The pastor of a Pentecostal church in Iran was arrested last week
during a religious service, and the church has now been closed by
government officials, according to news reports.
“These incidents appear to be an attempt to stop worship services from
being conducted in Farsi, the language of the majority of Iranians,”
said George Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in the
United States.
He explained to to BosNewsLife, a Central European Christian news
service, that such worship services “are allowed in Armenian, a minority
language that most Iranians do not speak or even understand.”
The Central Assemblies of God church in Tehran was closed on May 27
following the arrest of Pastor Robert Asserian during a service held at
the church six days earlier. Members of his congregation said they do
not know where he is being held.
“Before going to the church, authorities raided Pastor Asserian’s home,
where they confiscated a computer and several books,” Wood said.
“Then, they found Pastor Asserian at the church leading the prayer
service, immediately arrested him and announced the church’s imminent
closure.”
Asserian is the latest in a series of Christian pastors to be arrested
and detained in Iran.
While Iranian law offers some protections for
Chaldean Catholic and Armenian Christians, it does not recognize or
protect members of Protestant Christian groups or other kinds of
Catholic Christians.
Pastor Saeed Abedini, a United States citizen, was arrested in September
2012 and received an eight-year sentence in Iran’s Evin prison.
According to family members, he has been brutally beaten and denied
medical care.
In addition, Pastor Behnam Irani is being held in Ghezel Hesar Prison
near the capital of Iran, where recent reports indicate that health is
deteriorating.
Another Christian pastor, Yousef Nadarkhani, was imprisoned in Iran for
converting away from Islam. He spent three years in prison and received a
death sentence before being released amid mounting international
pressure.
Religious freedom and human rights groups are now seeking to raise
similar awareness and pressure on behalf of the other imprisoned
pastors.
A petition to the White House has been launched on behalf of
Irani, while a social media campaign is underway to support Abedini.