Statement by the International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights concerning the alarming reports of the confiscation of St Peter’s church complex in Tehran and the forced eviction of Christian families.
The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights is following with profound concern the reports regarding the imminent enforcement of a confiscation order against the historic St Peter’s Church complex in Tehran, the forced eviction of dozens of Armenian and Assyrian Christian families from their homes, and the suspension of the church’s religious activities. Should these reports prove to be accurate, we condemn this action in the strongest possible terms and regard it as a flagrant violation of the rights to freedom of religion or belief, property, housing, and the fundamental principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of religion or ethnicity.
If carried out, this action would not constitute an isolated legal or administrative dispute. Rather, it represents the continuation of the Islamic Republic’s long-standing policy of restricting, marginalising and suppressing Iran’s religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. Over more than four decades, the Islamic Republic has established a well-documented record of systematic discrimination, confiscation of property, deprivation of civil rights, restrictions on religious worship, arbitrary arrests, and sustained pressure against followers of different faiths, religious communities and ethnic groups. These policies have consistently served the ideological and sectarian objectives of the ruling establishment.
What makes this case particularly alarming is that such policies are increasingly being pursued under the guise of legality and through judicial mechanisms. The instrumentalisation of the law to legitimise discrimination, confiscation and the exclusion of citizens is among the most dangerous forms of human rights abuse. When the law is transformed into a tool for advancing sectarian policies, justice is inevitably undermined, public confidence in the legal and judicial system is eroded, and respect for the rule of law is fundamentally weakened. Citizens are left to conclude that the law no longer exists to protect their rights but instead serves as an instrument of discrimination and repression.
No legal system that places the law in the service of discrimination, repression and the elimination of religious and ethnic diversity can legitimately claim to uphold the rule of law. The rule of law has meaning only when it safeguards the rights of all citizens equally, irrespective of their religion, belief, ethnicity or identity, rather than functioning as a vehicle for enforcing the state’s ideological and sectarian agenda.
The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights calls upon all democratic governments, international organisations, human rights institutions, the United Nations Special Rapporteurs—particularly the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran—as well as religious leaders and institutions worldwide, including the Holy See (Vatican), the World Council of Churches, Protestant, Orthodox and other Christian churches and communities, to treat these reports with the utmost urgency and to employ every available diplomatic, legal and humanitarian mechanism to prevent the implementation of these measures and to protect the rights of Iran’s Christian citizens.
Silence in the face of such actions would amount not merely to ignoring the rights of one religious community, but to acquiescing in a dangerous pattern that steadily undermines pluralism, peaceful coexistence and human dignity in Iran. The international community must not allow religious and ethnic discrimination to become normalised under the cover of judicial rulings and the appearance of legal legitimacy.