CHRISTIAN ROCK CAFE

[IsARealPro]

IRAN: CHRISTIAN CONVERTS ARRESTED


Tehran, 5 Oct. (AKI) - Fereshteh Dibaj, the young daughter of a protestant pastor murdered in July 1995, has been arrested with her husband Reza Montatami and their six-year-old son in the north-eastern city of Mashad.The family had converted from Islam to Christianity several years ago. Fereshteh's father, Protestant minister Mehdi Dibaj, was arrested in 1984 for having converted to Christianity from Islam. In 1993 a court sentenced him to death after his refusal to abjure.

An international campaign launched by another Iranian Protestant pastor, Hayek Hovsepian Mehr, forced the government to release Dibaj and scrap his death sentence. In January 1995 Hayek Hovsepian Mehr was found dead. Seven months later, Mehdi Dibaj was kidnapped and then killed.

The community of Iranian converts now reportedly fears for the lives of the young family who risk a death sentence for having abandoned the Islamic faith.




(Rah/Aki)


Oct-05-06 11:08