TEHRAN, Iran – Human rights groups report a sharp rise in religious persecution across Iran, with Christian imprisonment in 2024 reaching levels six times higher than in 2023. Authorities have intensified efforts to target Christian converts, especially evangelicals, often labelling them as threats to national security and the state’s stability.
Organizations like Article 18, Open Doors, and the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) have tracked a dramatic increase in arrests and harsh sentences. In 2024, courts handed 96 Christians a combined total of 263 years in prison, a huge jump from the 43.5 years given to 22 people the year before. This trend highlights growing state pressure on Iran’s Christian population, particularly those leaving Islam.
Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI, said, “Iranian authorities are arresting more Christians and charging them with national security crimes, sending them to prison for practicing their faith peacefully.” He added that the government views the rise in Christian converts as a threat, responding with sham trials, violence, and lengthy sentences.
Iran Focused on Evangelical Christians
Authorities seem focused on evangelical Christians and those who meet in house churches. Although Iran’s constitution lists Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as protected minorities, officials draw a line between ethnic Christian groups, like Armenians and Assyrians, and converts from Islam.
Leaving Islam is seen as apostasy, which can carry the death penalty, but courts more often use charges like “acting against national security” or “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” to justify long prison terms.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are reportedly leading many arrests. Courts use Article 500 of the Penal Code, updated in 2021, which bans any “deviant educational or proselytizing activity” going against Islamic law. This broad law allows authorities to prosecute people for basic religious activities, like singing church songs or owning a Bible.
Government officials often claim evangelical Christians are agents of foreign powers trying to weaken the country’s Islamic identity. This belief comes from what some call “dictatorial paranoia,” with the regime fearing that the growing Christian movement challenges the legacy of the 1979 Revolution.
Since Persian-language services are banned in official churches, many converts gather in house churches, which the regime labels as “illegal networks” or “Zionist propaganda organizations.”
Persecution goes beyond prison time. Converts face threats, harsh interrogations, and are sometimes forced to renounce their beliefs. Other punishments include fines, property seizure, or internal exile. Leaked documents from Tehran courts between 2008 and 2023 show more than 300 Christian prosecution cases, with 58% of them previously unknown, pointing to the wider scale of the problem.
The crackdown also includes financial pressure. The IRGC is said to monitor Christian bank transfers and even those of their lawyers, treating donations or tithes from abroad as criminal. These financial tactics further isolate Christian communities and limit their ability to grow.
Groups like the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and international watchdogs have urged Iran to release those jailed for their faith and honour its promises on religious freedom. Despite severe repression, reports show Iran’s underground church continues to grow, highlighting the determination of believers.
The rise in Christian persecution is one part of a broader attack on civil rights, religious freedom, and minority groups in Iran, showing the regime’s use of fear to keep control. As more Christians are imprisoned, the world is under growing pressure to demand that Iran end its widespread human rights abuses.
