," the
source said. "The regime rules through fear, and they want Christians
to be afraid."

In addition to the approaching spring elections, the source said,
exaggerated estimates of conversions by well-intentioned ministries
outside of Iran may be contributing to reasons for the government’s
increased scrutiny of the church.

"One minister in America claimed that in 2008 alone, 800,000 Iranians
came to Christ," the source said, adding that the government viewed
such a high number of converts as a genuine threat to its rule and
began to clamp down on churches.

The source noted that many Iranians wear Zoroastrian symbols and
crucifixes merely as acts of rebellion against the government. "This
doesn’t always mean that they are true believers," he said.

The recent spate of arrests also included Baha’is.

As many Iranian Christians are either in prison or awaiting trial,
the government continues to debate the adoption of a proposed penal
code that would mandate the death penalty for apostates. The Iranian
Parliament approved the new penal code last September, and the Guardian
Council has yet to rule on it.

The council is made up of six conservative theologians appointed by
Iran’s Supreme Leader and six jurists nominated by the judiciary and
approved by Parliament. In the past, death sentences for apostasy were
issued only under judicial interpretations of sharia (Islamic law).

The proposed legislation in the Iranian Parliament would make the
death penalty mandatory for male apostates, while women convicted of
apostasy would receive life in prison at most.

Many Iranian Christians believe the arrests in January mark the
beginning of a renewed crackdown.