Photographs released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in the summer showing large quantities of confiscated Christian materials were a ‘publicity stunt’ that reflected the Iranian regime’s fear of Christianity, according to a religious freedom advocate Mansour Borji.
Borji, from advocacy group Article 18 said that the photographs were meant as a deterrent to stop Christians from meeting over the summer months, and demonstrated the regime’s ‘disrespect’ for religious freedom, despite its claims to the contrary.
‘One important factor is that the news is published not by the judicial authorities or the Ministry of Intelligence, but by the Revolutionary Guard, which is a military organisation responsible for maintaining state security,’ Borji said. ‘I think the bigger question is why this military institution now seems to be mandated with the responsibility to crack down on house churches, and why they blow the trumpet about the arrest of Christians and the confiscation of their religious material? Why would a secure and stable government be so troubled by New Testaments and books on Christian discipleship? How can they claim to have respect for the rights of religious minorities, and then parade Christian literature as evidence of criminal activity?’
