{"id":26432,"date":"2019-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/prayer\/prayer-diary-iran-4200\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:57:21","slug":"prayer-diary-iran-4200","status":"publish","type":"prayer","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/prayer\/prayer-diary-iran-4200\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer Diary : Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/c5c35ffdfcf899a9f1cb8b2532d5a02a.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An official campaign against Muslim converts to Christianity has been escalating over the past decade, and has at times been accompanied by a rise in anti-Christian rhetoric from anti-government officials. The Baha\u2019i community, which remains unrecognised officially, and the Dervishes, have increasingly been targeted with hate speech. They face a range of discriminatory and repressive policies including regarding their education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Sunday 17 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Political opposition members, human rights activists and journalists continue to be arrested on spurious grounds. At least 746 people are detained on account of their religion or belief. Pray for divine protection and provision for everyone who is in prison because of their beliefs or because they spoke out against oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Monday 18 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Baha\u2019i community have long been particular targets of the regime, with seven Baha\u2019i leaders serving 20-year prison sentences. An estimated 317 Baha\u2019i are imprisoned because of their faith, while senior government officials continue to use anti-Baha\u2019i rhetoric. Pray that all Baha\u2019i imprisoned unjustly would be swiftly released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Tuesday 19 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In July 2018 Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, Hadi Asgari and Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi were sentenced to ten years in prison each, Amin Afshar-Naderi was given a 15-year sentence, and all were banned from travelling for two years. Pray that their appeals would be successful and these sentences would be overturned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Wednesday 20 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These people were all sentenced by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, a judge who is notorious for handing down excessive sentences to Christians who appear in his court on unfounded national security charges. Ask God to work powerfully in Judge Ahmadzadeh\u2019s heart so that he would act with justice and impartiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Thursday 21 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January 2018 Judge Ahmadzadeh sentenced Shamiran Issavi, Pastor Bet- Tamraz\u2019s wife, to five years in prison, on national security charges after she participated in Christian seminars abroad. Pray that her sentence would be overturned at her court date later this year, and that she would be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Friday 22 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any gathering of Christians, including social gatherings such as birthday or engagement parties, is seen as potential house church activity and a threat to national security. Pray that this attitude would change, and that Christians would be allowed to gather peacefully in public and in private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Saturday 23 March<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>O Lord of all, thank you for the courage and faithfulness of your people facing discrimination, harassment and worse in Iran. We ask that you would release all those who are unjustly imprisoned, especially the seven leaders of the Baha\u2019i faith. Amen.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prayer Diary, 17 &#8211; 23 March 2019<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":8089,"template":"","regions":[148,145],"class_list":["post-26432","prayer","type-prayer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-iran","regions-middle-east-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/prayer"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41102,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26432\/revisions\/41102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=26432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}