Iran is pursuing its policy of abusing minorities and even confiscating their houses of worship.
Government bodies in Tehran have seized a church of the Christian
Assyrian minority in the country, under the pretext of building a Shiite
shrine.
According to a report by
Asharq al-Awsat, Jonathan Bet-Kelia, the representative of the Assyrian
community in Iran’s Majlis (parliament), described the incident as a
“rape of the places” owned by the community in Iran.
In a speech
to the parliament last week, Bet-Kelia criticized the actions of the
Iranian government towards his community, highlighting the suffering,
discrimination and legal restrictions his community and other religious
minorities are subjected to. He also threatened to resort to the
judiciary procedures while wondering “what is the use of our presence in
a Parliament that considers us apostates?”
Bet-Kelia told Sharq
that he had approached Ali Younesi, special assistant to President
Hassan Rouhani on ethnic minorities’ affairs, on this matter but was
told that nothing could be done about it.
Younesi is a former
Minister of Intelligence and Security and is personally responsible for
ordering numerous arrests and assassinations of dissidents.
Bet-Kelia also criticized Rouhani because of government agencies’
discrimination and restrictions in recruiting religious minorities and
their exclusion from military and security positions and diplomatic
departments and bodies.
He also attacked Iranian law which states that “an apostate,” a
non-Muslim, cannot inherit from a Muslim, while a Muslim, being “the
heir of an apostate,” inherits the funds.
The Iranian parliament
allocates five seats for minorities, but these members of parliament
complain that they are essentially ignored by Tehran.
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