Iran's 'Terror Factory' Targeting Christians

In this mailing: - Uzay Bulut: Iran's 'Terror Factory' Targeting Christians - Amir Taheri: Iran and a Tale of Two Losers [] [Iran's 'Terror Factory' Targeting Christians]( by Uzay Bulut • May 5, 2019 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Addthis]( [Send]( [Print]( - "In Iran, any practice that contradicts Islam is regarded as a national security threat, punished severely by the court system." — International Christian Concern, 2019. - "Revolutionary courts were created to guard against all threats to Islam. These courts have evolved into a well-oiled machine of oppres­sion that operates with impunity under state protection. The courts are closely intertwined with the Intelligence Ministry. Judges have at their disposal Revolutionary Guards (secret police) and a network of prisons used to torture and interrogate Christians." — International Christian Concern. - "If you recant and repent, you'll go to jail. And if you don't, you'll be killed." — Dr. Mike Ansari from Heart4Iran, an Iranian Christian minister, reported by International Christian Concern. - "Christians may be looking at large fines, detention, lengthy prison sentences, or even execution under Islamic Sharia law. The sentences of Christian converts are left up to the interpretation of the judge and may be founded on anything -- the judge's mood that day, what he had for breakfast, his interpretation of Sharia law, or his level of hatred toward Christianity." — International Christian Concern. Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, his wife Shamiram and their son Ramiel were arrested in Iran, held and interrogated at Evin Prison (known for its abuse and torture of dissidents), and sentenced to prison terms for "crimes" related to Christianity. Pictured: Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. (Image source: Ehsan Iran/Wikimedia Commons) The daughter of a former pastor in Iran -- Dabrina Bet-Tamraz -- recently described the persecution and suffering to which her family is being subjected after being sentenced to lengthy prison terms for "crimes" related to Christianity. Speaking from the safety of refuge in Switzerland, where she managed to flee with the help of friends, Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, the daughter of Victor and Shamiram Bet-Tamraz, told Gatestone Institute: "I was arrested many times in Iran. I was threatened, forced to cooperate with the government against pastors, Christian leaders and church members. I was kept in custody with no legal permit, with no female officer present and in male surroundings. "I now feel safe in Switzerland, but when Iranian MOIS [intelligence agency] officers published an article on social media with my pictures and home address -- encouraging Iranian men living in Switzerland to 'pay me a visit' -- I had to move to another house." [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Iran and a Tale of Two Losers]( by Amir Taheri • May 5, 2019 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Addthis]( [Send]( [Print]( - Forty years after the Islamic Revolution, the clergy-led ruling elite was still behaving like a sect rather than a state, thus preventing Iran from behaving like a normal nation with all its merits and defects. - The fifth and highest stage is that of "statehood," which becomes possible when society is used to the rule of law regardless of the quality of the law in force, and respects the primacy of state institutions as representations of the public will and interest. - Ruling elites in the Islamic world, including even empire-builders such as the Ottomans and Safavids, progressed through the first four stages described above but never reached the fifth stage, that is to say, the creation of a proper "state" based on the rule of law. Now, four decades after the Khomeinists seized power, Iran cannot behave like a nation-state while Islam, in its Iranian Shi'ite version, has suffered a historic setback. Pictured: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988. (Image source: emam.com/Wikimedia Commons) Last November, Westminster University in London organized a seminar with an enticing theme: Is a Plan B for Iran possible? In its simplest form, the main argument was that 40 years after the Islamic Revolution, the clergy-led ruling elite was still behaving like a sect rather than a state, thus preventing Iran from behaving like a normal nation with all its merits and defects. In the paper that I presented, I drew on the teachings of several Iranian classical historians, most notably Abul-Fazl Beyhaqi (died in 1077 AD). Tracing the course through which the Ghaznavids, a Turkic warrior tribe, seized power in Iran and established a dynasty, Beyhaqi identifies five stages. The first stage is that of "conquest" when Saboktakin, the warrior-chief seizes a chunk of territory to use as a base for future episodes in his saga. In the next stage, known as "domination," the conqueror tribe establishes itself as the predominant force within the territory seized. [Continue Reading Article]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Donate]( Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved. You are subscribed to this list as {EMAIL} You can change how you receive these emails: [Update your subscription preferences]( or [Unsubscribe from this list]( [Gatestone Institute]( 14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022