Christians Under Attack

According to Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News, Ms. Fatemeh Nouri, an art student in one of the universities in Tehran (The name of university is withheld for security reasons) was sentenced to one year of deprivation of education by the Revolutionary Court for believing in Christianity.

Ms. Nouri is a Christian convert who was arrested by security authorities on September 2011 at her residence in east Tehran and then transferred to Evin prison.

Ms. Nouri was convicted on charges of "attending a house church, insulting sacred figures and activities against national security" in Revolutionary Courts branch of Moalem Street. The judge's ruling was one year deprivation of education for her.

This Christian convert was released on 30 November 2011, after nearly three months in prison, but the sentence of deprivation of education remained in place.

Ms. Nouri's arrest was related to the case of another Christian convert, Leila Mohammadi.

It's noteable that Ms. Mohammadi was found guilty of "collaborating with foreign-dependent groups, broad anti-Islamic propaganda, deceiving citizens by forming what is called a house church, insulting sacred figures and activities against national security" by the Revolutionary Court branch of Moalem Street on 18 January, after enduring five months in custody. However, the judge acquitted her of the charge of "collaborating with foreign-dependent groups" for he believed that the crime was done unintentionally. Therefore, this Christian convert was sentenced to two years in prison and the ruling was delivered to her.

- Sentence of deprivation of education is against the law

Although the Iranian constitution clearly affirms religious freedom for followers of non-Islamic faiths, the Republic Islamic regime has by its actions that it not only violates its own domestic laws but does not even show respect to international conventions and is careless in their enforcement. Prior to this case, such rulings were an instrument in the hands of the regime to pressure the Bahaei community or a group of dissatisfied university students but today they are used to threaten and pressure Christians as well. It seems that prior to Ms. Nouri's case such sentences were not issued for Christian converts. This shows that previous methods of the regime for opposing Christians were ineffective.

The universal declaration of human rights which was adopted on 10 December 1948, considers the rights of education as a right for all mankind regardless their race, color, belief, religion and gender. According to this, everyone has the right to education (Section 1, Article 26 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

In the past, after identifying university students who had converted from Islam to Christianity, the Islamic Republic had made some efforts against them in holding Islamic courses to guide them to its own chosen way which is nothing other than Islam. So, they were trying to impact these students' thoughts and change them through discussions. However, it seems that failure of these former approaches has caused the regime to use deprivation of education or expulsion from universities as a new way to oppose the growth of Christianity and put pressure on Christian converts and their families.

 

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