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All evangelical churches were closed following the government’s ban on all religious groups other than state-approved Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Islamic groups in 2002. Anyone discovered to be an evangelical is tortured and forced to revert to the registered denominations

While most Indian Christians are relatively free, many parts of the country remain key battlegrounds between Hindu extremists and Christians. Persecution is largely due to the amazing growth of Christianity among the low castes and Dalits, which threatens Hindu leaders.

Open Doors works in the most oppressive countries, strengthening persecuted Christians to stand strong and equipping them to shine Christ's light in these dark places.

Where other Christian organizations cannot enter or have been forced to flee, Open Doors can be found - supplying Bibles, training Christian leaders, developing Christian communities and ensuring prayer, presence and advocacy for persecuted Christians.

Anyway, eh wishes to spin this as a Muslim thing - typical spin from the young one. But still, it is an interesting link and an insight into how eh's fellow American evangelicals think.

Only Muslims are able to take part in the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to conduct public affairs at a high level. According to the Constitution, non-Muslims cannot hold the following key decision-making positions:

- President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who must be a Shi'a Muslim (Article 1156)


- Commanders in the Islamic Army (Article 1447)


- Judges, at any level (Article 163 and law of 1983 on the selection of judges


Moreover, non-Muslims are not eligible to become members of the Parliament (the Islamic Consultative Assembly) through the general elections. Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians can only run for the specific seats allocated to these minorities by Article 64 of the Constitution: one seat for Zoroastrians, one seat for Jews, one seat for Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, one seat for Armenian Christians in the North and one seat for Armenian Christian in the South. However, these minorities are unable to play a role in mainstream politics. As for the nonrecognized religious minorities, they are totally excluded from any Parliamentary representation since they can neither vote nor be elected.

Finally, non-Muslims cannot become members of the very influential Guardian Council....

A study of the Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran reveals that, for a number of offences, the punishment differs in function of the religion of the victim and/or the religion of the offender. The fate of Muslim victims and offenders is systematically more favorable than that of non-Muslims, showing that the life and physical integrity of Muslims is given a much higher value than that of non-Muslims. This institutionalized discrimination is particularly blatant for the following crimes10:

The sanctions for adultery vary widely according to the religion of both members of the couple. A Muslim man who commits adultery with a Muslim woman is punished by 100 lashes (Article 8811). However, a non-Muslim man who commits adultery with a Muslim woman is subject to the death penalty (Article 82-c12). If a Muslim man commits adultery with a non-Muslim woman, the Penal Code does not specify any penalty....

"Qisas", or retaliation, is the right of revenge belonging to the victim's heir. It implies that the punishment be equivalent in nature and severity to the offence. In the case of a murder, such a punishment is the death penalty. "Diyah", or "blood money" compensation, is the possibility offered to the victim's heir to forgo their right to "qisas" by accepting monetary compensation in exchange.


Articles 20714 and 20915 of the Penal Code provide that "qisas" is applicable when a Muslim is murdered. It is also applicable when the member of a recognized religious minority murders another member of a recognized religious minority (Article 21016). However, no provision of the Penal Code envisages the murder of a non-Muslim by a Muslim, the punishment of which is left to the discretion of the judges. Article 2 of the Penal Code states that "Every action or omission of an action for which there is a punishment in law, will be regarded as an offence". On the contrary, in the absence of any punishment in law (like in the case of the murder of a non-Muslim by a Muslim) a judge can consider that no offence has taken place at all.

Article 29717 sets forth the rules for the calculation of the "blood money" to be paid to the family when the victim is a Muslim man. Its exact value is set each year to a certain amount by the Judiciary. At the date of the publication of the present report, the "blood money" compensation for a non-Muslim male victim who is a member of a recognized religious minority, or of a female victim (Muslim or non-Muslim) remains half of the compensation offered to the family of a Muslim male victim. Claims by relatives of a victim who was a member of a non-recognized religious minority are purely dismissed....


Article 881 of the Civil Code states that a non-Muslim is not allowed to inherit property from a Muslim. Moreover, the same article states that if one of the beneficiaries of a non-Muslim is Muslim, this individual (regardless of that person's degree of relationship with the deceased) will collect the entire inheritance to the detriment of all other non-Muslim members of the family. In practice, this law not only discriminates against religious minorities but also encourages conversion to Islam through the lure of material retribution....

Marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is forbidden by Article 1059 of the Civil Code. However, Muslim men are allowed to marry non-Muslim women. This distinction is justified by the fact that the man is deemed to be the dominant partner in the couple. Therefore, if the man is Muslim, Islam is supposed to be dominant in the couple, whereas it would not be the case if the woman were Muslim and the man non-Muslim....

shafique wrote:For example, Iran is pretty high up and yet guarantees Christian rights