Iran is one of the world's most repressive states. Those who offend Sharia law may be publicly flogged or even executed by hanging in the streets. Seventy-one people were hanged in July alone. Iranian Christians in particular are under constant pressure from the police and the agents who monitor adherence to Islamic correctness. Under Iran's Islamic laws, Muslims who convert from Islam to another religion can be sentenced to execution at the judge's discretion. Although the death penalty is usually commuted to a lengthy prison sentence, at least two converts to Christ have been publicly put to death by the state while many more have been clandestinely killed. As if this weren't bad enough, a draft law now before the parliament would make conversion to Christ a mandatory death penalty offence.

A good number of Iranian Muslims who become Christian believers join house churches which meet in secret. As in other repressive societies, despite the pressures on national Christians, the house church movement is growing. Here are two stories of the persecution of Christians in Iran, and two where we have been able to provide support. For security reasons we have used codes to protect these people’s identities.

On June 3, Brother Z and his wife Sister Y were arrested for attending a house church and for holding Bible studies in their home.
 
They were severely beaten and pressured to stop these practices. Sister Y was badly bruised and now cannot walk properly.

A security police official told Sister Y that if she and her husband continued attending a house church and holding Bible studies, they could be imprisoned 'for a very long time'. Another official threatened to put their young daughter in a religious institution.

'The next time there may also be an apostasy charge, if you don't stop with your Jesus,' a security police officer told her, according to our source.

Pressure on house churches inside Iran is intensifying. On July 17, a police squad raided a house church near one of the larger cities, and arrested eight men, six women and two teenagers, beating them all as they did so. Brother X, in his 60s, died from his injuries later that month in hospital. His wife, Sister W, then died five days later, from similar injuries and stress-related causes, reports FCNN (Farsi Christian News Network).

Brother X was a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war (a source of great national pride for Iranians) and had also made the pilgrimage to Mecca. The fact that he had become a Christian with this background infuriated the police, says FCNN.

In a small city in Iran, Brother V lived with his parents and cleaned dishes in a restaurant. When he became a Christian his parents threw him out, and when they learned that he was sleeping at the restaurant, pressured the owner to sack him. He was unwilling to do so, because Brother V was a good worker, but when threatened with being accused at the mosque of harbouring an infidel, he reluctantly agreed.

However, none of these pressures made Brother V deny Jesus. He left his home town and moved to a city, where we were able to provide some emergency aid to help him set up a small service business so he could make a living. This has enabled him to rent a small flat where he now holds house church meetings.








'I was born in a religious Muslim family, and married an Islamic cleric. Unfortunately, he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. My sister and niece visited me and talked with me about Christ and gave me a copy of the Jesus film and a New Testament.

At first I rejected their message. But then I had dreams about Jesus inviting me to go to Him. After these dreams I began to read the New Testament, and I watched the Jesus film several times. Its message really touched my heart and I got the assurance that Jesus has accepted me.

It is now one year and seven months that I have surrendered all my life to Jesus. At first, my husband was very angry with me and threatened to divorce me. I encouraged him to read the gospels and watch the Jesus film. After some resistance, he accepted to do it. After watching the film, he knelt down and gave his life to Christ. After that my two teenage sons became Christians too. I thank God he has saved all my family. After that, we started sharing the message of the gospel with friends and our home has become a cell church group. The cell group leaders from the city come to our house once a week and teach us from the Word of God.

We lived in a house owned by my father-in-law, who also owned the business where my husband worked. When he found out that we had become Christians, he threw us out of the house, and sacked my husband. We did not really have any savings, so we were not able to rent a place to live.

Thank God that the leader of our cell church found out about our situation, and [Release] sent us some funds so we could rent somewhere to live. God also provided for our material needs while my husband was looking for a job.

Even though we do not have an easy life, we have great joy and peace in our lives as we believe we are bearing all the difficulties because of our faith in Jesus. We are so proud to be called followers of Jesus and we are happy to be paying the cost of following Him.'

These are just a few of many individual stories of Christian suffering and endurance in Iran.

The church there is proud that there have been martyrs who have been 'faithful unto death' in modern Iran, and that despite increasing pressure on those who attend house churches, their number is growing, and the calls for literature, training and support are increasing.

Please will you support our Iranian brothers and sisters? This is how we can continue to help them, with your support:

Providing emergency relief
We provide financial aid to Christians such as Brother V and Sister U and her family who have been turned out of their homes because they have become Christians.

Supporting leaders
We provide financial assistance to a small number of church leaders who have lost their job, so they can continue their ministries, such as leading house churches, in their home town.

Leadership training
We support the training of leaders and run training programmes for different leaders. Over a hundred leaders have been trained over the last few years.

Women's ministry
We have a special ministry to women, who are hugely disadvantaged in Iranian society.
We help them to receive Bible teaching, encouragement, and teaching on family values and children's ministry.

Supporting outreach projects
We supply copies of the Jesus film, evangelistic and teaching CDs, New Testaments, Bibles and evangelical Christian literature in Farsi, which is the main language in Iran.

Satellite TV broadcasting
We have supported our partners in broadcasting Christian evangelistic and teaching programmes into Iran. Many people have written to ask for literature,and have indicated that they have become Christians as a result of these programmes.

Please pray earnestly for these brothers and sisters who are courageously following Christ at real risk to their personal safety.

Please send a gift to help other Christians in situations like those we've mentioned here. You can make a secure online donation here (please specify Iran appeal).

Or send a cheque payable to Release International by post, our address is:

Release International, PO Box 54, Orpington BR5 9RT (please quote Release International Iran appeal).

If you prefer to telephone, please call our Supporter Relations staff on  01689 823491 .

Thank you again for your interest in our work and your prayers and support for projects such as these. Without your support, they simply couldn't happen!

Yours sincerely,

Andy Dipper
Chief Executive