Iran has responded to just one of eight communications sent by United Nations human rights experts concerning Christians since 2011, with its sole response portraying Christian converts as national security threats, according to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
Dr. Mai Sato, who assumed the position in August 2024, discussed the Iranian government's treatment of Christians, including the confiscation of a historic Protestant church in Tehran, during an interview with religious freedom organization Article18.
Sato said her mandate focuses on documenting human rights violations and reporting findings to the United Nations, although Iranian authorities have refused to recognize her role or allow her to enter the country.
“The Iranian authorities don't recognize the legitimacy of my mandate, so I can't go to Iran, and that's been the case since the reestablishment of this mandate in 2011,” she said.
According to Sato, seven of the eight U.N. communications concerning Christians in Iran addressed arrests and detentions, primarily involving converts from Islam. The most recent communication, however, concerned the confiscation of St. Peter's Evangelical Church in Tehran and the displacement of Armenian and Assyrian Christian residents.
Sato described the case as “qualitatively different” because it involved members of Iran's officially recognized Christian minorities rather than converts, who have frequently faced national security accusations.
St. Peter's, regarded as Iran's oldest Protestant church, was seized by authorities on July 12 following a court ruling that enabled the transfer of the property to the state-controlled Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order. The seizure forced 27 Armenian and Assyrian Christian residents from the compound, according to International Christian Concern.
Sato and U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Nazila Ghanea called for the confiscation to be reversed, warning that the incident reflected a longstanding pattern of restrictions on Christian worship. The experts noted that Iran once had approximately 50 Protestant churches, most offering Persian-language services, but virtually none remain able to conduct worship in Persian.
Iran has not responded to the communication concerning St. Peter's. Its only response to the eight communications, submitted in connection with a 2020 case, reflected what Sato described as “the whole narrative around labeling Christians, Christian converts as sort of a threat to national security.”
In that response, Iranian authorities maintained that the Christians involved had been convicted of national security offenses, including propaganda against the state, rather than for converting to Christianity. The government also distinguished between Persian-speaking converts and officially recognized Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities.
Sato challenged the use of such accusations against Christians, noting that activities described as security offenses often involve ordinary religious practices.
“You have all these national security offenses, but when you actually look at the acts, it's sometimes like gathering of house churches or dissemination of information,” she said, suggesting that the latter could refer to distributing Bibles.
She emphasized that documenting violations creates an official record that challenges government accounts and could support future accountability efforts. Sato also urged governments to consider diplomatic and political measures based on evidence gathered through U.N. monitoring.
