Ester

The coordinated arrest of the leaders of a house-church in Isfahan

"While one month has passed since the arrest of a Pentecostal church pastor in Kermanshah, and still no news of his whereabouts, the latest news from Iran reveals the arrest of 2 of Isfahan's well known house-church leaders.

"According to news received by Farsi Christian News Network (fcnn.com) from reliable sources from Isfahan, Iran's second largest city, on Sunday February 28th, 2010, security agents of the government, in an unprecedented attack on the home of Hamid Shafiee and his wife, Reyhaneh Aghajary, located on the Nazar street of Isfahan, arrested both and confiscated all books, printed material, CDs, computers, cell phones, pictures, and personal belongings and took them away to an undisclosed location.

During this invasive and unannounced attack on Sunday afternoon 15 plain clothes officers along with 5 uniformed one, 2 of them being female officers, produced what appeared to be an order from the local court in Isfahan, claiming that they had orders to arrest these individuals, quickly handcuffed Mrs. Aghajary and began searching the home. During this initial assault Mr. Shafiee was not at home and after one hour, upon return to his home, was also arrested and handcuffed as well. Once the search and seizure was complete, the security agents used Mr. Shafiee's truck to transport the detainees along with all seized belongings that included hundreds of Bibles.

During this home invasion, and as soon as the security agents noticed several boxes full of Bibles, they literally attacked Mrs. Aghajary and began questioning her as to why they had kept so many Bibles in their home.
Also, when the officers began removing Mrs. Aghajary from her home, she started protesting and resisting arrest and requested that her handcuffs be removed, at which time the officers began insulting her and physically assaulted her until she was forcibly removed through the use pepper spray.

It's noteworthy to mention that Mr. Shafiee and Mrs. Aghajary are two well known residents of Isfahan who have become Christian believers. According to other Christians in Isfahan, over the last one decade, this couple has worked diligently to publish and distribute the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to the people of the city and have taken leadership roles in the house-church movement. These sources indicate that in the last several years, Hamid Shafiee has been summoned to the ministry of information on many occasions and has been questioned and interrogated for his Christian beliefs. This couple not only did not deny their faith in Christ during these years, but their courageous and open confession of Christ has been known to the public.

The family of this couple contacted 113th judicial information center on Monday March 1st, 2010, and were told that their files and charges were not yet fully completed and once their interrogation and questioning was complete, their files would be referred to the local revolutionary court for further action. The authorities did not elaborate on any information as to their whereabouts and condition.

It is necessary to remind that Iran is a member of the human rights commission of the United Nations. This incident coincides with the recent comments, made by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran delegation, that there are no repression of any ethnic or religious minorities in Iran and these groups live in complete freedom in Iran.It is puzzling why, at such a time as this, people like Mr. Shafiee and Mrs. Aghjary, two well known Christians along with several others in various cities have suddenly come under attack and have been arrested. Is there a sinister plan in place to begin a more systematic and repressive treatment of Christians in Iran and shall we await more such arrests and invasive attitude by the Iranian government?