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| Dabrina Bet Tamraz. |
The day was Monday,
March 30, 2009, when her family home received a phone call from the government
demanding that her father, Victor Bet Tamraz — the pastor of an Assyrian
Pentecostal congregation in Tehran — meet at his church.
The family arrived at
the church and were greeted by lots of cars and big men. The pastor was given
the choice by a government official to either “give up the keys” to the church
or ensure that the church only allows Assyrian speaking members.
Speaking at a Family
Research Council panel discussion on religious freedom in Iran Wednesday
afternoon, Tamraz explained that the family and church members asked to be
given a few hours to pray about what their decision will be.
After a couple of
hours, Tamraz said her father walked out of the church and handed the keys to
an official from the intelligence service.
“[My father] said,
‘Thank you very much. You have done us a great favor. We don’t know how to
thank you. Please close down the church,’” Tamraz recalled. “He looks at my dad
and said, ‘Are you crazy? Why are you saying thank you?’”
Tamraz said that
during the prayer time in the church, the congregation heard from God that if
they allow the authorities to close down the church, He will “open the gates of
Heaven.”
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| Marziyeh Amirizadeh (L) and Maryam Rostampour. |
“My father said,
‘Thank you, because I can’t wait for God to open the gates of Heaven for people
to shout Hallelujah on the streets,’” Tamraz said.
Today, Tamraz’s
father, mother, and brother are among dozens of Christians facing jail time,
abuse and torture in the Islamic Republic of Iran simply because of their faith
in Jesus Christ.
Tamraz’s father is in the process of appealing a 10-year prison
sentence he received in 2017. He was arrested in 2014 during a Christmas
gathering and was held for 65 days in solitary confinement. Tamraz’s father was
accused of acting against national security by conducting house church meetings
and evangelizing.
While Tamraz’s mother,
Shamiram Isavi, is appealing a five-year prison sentence, Tamraz’s brother,
Ramiel Bet Tamraz, turned himself in last month to serve the time remaining on
a five-month prison sentence he received after his 2016 arrest at a picnic gathering.
“In 2019, at least
five, six times [my parents] were told to go to the court for their court
hearing only to go there and to hear that their case has been canceled or
postponed for various reasons,” Tamraz detailed. “The latest [excuse] was the
court was ‘too crowded.’ It’s been two-and-a-half years that my parents have
been dealing with court cases and trials and hearings.”
Tamraz said her
parents’ next appeal hearing is scheduled for late February.
Tamraz herself was
arrested and detained in a men’s detention center in 2009. However, she was
able to escape Iran after her release. She is now based in Switzerland where
she's engaging in an international campaign pressing for the release of her
parents.
Tamraz was among
several persecuted believers from across the globe who met with President Donald Trump during
the 2019 U.S. State Department Ministerial on International Religious
Freedom.
“Vice President [Mike]
Pence as well as Secretary [Mike] Pompeo in statements many times have asked
for my parents' release,” Tamraz told The Christian Post. “They have asked in
written and verbal statements. We’ve had requests and tweets asking for the
release of my family.”
Tamraz explained that
the crackdown on Christianity in Iran goes much deeper than her parents’
case.
Governed by Islamic
law, Iran ranks as the
ninth worst country in the world for Christian persecution by Open Doors USA as
the regime has relentlessly persecuted Muslim converts to Christianity.
Although Assyrian and
Armenian Christians are said to be recognized minorities in Iran, Tamraz said
Assyrian and Armenian churches face severe limitations on their ability to
practice their faiths.
“Today, there is not a
free church. There is no free evangelical church, nor free Pentecostal,” she
said. “The only churches that are allowed to function are orthodox or Catholic
churches with restrictions. They are not allowed to have books in Farsi. They
are not even allowed to, nowadays, print books in our own language. Any
Christian literature or Bible even in our own language is not permitted. They
are not even allowed to speak to a Farsi person near the church.”
Furthermore, Tamraz
explained that the Iranian Intelligence Service closely monitors Christian
activity.
“Together with the
Revolutionary Guard, they are arresting all attendees. They raid Christian
gatherings at home, restaurants, everywhere that they meet,” Tamraz said. “They
arrest them and confiscate their belongings, their houses. Most of these
Christians are subjected to intensive and often abusive interrogations. They
are often tortured physically and mentally.”
Tamraz said her family
knows all too well what it feels like to be monitored by the government.
“We have had cars
following us for years. It was normal,” she recalled. “I left Iran 2010, 2011 [and]
it took me nine or eight years to stop looking back or look in the mirror to
see if there is a car following me or not. Growing up, I thought that was very
normal. Now that I am in a normal country, I now know what normal looks like.”
Tamraz said that her
family has had to “be careful for our entire life.”
“We have been
monitored, our house has been broken in. My father was regularly arrested and
interrogated,” she said. “Sometimes it was just before the Sunday service
began. We always had to be prepared to preach in case my dad got arrested. That
became normal but it was part of our life growing up.”
According to the human
rights monitoring group Article 18, at least 25
Christians were arrested in Iran in 2019 while at least 13 Christians received
sentences that ranged from four months and five years for allegedly acting
against national security. According to Tamraz, dozens of other Christians that
were sentenced in previous years are still waiting for their court
hearings.
“Most of these
Christians have been arrested, sentenced and charged with charges mainly acting
against national security. They lack due process in the trials,” Tamraz said.
“The case of my parents … is case in point.”
“On the 24th of
February in a few weeks, [my parents] will face their final court hearing, if
it takes place,” she continued. “We do really pray that their sentence will be
dropped and they can practice their faith in peace and dignity and in freedom
as they ought to.”
Also speaking at the
FRC panel discussion were Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh, two women
born into Muslim families who led two house churches and evangelized to
Muslims.
The two were arrested in 2009 and spent 259 days in Iran’s notorious
Evin Prison. Although they were sentenced to death, Rostampour and Amirizadeh
were released from prison thanks to immense international pressure.
Rostampour and
Amirizadeh left Iran in 2010.
“We know first-hand
how difficult it is for those who attend house churches because they risk their
lives to attend house churches,” Amirizadeh said. “Any time if the government
finds out, they can raid the gathering, arrest people, torture them and
confiscate their property.”
She assured that “it
can happen to any of them.”
“That is why they have
to be very cautious about their communications,” she explained. “They
can’t worship God loudly. We have to stay very quiet because you never know who
is your neighbor and it can happen at any time.”
Despite the persecution,
the panelists agreed that the underground church in Iran is one of the fastest-growing church
movements in the world.
According to Open
Doors USA, there are an estimated 800,000 Christians in Iran, almost double the
persecution watchdog’s estimate of 450,000 in
2016.
“Underground churches
are growing in Iran and many people are coming to Christ,” Amirizadeh assured.
“Now people are seeing the true face of Islam and they are very open to
Christianity and the message of salvation. People are experiencing the love of
Jesus through Christianity.”
Source:
https://www.christianpost.com/news/iranian-christian-who-met-with-trump-details-how-regime-shut-down-her-familys-church.html
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