Christians in Iran continue to face arrest, detention and ill-treatment, UN experts warn
NEW YORK CITY: UN human rights experts on Wednesday condemned Iranian authorities for confiscating the St. Peter Evangelical Church compound in Tehran and evicting 27 members of the country’s recognized Armenian and Assyrian Christian minorities who lived there.
The experts said 20 families, most of them low-income, longtime residents of the compound, were given just two weeks to vacate their homes, and church leaders were threatened with arrest if they failed to comply. The last resident left the site on July 12, fueling concerns that the complex could be demolished.
“Forced evictions are incompatible with international human rights law and risk leaving members of recognized religious and ethnic minorities homeless,” the experts said in a statement.
The 10-acre compound in central Tehran houses much more than a place of worship, having also served as home and a place of learning for its residents. In addition to the church building, there are two schools and the residents’ houses on the site, as well as offices belonging to the Bible Society and the Council of Evangelical Churches of Iran, which owns the land.
