Iranian Christians continued to face harassment, arrests and imprisonment last year for practicing their faith, according to a report issued on Monday.
The 35-page report, issued by four non-profit organizations advocating for persecuted Christians across the world, found that Christians have been deprived of their right to freely practice their faith.
This lack of religious freedom, the report said, affected both “recognized” Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent and converts.
The report, issued each year, was released on Feb. 19 to coincide with the 45th anniversary of the murder of the Rev. Arastoo Sayyah, the first Christian killed for his faith in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The 2024 joint annual report from Article18, CSW, Open Doors and Middle East Concern focuses on the many victims whose names and faces remain unknown due to fear that publication of their cases may worsen their plight.
“Despite a comparable number of Christians being arrested in 2023 as in previous years – 166 arrests were documented in 2023, compared to 134 in 2022 – fewer names and faces could be publicized,” according to the report.
While it is not common for Iranian Christians to be killed for their faith, the report said that, contrary to the claims of the Islamic Republic, there is still no religious freedom in Iran, which is governed as a theocracy.
The report found that a notable trend detected in 2023 was “how arrests of Christians came in waves, with just a handful of arrests reported prior to June, then over 100 within the next three months, before a further rash of arrests during Christmas.”
“Many flee,” the report added, “only to find a new set of challenges awaiting them as refugees.”