(JP) – Security officials from Iran’s Intelligence Ministry raided the homes of eight Iranians converts to Christianity on July 1, in the southern city of Bushehr, carting them off to solitary confinement. The arrest was first reported on Friday by Article 18, an organization that promotes religious freedom and supports Iran’s repressed Christians. Intelligence agents “stormed the Christians’ homes in a coordinated operation at around 9 a.m.,” confiscating Bibles, Christian literature, wooden crosses and pictures carrying Christian symbols,
along with laptops, phones, all forms of identity cards, bank cards and other personal belongings,” Article 18 wrote. “Reporting suggests that Christianity is on the rise in Iran, along with other non-Islamic religions,” Alireza Nader, the CEO of New Iran, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. “This is a threat to the Islamic republic, a regime based on a narrow and totalitarian view of Islam. As the regime faces more internal unrest, the more it’ll crack down on religious minorities it views as threatening its stranglehold on religion.” READ MORE
