Report: Iran Arrests Suspected Converts to Christianity
Amid a growing crackdown on religious freedom, Iranian police reportedly have been rounding up people they suspect have converted to Christianity.
On May 11, police arrested eight people in the southern city of Shiraz, according to Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, a Christian organization that fights religious persecution.
Converting from Islam is a crime in Iran; converts can face jail and other penalties.
Most of those detained have been released, but at least one of them, 21-year-old Mojtaba Hussein, is still behind bars and is not cooperating with his captors, according to Moeller.
“He may not be willing to give up the names of other Muslim converts. He may not be willing to recant his faith himself,” Moeller said.
Numerous calls to Iranian government representatives in the U.S. have not been returned.
Though they are protected under the Iranian constitution, Christians are not given the same freedoms as other citizens in Iran. Christians can’t worship freely or hold public office, and they can be arrested for even speaking to Muslims about Christianity.
