ICC Note: Six Christians who were detained in April are still unaccounted for. The believers had met together for an Easter celebration in a private home when security forces raided the meeting. They have been detained and their families allowed only minimal contact since the arrest. No charges have formally been brought against the Christians.
5/25/14 Iran (Mohabat News) – A group of six Farsi-speaking Christians, who had gathered to celebrate Easter, were arrested about a month ago and are currently being held in custody with their fate unknown.
According to Mohabat News, as a group of Christians had gathered in a house-church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, Iranian security authorities raided the house where they had gathered and arrested six of those in attendance. Now, more than a month after the incident, their fate is still unknown.
Those arrested are Ehsan Sadeghi, Nazi Irani, Maryam Assadi, Ali Arfa’e, Vahid Safi and Amin Mazloomi.
Based on reports, Iranian plain-clothes authorities raided Mrs. Assadi’s house, where an Easter worship service was hosted, and arrested six of those attending the service. Authorities intimidated residents and transferred the six Christians detainees to an unknown location in a white van.
Easter is one of the most important Christian celebrations.
Authorities searched the house thoroughly and confiscated Christian-related notes, books and other Christian educational materials.
The latest reports by Iranian Human Rights activists indicate that after persistent follow up by families of these Christian detainees, they were told that their loved ones are in the custody of the intelligence division of a military organization (possibly Revolutionary Guards), and only after their investigation is complete will they be able to contact them. Also, these families were strongly warned against publicizing this case, or “accepting any interviews by people they don’t know”.
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