Earlier this week, Iran released French student Clotilde Reiss, who has been accused of spying, but she has to remain in the French embassy in Tehran awaiting the verdict on her trial. Six months ago, Esha Momeni, an American student visiting Iran, was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the notorious section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison for daring to campaign for women’s rights. She is now back in the US. But there are other, equally horrific stories of human rights abuses against women in Iran which have received less international publicity. The case of two of them, Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, also suffering in Evin prison, has been taken up by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who steps down soon as a diocesan to concentrate on helping persecuted Christians around the world.
How wonderful that Michael Nazir-Ali is doing this. I am sure we hope and pray his efforts for these two women will be successful.
Ruth Gledhill’s article unfortunately links their case with what sounds like those of arrogant foreigners (typically visiting from the US) who feel like they can go in, aggressively violate the mores of the country (e.g. promoting feminism), and then shriek to Big Daddy across the ocean and demand rescue. (Gledhill’s language that one US visitor was guilty only of the crime of “daring” to promote feminism was signally offensive.)
American citizens have a history of this. (E.g. the recent reporter in Korea.) I’d have more respect for them if they honestly admitted they were doing something dangerous and invasive and quietly accepted the consequences.
That said, I will of course say that I find Iran’s govt to be deeply repugnant and I disapprove of its totallitarian approach to speech and thought — whether for feminists or Christians or whatever. And certainly I hope we can all agree that the case of the two native converts is one which is scandalous and which we can send our prayers. God bless the work of Michael Nazir-Ali.
These two brave, faithful women help provide a face and a name for all the countless persecuted Christians around the world. I think we should valorize them and use them in our churches to raise awareness of the desperate plight of so many of our brothers and sisters who suffer under repressive regiems and hostile cutlures.
So note their names well:
[b]Maryam Rustampoor[/b] (27) and [b]Marzieh Amirizadeh[/b] (30).
Arrested on March 5th, they’ve been held in prison for over 5 months, subjected to all sorts of threats and brutal interrogations, and denied medical care, when their only crime is converting to Christianity. Let us not forget them (Heb. 13:3).
David Handy+
There is no majority-Muslim country I know of (and I am willing to be corrected) which allows official conversion from Islam to Christianity. “Tolerant” or “moderate” countries allow people who were born to Christian families to practice their religion, usually with some restrictions. It is this one point which makes the modernization and moderation of Islamic countries so problematic. In many countries, there are converts, but they keep their conversions quiet to avoid arrest or death.