Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide (74 page)

51
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2007
.

52
.
International Religious Freedom Report 1999
, U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, excerpt on Iran, Jewish Virtual Library,
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/reliran99.html
.

53
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2001
.

54
. Chris Woehr, “Leading Protestant Pastor Executed in Iran, Growing Repression for Iranian Church,”
News Network International
, January 11, 1991, 9. SAWAMA, also known as VEVAK, is an acronym for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security (
Sazman-e Ettela’at va Amniat-e Melli-e Iran
), which replaced the Shah’s SAVAK; Barbara Baker, “Iranian Christians in Mashhad Suffering Intense Persecution,”
News Network International
, June 30, 1993, 5.

55
. “Evangelicals Targeted in Iranian Crackdown,”
News Network International
, May 7, 1991, 31; Elisabeth Farrell, “Iranian Pastors Call for Letter Writing Campaign,”
News Network International
, January 29, 1993, 23; Barbara Baker, “Iranian Christians in Mashhad Suffering Intense Persecution,”
News Network International
, June 30, 1993, 5.

56
. “‘Apostasy’ Bill Appears Likely to Become Law,”
Compass Direct News
, September 23, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5599&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Hanged for Being a Christian in Iran,”
Daily Telegraph
, October 11, 2008,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3179465/Hanged-for-being-a-Christian-in-Iran.html
.

57
. “Testimony and Life of Rev. Dibaj in His Own Voice,”
Farsi Net
,
http://www.farsinet.com/dibaj/
; Diana Scimone, “Iranian Church Growing Despite Hardships,”
News Network International
, March 27, 1992, 26; “Impassioned Letter from Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Reaches West,”
News Network International
, July 21, 1992, 25.

58
. “The Written Defense of the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj Delivered to the Sari Court of Justice,”
Farsi Net
, December 3, 1993,
http://www.farsinet.com/dibaj/
; “Evangelicals Targeted in Iranian Crackdown,” 31; Scimone, “Iranian Church Growing Despite Hardships,” 26; “Impassioned Letter from Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Reaches West,” 25.

59
. “Iran: Christian Couple Released on Bail,”
Compass Direct News
, October 5, 2006,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=4571&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=25
.

60
. Human Rights Watch 1997 Report,
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-06.htm
.

61
. In late 1999, the press revealed that Emami, former Vice Minister of Intelligence, was directly responsible for the “Serial Murders” in the 1980s and 1990s; see
Iran Terror Database
, July 19, 2005,
http://www.iranterror.com/content/view/33/52/
.

62
. Human Rights Watch 1997 Report.

63
. Hamid Pourmand, a Naval officer charged with hiding his conversion from his superiors, received a three-year prison term, since, according to Iranian law, only Muslims can be
military officers. “Iran: Authorities Quietly Release Convert Christian Prisoner,”
Compass Direct News
, September 12, 2006,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=4533&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=25
. For other cases, see Ghorban Tourani, “Iran: US Accepts Iranian Christians for Resettlement,”
Compass Direct News
, December 6, 2005,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=4100&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=25
; “Iran: Christian Couple Released on Bail,”
Compass Direct News
, October 5, 2006,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=4571&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=25
. On further cases, including that of Issa Motamedi Mojdehi, see
Compass Direct News
, December 14, 2006,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=4685&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; and
Compass Direct News
, December 4, 2006,
http://www.compass-direct.org/en/display.php?page=lead&lang=en&length=long&idelement=4515
.

64
. “Iran: Further Information on Fear of Torture and Ill-treatment/Possible Prisoners of Conscience,” Amnesty International,
http://www.iranrights.org/english/document-454–973.php
; “Iranian Christian Arrested Without Charges,”
Compass Direct News
, June 9, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5421&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; Farsi Christian News Network, “Court Issues Verdict on 3 Farsi-speaking Christians,” March 25, 2009,
http://www.fcnn.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3006&Itemid=63
.

65
. BosNewsLife, “Iranian Christians Face Death Penalty in Iran,” September 11, 2008,
http://www.rferl.org/content/Two_Iranian_Christians_May_Face_Execution_For_Apostasy/1779217.html
; “Iranian Church Leader Released—Son of Hanged Pastor Bailed on Charges of Anti-govt Behavior,” Release International, October 23, 2008,
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/posts/iranian-church-leader-released—son-of-hanged-pastor-bailedon-charges-of-anti-govt-activity451.php
. For additional cases, see “Tortured Christian Flees,”
Compass Direct News
, July 21, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5478&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Christian Couple Dies from Police Attack,”
Compass Direct News
, August 6, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5508&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Prosecutor Charges Two Christians with Apostasy,”
Iran Human Rights Voice
, September 11, 2008,
http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=884
; “Matin Azad and Arash Basirat, Two Christians Charged with Heresy, Are Freed,”
Iran Human Rights Voice
, October 4, 2008,
http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=1060
; “Court Finds Way to Acquit Christians of ‘Apostasy,’”
Compass Direct News
, October 30, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5664&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Assyrian Iranian Minister Arrested in Urumieh by Security Agents,” Farsi Christian News Network, October 1, 2008,
http://www.fcnn.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1760&Itemid=63
.

66
. Human Rights Without Frontiers, “The Calvary of a Female Convert to Christianity,” June 9, 2009, in HRWF country report at
http://www.hrwf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105:news-2008-catalogued-by-country&catid=38:freedom-of-religion-and-belief&Itemid=90
.

67
. “Iran: Three Iranian Christians Arrested from Homes in Tehran,”
Compass Direct News
, March 22, 2011,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5776&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Wave of Arrests of Christians in Iran,” Middle East Concern, January 27, 2009.
http://www.givengain.com/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&cause_id=1489&news_id=59190&cat_id=434
.

68
. “Iran: Christian Arrested Without Charges,”
Compass Direct News
, June 9, 2008,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5421&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
.

69
. “Authorities Tighten Grip on Christians As Unrest Roils,”
Compass Direct News
, August 11, 2009,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=6057&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
; “Iran Temporarily Releases Christians on Bail,” ICC, September 15, 2009/HRWF, September 16, 2009.

70
. “Authorities Tighten Grip on Christians as Unrest Roils”; Damaris Kremida, “Iran Releases Two Christian Women from Evin Prison,”
Compass Direct News
, November 19, 2009,
http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/iran/11805/
; “Iran Detains Christians Without Legal Counsel,”
Compass Direct News
, January 28, 2010,
http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/iran/14572
; “Iran: Maryam and Marzieh Acquitted,” Middle East Concern, May 24, 2010. For additional cases, see “Iranian Authorities Pressure Father of Convert,”
Compass Direct News
, May 20, 2009,
http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=5932&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Iran&rowcur=0
.

71
. “Iran Detains Christians Without Legal Counsel.”

72
. “Christian Priest and Wife Arrested in Iran,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 4, 2010,
http://www.rferl.org/content/Christian_Priest_And_Wife_Arrested_In_Iran/1974682.html
; “Torture of Wilson Eisavi, Priest in Assyrian Church,”
Iran Human Rights Voice
, March 9, 2010,
http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=3878
; “The Worrying Condition of Rev. ‘Wilson Issavi’ in Prison,”
Farsi Christian News Network
,
http://www.fcnn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=812:the-worrying-condition-of-rev-qwilson-issaviq-inprison&catid=127:iranian-christian&Itemid=593
. On additional cases, see “Trend Continues Against Churches Previously Protected by Iranian Government,”
Assyrian International News Agency
, February 24, 2010,
http://www.aina.org/news/20100224011107.htm
; Ethan Cole, “Jailed Iranian Pastor Temporarily Freed, in ‘Good Spirits,’”
Christian Post
, March 31, 2010,
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100331/jailed-iranian-pastor-temporarily-freed-in-good-spirits/index.html
.

73
. “Backgrounder: The Trial of 13 Iranian Jews,” Anti-Defamation League, March 2003,
http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/Iranian_Jews.asp
; “Report on Current Condition for Jews in Iran, Human Rights and Torture,” Iranian American Jewish Federation, 2006, 18.

74
. In December 2004, the Iranian TV station Sahar 1 began showing a weekly series set in Israel and the West Bank, with the title “For You, Palestine,” or “Zahra’s Blue Eyes.” It portrayed a Jewish eye surgeon who searched for the most attractive Muslim children, paying particular attention to their eyes. Once he found what he was looking for, he deceived the children into having eye surgery and removed their eyes, which were then used as implants for Israeli children. Anti-Semitism has increased significantly since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s accession to the presidency. He has publicly questioned the existence and scale of the Holocaust. On December 11 and 12, 2006, the government sponsored a conference entitled “Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision” that provided a forum for those who deny the Holocaust. On August 14, 2006, a government-sponsored exhibition of Holocaust cartoons, solicited earlier in the year by the newspaper
Hamshahri
as an international contest, took place in Tehran; see
International Religious Freedom Report 2005
and
2007
.

75
. Nazila Fathi, “Wipe Israel ‘off the Map’ Iranian Says,”
The New York Times
, October 27, 2005,
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/world/africa/26iht-iran.html
.

76
. “One Person’s Story: Mr. Habib Elqanian,”
Omid: A Memorial in Defense of Human Rights
,
http://www.abfiran.org/english/english/person—2861.php
.

77
. On Iran’s Zoroastrians, see Jamsheed K. Chosky, “Despite Shahs and Mollas”; Jamsheed K. Chosky, “Heritage, Faith and Minority Identity: Zoroastrians in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” in
Negotiating Identity Amongst the Religious Minorities of Asia
, ed. M. A. Ehrlich (Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming 2011). On Zoroastrians as
kaffers
, see Chosky, “Despite Shāhs and Mollās,” 165.

78
. Chosky, “Despite Shahs and Mollas,” 161.

79
. Chosky, “Heritage, Faith and Minority Identity: Zoroastrians in Iran,” 5.

80
. Chosky, “Despite Shahs and Mollas,” 182–83.

81
. Khaled Mahmoud, “Iran: Government Bans Sunnis from Praying in State Universities,”
Asharq Al-Awsat
, April 28, 2010,
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=20756
.

82
. Reza Afshari recounts three government killings of Sunni religious leaders. See Afshari,
Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 129, 130.