Christian couple arrested in Isphahan, Rev Issavi still in prison

On February 28^th fifteen uniformed police and five others in plain clothes were sent to the home of Christian married couple Hamid Shafiee and Reyhaneh Aghajary. According to the FCNN news agency, when they arrived only Reyhaneh was at home. The officials swarmed in, hand cuffed her, and then searched the house, confiscating books, computers, and personal belongings. When Hamid arrived an hour later, he too was handcuffed. It is...Read More

Newspapers closed, journalists imprisoned: feels like a mop up operation

Ever since President Khatami eased up media restrictions in 1997, the press has been a flashpoint between Reformers and Conservatives. Back in 1999 when the closure of the paper ‘Salam’ brought thousands of students onto the streets, it was even a battlefield. Ten years later, with eight papers being closed down since the disputed presidential election, and over sixty journalists in jail, more closures feel like a mop up operation....Read More

Tourists, let’s give them something

Keen evangelists know a bus/rail station or airport is a good place to work, for this is where people arrive from ‘closed’ countries and can be given a New Testament and some Christian literature. Though Iranians face fairly severe visa requirements, they still travel – a lot. Thirty nine international airlines operate out of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport to Europe, South America, and Asia. Some of the countries Iranians are...Read More

Inflation and petrol sanctions, time to talk prices again

This week parliament passed the President’s budget which included cutting the state’s generous subsidies for food and energy, subsidies that have long kept the price of a litre of petrol at ten cents for limited amounts. This budget is trying to balance the books, but commentators are saying it could send Iran’s inflation rate up to 30%. This will hurt all wage earners, especially those who work for the massive...Read More