ICC Note: Iranian authorities arrested 5 Christian men on a fishing trip on August 26. Security officials arrested the men without warrant or reason aside from their faith. It was especially disconcerting to the families and other Christians since the men were arrested at a family picnic and not a religious gathering. Recent crackdowns on Christians in Iran has seen 40 arrests in August alone.

09/03/2016 Iran (Mohabat News):  Iranian police raided a family party on Thursday August 26, 2016, held in a garden in Firouz-Kouh county, north of Tehran, and arrested a group of Christian converts who had gathered there.

Recently, Iranian police started a campaign to crack down on parties and weddings where Islamic principals are not tightly followed. As part of this campaign, Iranian police identified and raided a gathering in Firouz-Kouh county, arresting 15 of the guests. Later they discovered that there were a few Christian converts among those arrested who had been previously arrested for their faith.

Among the Christians arrested were Amin Afshar Naderi, Hadi Asgari, Amir Saman Dashti, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, and Mohammad Dehnavi.

Eye witnesses reported that Mr. Afshar Naderi protested against the police’s harsh treatment of the guests, but police beat him up in response and began searching the premises. They found three Bibles there and added them to the list of confiscated items.

The police then transferred those arrested to an unknown location and so far only Amir Saman Dashti has been able to contact his family in a very short phone conversation. Mr. Dashti stated in the short phone call that they were immediately transferred to Evin prison.

Most of the Christians arrested had a history of previous arrests for their faith.

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