THE persecution of Christians in Iran is an increasingly urgent matter in need of investigation, Article 18, a UK-based religious-freedom organisation, reports.
In The Tip of the Iceberg, it describes how a crackdown in Iran meant that 96 Christians received combined prison sentences of 263 years last year alone: a sixfold increase on 2023, when 22 Christians were jailed for 43.5 years in total.
The 2025 report, prepared in association with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and Middle East Concern, seeks “to draw attention to the fact that many more cases go unreported . . . either because no-one raises awareness — arresting authorities frequently issue threats against publicity — or because those involved request confidentiality”.
Last year, more than three million case files belonging to the Iranian judiciary were leaked. Covering the period 2008-23, they gave details of “over 300 Christians who faced charges related to their faith or religious activities”, the charity says.
For the authors of the Article 18 report, this is only part of the picture, as the cases “only related to the Tehran region [where] a further 37 cases were not included involving at least 96 individuals . . . and 58 per cent of cases had gone unreported”, including travel bans, social deprivations, and internal exile.
Also in 2024, almost $800,000 in fines were imposed by the authorities, together with the confiscation of Christian property and vehicles. The financial transactions of Christians and their lawyers continue to be scrutinised by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report refers to “the coordinated effort by security and judicial authorities in Iran to distinguish between the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent, and those whom the government disapproves of — particularly those who exercise their fundamental rights by converting to Christianity and actively sharing their faith with others”.
This “systematic repression of Christians” includes, the report says, vilification as members of a “sect” and security threat, the criminalisation of promoting Christianity, interrogation, and forced recantations, the Bible as contraband, and basic charges for ordinary activities such as singing worship songs.
“The Iranian government seems to have intensified its efforts to isolate and financially undermine the Christian community as part of a broader strategy to suppress its growth and influence,” the director of Article 18, Mansour Borji, said.
“Financial donations to support church activities overseas are standard practices for Christians worldwide, but such activities have been criminalised by Iran’s Revolutionary Courts with an amendment to the Islamic Penal Code calling for the maximum punishment of up to ten years in prison when ‘financial or organisational help from outside the country’ has been received.”
articleeighteen.com
