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Minister of Iranian House Church Is Still Being Held In Ahwaz Prison

News has just come out of Iran that Noorollah Qabitizade, an Iranian Christian convert and house church leader, whose condition had been unknown for the past 10 months, is being held in Ahwaz prison in Khuzestan Province, “with an unknown fate,” reports Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries.

According to the Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News (www.mohabatnews.com), he has “been subjected to interrogations by security authorities from the Intelligence Ministry” and has also been pressured to “renounce his faith in Christ.”

The ASSIST News Service (ANS) has learned from reporters of Mohabat News that the house church leader was not allowed to contact his family during the first month of his imprisonment.

“His condition inside the prison was also unknown,” ANS was told. “During that first month, he was subjected to intense interrogation in an attempt to force him to renounce his Christian faith and return to Islam.

“They applied mental pressure on him to sign commitments to not evangelize, to repent his decision to leave Islam, and to renounce his Christian faith.

“Although the judicial and security authorities had promised to release Noorollah after writing a repentance disclaimer, Noorollah was unwilling to do so.”

Mr. Qabitizade, according to Mohabat News, was able to "withstand the the pressure" and “not only didn't give up his hope but he even tried to share his faith with other prisoners and organized some prayer meetings inside the Dezful prison where he was initially being held.”

The news source said that this made the prison guards “so angry" that they transferred him to the prison of Ahwaz (100 miles south of Dezful).

“Noorollah said that the transfer resulted from his speaking about Jesus with other prisoners,” ANS was told.

His first trial was held two months ago in the courthouse of the city Ahwaz in the first criminal branch and Mr. Poor Mohammadian presided at that session.

“Noorollah’s hands and feet were chained as he arrived in court,” said an eyewitness. "The mental pressure on him increased when he was told that his death sentence would be issued in this trial. At the end of the session, they also offered him another opportunity to renounce his Christian faith and return to Islam so that his punishment would be reduced.”

A spokesperson for Mohabat News added, “It's necessary to note here that on Friday, December 24, 2010, ten new Christians from the city of Dezful (434 miles south-east of Tehran) were about to celebrate Christmas Eve with fellow Christians from Ahwaz and Andimeshk. However they were all arrested by security forces, including pastor Noorollah Qabitizade, the host of that night's house church celebrations. He, along with ten others, was transferred, hand-cuffed and blind folded, to a safe house in the center of Dezful.

“Other detainees from the cities of Ahwaz and Andimeshk were interrogated about their conversion to Christianity. They were asked to name their Christian friends and tell what they knew about them, and then how they knew Mr. Qabitizade. They were all released that night after being finger-printed and asked to report to the office of Ministry of Information in the city of their residence the next morning.”

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TAGS: Iran Noorollah Qabitizade house church leader Ahwaz prison Khuzestan Province Intelligence Ministry Dezful

[11/04/2011]

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