Christians Arrested in Shiraz

At least six Persian-speaking Christians were arrested in Shiraz. The Christian Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran reported that on Friday January 8, 2010, information agents in the province of Fars raided a house in Shiraz and arrested a number of people who are reportedly Christians. It appears that they were sent to the Fars Information Administration in the city of Shiraz.

Informed sources have confirmed that they were contacted by Shiraz information agents and were asked to turn themselves in to the Information Administration of Shiraz.

The Christian Committee reports that on Monday, January 11, 2010, Behrouz Khanjani (resident of Tehran), Metyas Haghnejad, Parviz Khalaj, Iman Farzad, Petrous Foroutan, and Mahyar turned themselves in at the information administration of Shiraz. They thought by doing so, others arrested on the Friday would be freed. So far there is no information on any of them. It seems that they are still detained and are being kept in an unknown location. Those arrested last Friday are also still in prison.

News sources report that two other men who were in contact with this group were already arrested in Rasht, and another one was detained in Shiraz. All together, there are nine people arrested in Shiraz and Rasht.

The identity and connections of those arrested on Friday has not yet been revealed since the information agents warned the families not to spread any information. The accusations against the arrested Christians are also not known.

It should be noted that the arrest of this group seemed different from similar arrests of the past.

Translation by: Neda Shayesteh, Persian2English.com