Persecution of Christian converts in Iran has surged sixfold in the past year, with the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reporting violent arrests, interrogations, lengthy prison terms, and mistreatment.
“The death of Mahsa Amini was not caused by physical assault, beating, or head trauma,” the Special Committee for Investigating the 2022 protests wrote in its latest report, adding that its findings “reaffirm the conclusion of the Legal Medicine Organization and that law enforcement officers, emergency responders, and hospital personnel acted without negligence.”
Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian woman whose killing at the hands of Iran's morality police in 2022 sparked nationwide ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests.
The report, released on Wednesday, repeats the state’s long-held narrative that Amini died from an existing medical condition. According to the committee, she suffered from a hypothalamic-pituitary axis disorder from childhood and died of “multiple organ failure (MOF) resulting from cerebral hypoxia.”
The panel maintained that medical records and scans were reviewed, though none were made public or shared with Amini’s family or international investigators.
Independent experts and leaked CT images cited by Iran International contradict the official account. The scans, obtained by a hacker group, showed skull fractures and signs of cerebral trauma, which doctors said were consistent with a heavy blow to the head.
Foreign blame and media accusations
The committee categorized the 2022 unrest as a coordinated campaign to destabilize the Islamic Republic. It said that “hostile and subversive domestic elements, as well as a significant number of foreign agents… exploited the protest environment out of opposition to the Islamic Republic and with the intent to incite riots and overthrow the State.”
It cited an array of foreign actors—including the United States, Israel, and European governments—as allegedly instrumental in fueling the unrest, accusing them of organizing “riot cells, arming demonstrators, and disseminating propaganda” through platforms like Iran International, BBC Persian, and the VOA.
The Islamic Republic has openly threatened Iran International’s reporters for covering developments in Iran and amplifying the voices of the people and has plotted to assassinate several of the network’s staff.
It also said platforms like Instagram were used to spread instructions on making Molotov cocktails and encourage attacks on security forces.
With the start of the 2022 protests, the Islamic Republic once again resorted to its familiar tactics of suppressing nationwide demonstrations by cutting off internet access across the country and heavily censoring the flow of information.
Numerous reports showed that during the anti-government protests in various cities across Iran, internet connectivity was disrupted and text messaging services were shut down.
Disputed death toll
The committee reported 281 fatalities in the unrest: 90 individuals it classified as “rioters,” 54 security officers, and 112 civilians it said were killed under ambiguous circumstances. It acknowledged 6,308 injuries, 90% of them among security personnel, and estimated financial damages exceeding 20 trillion rials (about $20 million).
It denied any pattern of abuse in detention, saying, “No complaints have been reported to the Committee” regarding mistreatment, and maintained that “each of the ten individuals” executed in connection with the protests was convicted of premeditated murder.
The findings contradict documentation from Iran Human Rights, which recorded at least 551 protester deaths—including 68 children—and dozens of suspicious deaths in custody.
While defending the conduct of law enforcement, the report conceded that “in rare cases some officers acted beyond their legal duties” and said 621 judicial cases had been filed against personnel, mostly resulting in convictions, acquittals, or dismissals.
The Islamic Republic’s special committee rejected widespread reports of sexual assault and rape against protesters, saying that out of the 45 individuals said to have been victims, only the identities of five had been provided — and that these five had not filed any complaints regarding such abuse at the time of their detention.
Harrowing testimonies from Iranian dissidents across multiple provinces suggest a systematic and widespread weaponization of sexual violence by security forces to stifle protests in 2022, according to a year-long investigation by Iran International.
A section of the report said that if security forces had used live ammunition as per the allegations from rights groups, the protests would have been suppressed more easily, fewer officers would have been injured, and there would have been less damage to public property.
International scrutiny and domestic defiance
Despite broad international condemnation of its handling of the protests and the UN Human Rights Council’s mandate for an independent fact-finding mission, Iran continues to reject the work of the team.
“The Special Committee—despite not recognizing the legitimacy of the International Fact-Finding Mission—held two virtual meetings with them,” the report said, adding that documentation had been provided via unofficial channels.
The committee did not clarify whether it will publish the evidence cited in its findings or allow independent verification.
The report concluded by recommending structural reforms, expanded propaganda efforts abroad, and increased legal action against perceived foreign interference.
Over 300 have been prosecuted in Tehran alone, with nearly 100 more sentenced to lengthy prison terms for simply practicing the faith.
“The Christian community in Iran is facing a crisis. The Iranian authorities are abducting growing numbers of Christians and throwing absurd national security charges at them in order to imprison them for years for doing nothing other than peacefully practicing their faith,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of CHRI.
While Iran recognizes the three Abrahamic religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, conversion out of Islam is deemed a crime equivalent to treason, which can even lead to execution.
Last year, CHRI quotes the Article 18 organization as saying the authorities handed down a total of 263 years in prison to 96 Christians, up from 43.5 years for 22 people in 2023, the arrests carried out by Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) intelligence agents.
The rights group said the courts typically used a loophole in Article 500 of Iran's Penal Code of 2021 to push the heavy sentences through, since the law stipulates heavy punishments for anyone who commits “any deviant educational or proselytizing activity that contradicts or interferes with the sacred law of Islam”.
Ghaemi added, “The persecution of Christians in Iran is part of the Islamic Republic’s assault on civil liberties, religious freedom, and minority communities, and it reflects the regime’s reliance on fear and repression to maintain control.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, recently called the matter of the persecution of Christians in the country a matter of serious concern that requires immediate attention.
Sato addressed Article18’s joint side event at the UN in Geneva in late January, calling it a “timely opportunity” to assess the reality faced by Christian communities in Iran.
In its 2023/4 annual report on Iran, Amnesty International said religious persecution was rife.
"Religious minorities, including Baha’is, Christians, Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sunni Muslims and Yaresan, suffered discrimination in law and practice, including in access to education, employment, child adoption, political office and places of worship. Hundreds were subjected to arbitrary detention, unjust prosecution, and torture and other ill-treatment for professing or practising their faith."
Highlighting the dangers of conversion, the report added, "People born to parents classified as Muslim by the authorities risked arbitrary detention, torture or the death penalty for “apostasy” if they adopted other religions or atheism."
