Iranian church served with eviction notice

CSW has learned that a retreat centre belonging to the Assemblies of God (AoG) Churches in Iran was served with an evacuation notice on 7 March.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has learned that a retreat centre belonging to the Assemblies of God (AoG) Churches in Iran was served with an evacuation notice on 7 March.

The notice, was served to the caretakers of the Sharon Retreat Centre by law enforcement officers, gives them until Saturday 10 March to remove all of their belongings and hand the centre over to the Executive Headquarters of Iman’s Directive (EIKO). EIKO is the government body under the direct control of Supreme Leader that was established after the 1979 Revolution to oversee the confiscation of property belonging to supporters of the former regime.

The AoG retreat centre is located in Mohammadshahr in Karaj. It is situated on 10,017 square metres of land and is worth $2,200,000. The Council of AoG Churches in Iran acquired it in the early 1970s for use as a retreat for church ministers, for youth camps, and for other church functions.

In 2005, the centre was raided by security agents during a Council Synod meeting, and all the clergy on the Council were arrested. The church leaders were interrogated overnight in a detention centre near Karaj and forced to sign an agreement stating they would comply with the government’s demands to limit church activities. One article of this agreement stated that they would use the Retreat Centre only for Armenian and Assyrian church members with the prior permission of security officials.

On 21 July 2015, a Revolutionary Court issued a confiscation order for the property. In the ensuing years any usage of the retreat centre was forbidden by the authorities. Doors to the centre were sealed and a caretaker and the caretaker’s family were the only people allowed to enter the premises. Confiscation was initially slated for the week beginning 14 November 2016.

In the past, the government of Iran has accused the AoG of being funded by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to infiltrate and undermine the country through evangelistic activities. In reality, the AoG Church in Iran is not organisationally affiliated with the AoG denomination in the United States (US). It was registered as a church and religious institution in 1973, and after the Islamic Revolution, its status as a registered religious institution was reinstated.

While the Central AoG Church in Tehran was formerly called “Philadelphia”, alluding to the Greek word in the New Testament meaning “brotherly love”, the name is reported to have been cited consistently as evidence of US affiliation. By attributing the AoG’s funding to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Iranian authorities sought to facilitate both the seizure of property in line with the remit of the EIKO, and the possible prosecution of church leaders on national security-related charges.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “CSW is deeply alarmed at the planned seizure of property from a religious community that is recognised under the Iranian constitution. We urge the government of Iran, as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights, to fulfil its obligations and ensure freedom of religion or belief in its fullest sense for all of Iran’s religious minorities. We also call for interventions from key members of the international community to prevent this injustice from occurring, and to remind the Iranian government of its obligations under international law and its own constitution.”