Ten Iranian Christian converts have been ordered by intelligence agents in the Khuzestan Province to undergo "re-education" classes led by Islamic clerics despite being cleared of all charges.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents told the 10 Christians, eight of which have been cleared in November 2021 of any crime in a Dezful court, that they will have to attend up to 10 sessions with Islamic clerics to "guide them back onto the right path." The order was issued on January 29.
Article 18 reported the developments. The organization is a non-profit that advocates for religious freedom and tolerance for Christians in Iran. According to the group, the IRGC had summoned more Iranian Christian converts, but they did not appear. Those who failed to make an appearance were questioned over their absence.
In April 2021, the IRCG arrested four Christian converts in the southwestern city of Dezful and charged them with "propaganda against the Islamic Republic" for participating in a house church, an earlier report from Article 18 read. The agency also summoned other Christian converts for interrogation at the time. Property of the four Christian converts who were arrested had been confiscated for almost six months. Authorities took laptops, mobile phones, and other materials for their children's schoolwork.
The Christian Post reported that as per persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, the "mandatory Islamic re-education classes directly conflict with the rulings of the Civil and Revolutionary Court of Dezful that said the group 'merely converted to a different religion.'"
The ICC's statement declared that, "The court noted that this apostasy could be punished under Islamic Sharia law but was 'not criminalized in the laws of Iran.'" ICC added that the courts ruled on the other charges that the Iranian Christian converts faced, that they "didn't carry out any propaganda against other groups."
The IRCG were responsible for 12 of 38 documented incidents of Christians being arrested or churches being raided in 2021, Article 18 reported. The group said that the "re-education" classes have become "much more common" in the last few years and have also appeared in the list of "corrective punishments" in official court papers.
As per Open Doors USA's fact sheet on Iran, Christian converts from Islam face the highest risk of persecution in the country, specifically by the government, society, and even their families. The fact sheet stated that the Iranian government sees the growth of the Christian church in the country as "an attempt by Western countries to undermine Islam and the Islamic regime of Iran."
Because of this, Christian house groups are often raided while their leaders and members are arrested, persecuted and handed down long prison sentences for "crimes against national security." In Iran, which is an Islamic republic, Shia Islam is the official religion. Muslim citizens are prohibited from converting or renouncing their religious beliefs. Converting from Islam is even punishable by death.
Meanwhile, Christians are also prohibited from sharing the Gospel with Muslims. Proselytizing is a criminal offense in Iran. Despite the limitations on religious conversion, a 2020 survey on 50,000 Iranians over the age of 20 found that 1.5% of the respondents identified as Christian.
