The vast majority of Christians in Iran are not allowed to meet together for worship and Iranian secret police regularly raid house churches, confiscate Bibles, arrest Christians, subject them to harsh interrogation and imprison them.
Among those currently imprisoned in Iran are Hakop Gochumyan, Naser Gol-Tapeh, Joseph Shahbazian and Mehran Shamloui.
Church in Chains wants to highlight this situation and also publicly call for its reversal by launching a petition to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
This petition is a small step that we can take to show solidarity with our Iranian fellow-Christians, who are our brothers and sisters in the worldwide church family. The petition aims to stand up for the church in Iran and to appeal for them to be allowed to meet together in freedom.
It will also highlight the issue in wider Irish society. Repressive governments, like the Iranian government, try to discourage the expression of any human rights concerns by foreign governments or organisations and often seek to cover up the repression, dismissing concerns that they imprison Christians for religious reasons.
Petition wording
To PRESIDENT MASOUD PEZESHKIAN:
We appeal to you on behalf of Persian-speaking Christians in Iran who are not allowed to meet together for worship and ask that your government change its policy to allow freedom of worship in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which Iran has signed).
We also call for an end to the crackdown on house churches, their leaders and attendees, and to all raids, arrests, prosecutions, imprisonments, and other forms of mistreatment against them and for your government to release all Christian prisoners of conscience currently incarcerated or in internal exile for peacefully practising their religious belief.
PRINT PETITION FORM (for others to sign)