Iran: 'Do you confess you are a Christian? You can be killed for this'

By Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

PARIS, FRANCE (ANS) -- Fifteen tall, muscular men broke into her home in Esfahan the day after Christmas and began to ransack it. At first they were silent and refused to answer any questions, but then it be came clear. They were looking for evidence she is a Christian.

Unnamed Iranian woman beaten for her faith

She was still in bed at 7:30 a.m. when the men broke into the house.

Apparently, a neighbor opened an exterior door to the complex. "I thought I was dreaming," says Fatemeh Yar-Ahmadi, also known as Yassi, in an interview conducted with Mohabat News. She had been a Christian for eight years when she received the visit by the Intelligence Service. She had also been working with believers in other parts of Iran.

"Cut the phone lines. Spread through the house and start searching," the men yelled.

"Who are you?" Yassi cried out. They did not reply. Her mother, who suffers from heart disease, sat in the next room. Startled and afraid, she began to cry.

"What do you want?" Yassi asked again. "Say something! My mom is scared!"

One of older men, who appeared to be in charge, showed her a paper and said they were looking for Christians. "Who is a Christian here?" he asked harshly.

"Don't do anything to my mom. I am a Christian," she replied. Yassi turned to her mother and said, "Don't worry, they are looking for me." Her mother began to shake. One of the men filmed everything with a camcorder.

"Do you clearly confess that you are a Christian?" the man asked. "You can be killed for this."

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