{"id":9185,"date":"2019-01-22T13:29:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T04:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=9185"},"modified":"2019-06-19T15:51:56","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T06:51:56","slug":"vomk-report-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2019\/01\/22\/vomk-report-39\/","title":{"rendered":"IRANIAN OFFICIALS ARREST MORE THAN 150 CHRISTIANS IN JUST A FEW WEEKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Since November 2018, Iran\u2019s steadily growing Christian community (one of the world\u2019s oldest Christian communities) is seeing a marked increase in arrests. According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea representative Hyun Sook Foley, about 70 Christians were arrested near Karaj, Alborz province and 30 more arrests were made in Damavand and other parts of Tehran. In December, further detentions were reported in the north, northeast, and southwest of Iran.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlay_dotted=””][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”9192″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u00a0Amir Taleipour and Mahnaz Harati<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]On December 2, two sisters, Shima and Shokoofeh Zanganeh, were arrested in their homes in Ahvaz. Partners report that these sisters were beaten by security officials who interrogated them then transferred them to Sepidar prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir family has tried multiple times to pay the sisters\u2019 bail, but each time they are turned away,\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

says representative Foley. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]On December 6, a northeast Iranian Christian couple (Amir Taleipour and Mahnaz Harati) were arrested in front of their seven-year-old daughter. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt last report, the couple were still being held in detention and not allowed to communicate with family members,\u201d representative Foley says. \u201cThey have also been denied legal assistance. In the meantime, their daughter is being cared for by extended family.\u201d According to representative Foley, however, the Iranian church is continuing to grow. \u201cIf you speak with any Iranian Christian, you will see that, to them, martyrdom and persecution are very real,\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

representative Foley says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany have experienced the martyrdom of a family member, friend, or church member, but they describe this experience as a spiritual awakening.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”9196″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Ghorbandordi Tourani<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]Representative Foley tells the story of an Iranian Christian pastor by the name of Ghorbandordi Tourani. On November 15, 2006, Pastor Tourani was invited to a meeting held by Turkmen religious leaders where he was asked why he had become a Christian if his own parents were Muslim. The pastor said, <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going to deny Jesus and return to Islam.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One week after the meeting, on November 22, Pastor Tourani was called by someone who claimed to have heard him speak at the meeting and wanted to become a Christian. This individual asked Pastor Tourani to meet them in the park that same day, as they were afraid to visit him publically. <\/p>\n

Pastor Tourani traveled to the park, but the caller did not show up at the appointed time. Eventually, Pastor Tourani decided to return home, stopping by the toy shop to buy a gift for his four-year-old daughter. On the way home, however, a group of Islamic extremists stabbed him to death with a knife.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the pastor\u2019s frightened neighbors told his wife what had happened and she saw her husband lying on the ground bleeding to death,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

representative Foley explains. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut rather than being fearful, Pastor Tourani\u2019s wife cried out, \u2018O people, remember that Ghorban is a Christian martyr who laid down his life for the sake of Christ.\u201d \u201cDespite the obvious pain and trauma, Pastor Tourani\u2019s wife looks back on his death with boldness,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

representative Foley explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe boldly proclaims her Christian faith to all she meets\u2014and she isn\u2019t the only one. Many Iranian Christians share a similar story.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\u201cInstead of pitying martyrs like Pastor Tourani or becoming anxious about the rising pattern of persecution worldwide, we should give credence to these martyrs\u2019 witness by supporting their families,\u201d representative Foley says. \u201cNon-Christians carefully watch the families of martyrs to see the character of God. If these families continue to struggle and suffer, what does that say about the martyr\u2019s God?\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Anyone wishing to support the families of Christian martyrs around the world can give by visitingServing Families of Martyrs and Prisoners<\/a> or by or wire transfer to <\/p>\n

\ud6c4\uc6d0\uacc4\uc88c: \uad6d\ubbfc\uc740\ud589 463501-01-243303, \uc608\uae08\uc8fc: (\uc0ac)\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758 \uc18c\ub9ac <\/p>\n

Voice of the Martyrs Korea is a non-profit organization created to support persecuted Christians around the world whose Financial Accountability has been approved by the Christianity Council for Financial Transparency Korea (CCFK).<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Since November 2018, Iran\u2019s steadily growing Christian community (one of the world\u2019s oldest Christian communities) is seeing a marked increase in arrests. According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea …","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":9220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[272,170],"class_list":["post-9185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vomk-report","tag-272","tag-170"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}