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Report: Iranian Authorities Detain Children During Raid on Churchâ€™s Christmas Celebrations

27 December 2011 18:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Thereâ€˜s no shortage of stories surrounding Iranâ€™s continually-horrendous human rights record. Following the Christmas holiday, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based nonprofit, is making some startling charges. According to the group, Iranian authorities raided a church that was celebrating Christmas last week and detained everyone in the building â€” including kids who were in Sunday school, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

solidarity
CSW claims that officials in Ahwaz, a southern town in Iran, raided the church â€” an affiliate of Assemblies of God â€” and placed all congregants into two buses. The majority of those celebrating at the house of worship were purportedly interrogated, threatened and then eventually released, but the churchâ€™s senior pastor (a man known only as â€œFarhadâ€) apparently remains in detention. His wife and some church leaders, too, were said to be held still by Iranian officials.

Hereâ€™s the really odd part (aside from the inability of Iranians to worship openly): CSW claims that the church isnâ€™t underground and that it has been an official and established house of worship for quite some time (the Christian Post says there are about 70 registered churches in Iran). But this apparently isnâ€™t the first time that Farhad has had run-ins with the law. In the past, heâ€˜s been told not to allow Muslim converts into the church and heâ€™s been detained numerous times before.