Mother, Son Arrested for Their Faith in Iran
As part of a crackdown on religious and ethnic minorities in Iran, plainclothes policemen arrested two Christians, a mother and her son, and took them to an unknown location. The incident happened in Urmia late February but the report was posted online only last March 5.
The two arrested were identified as Anousheh Reza-bakhsh and her son Soheil Zagarzadeh Sani, a senior psychology university student. No information is available on their whereabouts and well-being, but it is presumed they have been detained at the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence building.
According to Middle East Concern, the mother and son were baptized into Catholicism in Istanbul, Turkey in August 2016 then returned to their hometown in the northern city of Urmia, capital of West Azerbaijan province. On Feb. 20, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) swooped down their home, arrested them and seized the family's Bible and Christian literature.
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"[It's] very sad and concerning especially as they both are dealing with health issues," said Eliot Assoudeh, an Iranian-American academic at University of Nevada. "It's been more than two weeks that Iranian authorities have not provided any news on them."
"Leaving Islam or converting to another religion is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Julie Lenarz, executive director of the London-based Human Security Centre, told Fox News. She added that many Christians "are convicted in sham trials and linger in jail for years as prisoners of conscience. They face harassment, torture or even execution."
The 125,000-strong IRGC is notorious for its persecution methods. It stepped up its operations last year by arresting 79 Christians upon realizing that Christianity is becoming the fastest growing religion in Iran. Assoudeh said "many Christian converts "have to risk their lives attending underground churches."
He joins the call of 19 human rights organizations last December for international communities to protect the rights of Iranian Christians.
"The United States, its Western allies, and the international human rights organizations should show their concern, call on the Islamic Republic authorities and demand the immediate release of these two Christians," he said.
