By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
ESFAHAN, IRAN (ANS) -- In recent times, the security authorities of Iran have been taken action against the growth of Christianity and house church movement in Iran and have arrested many believers in different cities of Iran.
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The arrested woman |
According to the Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News
(www.mohabatnews.com), Ms. Giti Hakimpour, a Christian minister, was arrested in her apartment by security authorities at earkt on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, and transferred to an unknown location.
The security authorities not only raided Ms. Hakimpour’s home but at the same day attacked the home of another Christian, Pastor Hekmat Salimi, and also took him into custody.
“Ms. Hakimpour, who is 78-years-old, is a member and minister of St. Luke’s Anglican church in Esfahan. She was living on her own in an apartment and witnesses saw both police and private cars parking down below her flat from around 6:00 AM,” said a spokesperson for Mohabat News.
Knowledgeable sources told Mohabat News that the intelligence officers initially interrogated her in her flat and then arrested her, and then went on to thoroughly search her apartment and confiscated some of her personal belongings.
Eyewitnesses said the officers were there for three hours until 9:00 AM, and then they took Ms. Hakimpour with them.
“No information is available concerning her whereabouts and health condition at this time,” the spokesperson told the ASSIST News Service. “She has no relatives inside Iran; however, the news of her arrest has caused a wave of anxiety among her relatives living outside Iran.
“The Iranian Christian community calls on Iranian authorities to release her and take measures to exonerate her of any charges.”
He added, “It has been reported that Ms. Hakimpour had not been in a good health the night before her arrest and was using some medicines because of knee replacement surgery she had undergone. Also her doctor had ordered that she should not be stressed and that she needs to be under special care.
"So, holding her in custody without basic facilities could cause her difficulties. The responsibility of life and any possible health problems for this elderly lady rest directly on Iranian authorities.”
Ms. Giti Hakimpour was born into a family who converted to Christianity from a Jewish background. She is a relative of Bishop Iraj Mottahedeh, former bishop of St. Luke's church in Esfahan. She retired from a hospital of an oil industry company in Masjed-Soleiman and where she was a matron. She trained many nurses, some of whom are currently serving in the hospitals of Iran.
“It needs to be remembered that the security authorities of the Iranian Intelligence Office attacked the home of Pastor Hekmat Salimi in Fooladshahr, a district of Esfahan at 7:00 AM, also on February 22, 2012. They also arrested and transferred him to an unknown location without providing any kind of explanation. There are still no updates available concerning his situation,” added the spokesperson.
“No doubt, these anti-Christian actions are being taken in order to intimidate and terrorize Christians, especially Christian converts. These are being done after when some while ago, Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, who is known as the theoretician of the Islamic regime, said in a meeting with the President and Vice President of the Office of Islamic Propaganda in the Islamic Seminary of Qom that, ‘some work has been done and monies have been spent to counter the growth of Christianity in some provinces but the outcome is not satisfactory because no one is supervising these efforts.”
According to the reports published by Mohabat News, during these first two months of 2012, the security authorities of the Intelligence Ministry have arrested Christian citizens individually or in groups in cities of Ahwaz, Shiraz, Tehran and Esfahan.
| Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link. |  |
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