Religious freedom activists met with politicians in Washington DC this week to discuss the escalating war against religious minorities in Iran. Among the attendees was Maryam Rostampour who was sent to one of Iran’s most infamous prisons and sentenced to execution by hanging after promoting the religion in Iran. Ms Rostampour told the audience: “The Iranian Government arrested and imprisoned us because of our Evangelical and Christian faith.

We were threatened and indicted with execution by hanging for charges of apostasy and blasphemy

Maryam Rostampour

“We were threatened and indicted with execution by hanging for charges of apostasy, blasphemy and promoting Christianity in Iran.

“We spent 259 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison where we learned why Iran is classified as among the countries where followers of Christ face the most extreme persecution.”

Ms Rostampour and her friend Marziyeh Amirizadeh, who now live in the United States, were both born into Muslim families and met studying Christian theology in Turkey in 2005.

After finishing with their studies, the pair discovered they had become supporters of Christianity and later returned to Iran to start two house churches – one for young people and another for prostitutes.

The pair also did mission trips to India, South Korea, and Turkey.

But in 2009 both Ms Rostampour and Ms Amirizadeh were arrested and and sentenced to death for promoting Christianity in the country, which is a capital crime in Iran.

Following international pressure for their release, the pair were released and later the following year cleared of all charges.

Open Doors supports the Church in the Middle East through Bible distribution, discipleship and trauma training in the region.

The organisation claims the Iranian government is “committed to expanding the influence of Shia Islam”.

Hardliners within the leadership are very anti-Christian, creating severe problems for all groups of believers, the charity says.

Open Doors UK spokeswoman Tamsin Taylor explained the situation in Iran was worsening, with the nation previously ranking tenth in the list of most concerning nations by the charity in 2018 – but rising to ninth in 2019.

Ms Taylor told Express.co.uk: “There seems to be a very hardline attitude from the authorities who seem to be having a crackdown against Christians and that seems to be an attempt to control the spread of Christianity by fear.”

She added: “In 2019, Iran is number nine on our World Watch List.

“In last year’s World Watch List, Iran was number ten – so the situation has got a lot worse.”

In Iran, house churches for Christians from Muslim backgrounds have been raided and leaders given long prison sentences.

Consequently, many converts have fled abroad or practise their faith in isolation.

Those arrested and detained are often charged with being a “threat to national security”, when in reality all they are doing is running house churches, and sharing their faith with Muslims from their communities, Open Doors reports.

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