Two Christian converts have been confirmed dead as a result of Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this year.
Protests in Iran began in December with the Bazaris, shopkeepers who are generally loyal to the regime, essentially going on strike due to concerns about the economy. Later separate protests against the government itself began and the regime came down on them with deadly force. The numbers killed are highly disputed, but are believed to range from 7,000 to over 30,000.
The protests have been promoted and supported by foreign actors, including US President Donald Trump, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah of Iran, and Israel’s intelligence services, Mossad, who tweeted in Parsi, “We are with you. Not only from a distance and verbally. We are with you in the field.”
Iran is currently ranked by Open Doors as the 10th worst persecutor of Christians in the world. Converts from Islam are particularly at risk, and it was two such Christians who have now been confirmed dead by Article 18, a group committed to religious freedom in Iran.
Article 18 said that Nader Mohammadi, 35, and Zahra Arjomandi, 51, were both shot and killed at separate protests on 8 January.
Seventeen other Christians are confirmed to have been killed in the protests, some converts, others from the historic Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities.
Mohammadi is believed to have got involved in the protests as a direct result of Pahlavi’s intervention. According to Article 18, Mohammadi's final message to relatives was, “I have come to the streets on the orders of the [Crown] Prince [Reza Pahlavi], and I must obey this order.”
According to Mohabat News, an Iranian Christian website, Arjomandi’s body was held by Iranian security forces for six days. When her body was finally released, her family were forbidden from holding a memorial service or from spreading information about the circumstances of her death.
