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79-529: Definitions of deportation vary, with some implicating "transfer beyond State borders" (distinguishing it from forcible transfer), others considering it "the actual implementation of [an expulsion] order in cases where the person concerned does not follow it voluntarily", and others differentiating removal of legal immigrants (expulsion) and illegal immigrants (deportation). Deportation in the most general sense, in accordance with International Organization for Migration , treats expulsion and deportation as synonyms in

158-564: A considerable distance from their original residences. During the Holocaust, the Nazis made heavy use of euphemisms , where "deportation" frequently meant the victims were subsequently killed, as opposed to simply being relocated. The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin carried out forced mass transfers of some 6 million people during the 1930s and 1940s, resulting in millions of deaths. As many as 110 separate deportations have been catalogued, included

237-722: A continuous presence of Christians in Iran . During the apostolic age Christianity began to establish itself throughout the Mediterranean . However, a quite different Semitic-speaking Christian culture developed on the eastern borders of the Roman Empire and in Persia . Syriac Christianity owed much to preexistent Jewish communities and to the Aramaic language . This language had been spoken by Jesus , and, in various modern Eastern Aramaic forms

316-584: A five-year term. The following table lists the previous directors of the IOM and its predecessor organization, the ICEM. The current Director General is Amy Pope from the United States of America , with Ugochi Daniels from Nigeria serving as Deputy Directors General. The organization's global mandate includes assistance to migrants, including migrant workers, refugees and internally displaced persons. This broad mandate of

395-533: A larger share of the population in the past than they do today. Iranian Christians have played a significant part in the historical Christian mission : currently, there are at least 600 churches and 300,000 –370,000 converts. A number of Christian denominations are represented in Iran . Many members of the larger and older churches belong to minority ethnic groups, with the Armenians and Assyrians having their own distinctive culture and language. The members of

474-466: A substantial portion of early colonists in Portuguese empire . From 1717 onward Britain deported around 40,000 British religious objectors and "criminals" to America before the practice ceased in 1776. Jailers sold the "criminals" to shipping contractors, who then sold them to plantation owners . The "criminals" worked for the plantation owner for the duration of their sentence. After Britain lost control of

553-471: Is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for migrants , including internally displaced persons , refugees , and migrant workers . The International Organization for Migration is based in Geneva . Its director general is Amy Pope. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) was founded in 1951 in response to

632-542: Is concerned, there is no general feature that clearly sets it apart from expulsion. Both term basically indicate the same phenomenon. ... The only difference seems to be one of preferential use, expulsion being more an international term while deportation is more used in municipal law. ... One study [discusses this distinction] but immediately adds that in modern practice both terms have become interchangeable. Bibliography International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration ( IOM )

711-495: Is difficult to obtain accurate figures for Protestants of all denominations and Catholics in Iran. Complicating the matter is the mixture of ethnic identity with religious affiliation, and the number of Muslim converts to Christianity, who as discussed above have a strong incentive to conceal themselves. Most informants often referred to "only a few thousand" in estimating the overall numbers of non-ethnic Christians in Iran. According to

790-794: Is doubted. Hyrcanus II , the Jewish king of Judea (Jerusalem), was settled among the Jews of Babylon in Parthia after being taken as captive by the Parthian-Jewish forces in 40 BC . Roman POWs in the Antony's Parthian War may have suffered deportation. Deportation was widely used by the Sasanians, especially during the wars with the Romans . During Shapur I 's reign, the Romans (including Valerian ) who were defeated at

869-588: Is headquartered in Geneva, with liaison offices in New York City and Addis Ababa . The Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) is based in Berlin . In 2020, the organization reported that it had over 15,311 employees, with 168 nationalities represented. The highest decision-making body of the IOM is the council, in which all member states are represented. It has rules of procedure and meets at regular intervals to adopt

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948-556: Is prohibited by several instruments of international law . Expulsions widely occurred in ancient history, and is well-recorded particularly in ancient Mesopotamia . The kingdoms of Israel and Judah faced several forced expulsions, including deportations by the Neo-Assyrian Empire following the fall of Israel and during Sennacherib's campaign in the 8th century BC. Later, the Neo-Babylonian Empire deported much of

1027-474: Is still spoken by the ethnic Assyrian Christians in Iran , northeast Syria , southeast Turkey and Iraq today (see Assyrian Neo-Aramaic , and Senaya language ). From Persian-ruled Assyria ( Assuristan ), missionary activity spread Eastern-Rite Syriac Christianity throughout Assyria and Mesopotamia , and from there into Persia , Asia Minor , Syria , the Caucasus and Central Asia , establishing

1106-556: The Battle of Edessa were deported to Persis . Other destinations were Parthia , Khuzestan , and Asorestan . There were cities which were founded and were populated by Romans prisoners of war, including Shadh-Shapur ( Dayr Mikhraq ) in Meshan , Bishapur in Persis, Wuzurg-Shapur ( Ukbara ; Marw-Ḥābūr), and Gundeshapur . Agricultural land were also given to the deportees. These deportations initiated

1185-836: The Chaldean Catholic Church . The community that remains independent is the Assyrian Church of the East , but both churches now have much smaller memberships in Iran than the Armenian Apostolic Church . The number of Christians in Iran was further significantly boosted through various policies of the subsequent kingdoms that ruled from 1501. For example, in 1606 during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18) , king Abbas I resettled some 300,000 Armenians deeper within modern-day Iran, as well as establishing their own quarter in

1264-506: The European Court of Human Rights , collective expulsion is any measure compelling non-nationals, as a group, to leave a country, except where such a measure is taken on the basis of a reasonable and objective examination of the particular case of each individual non-national of the group. Mass expulsion may also occur when members of an ethnic group are sent out of a state regardless of nationality. Collective expulsion, or expulsion en masse,

1343-880: The Global Compact for Migration , the first-ever intergovernmental agreement on international migration which was adopted in Marrakech , Morocco, in December 2018. To support the implementation, follow-up and review of the Global Compact on Migration, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres established the UN Network on Migration in 2019. IOM coordinates the United Nations Network on Migration which includes UNHCR , WFP and UNDP , among others. While

1422-793: The Saint Thomas Christians of India and erecting the Nestorian Stele and the Daqin Pagoda in China. Early Christian communities straddling the Roman-Persian border found themselves in the midst of civil strife. In 313, when Constantine I proclaimed Christianity a tolerated religion in the Roman Empire, the Sassanid rulers of Persia adopted a policy of persecution against Christians, including

1501-518: The death penalty . Although the Civil Code does not provide explicitly for the death penalty – with the crime being punishable by fines, lashing, and prison terms – judges can impose the death penalty if they desire. Iran was number nine on Open Doors ’ 2022 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. Pentecostal pastor Hossein Sudmand

1580-666: The " Huns ". the prisoners were freed by the Persians as they reached Persia, and were settled in Slōk ( Wēh Ardashīr ) and Kōkbā (Kōkhē). The author of the text Liber Calipharum has praised the king Yazdegerd I (399–420) for his treatment of the deportees, who also allowed some to return. Major deportations occurred during the Anastasian War , including Kavad I 's deportation of the populations of Theodosiopolis and Amida to Arrajan (Weh-az-Amid Kavad). Major deportations occurred during

1659-470: The 1935 novel, Strange Passage by Theodore D. Irwin. Films depicting or dealing with fictional cases of deportation are many and varied. Among them are Ellis Island (1936), Exile Express (1939), Five Came Back (1939), Deported (1950), and Gambling House (1951). More recently, Shottas (2002) treated the issue of U.S. deportation to the Caribbean post-1997. Notes As far as deportation

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1738-508: The 1970s, some Protestant pastors started to hold church services in homes in Persian, rather than in one of the ethnic Christian minority languages such as Armenian or Syriac . One of the key leaders who spearheaded this movement was the Assemblies of God bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr . Worship in homes rather than in church buildings, and the utilization of the national language ( Persian ), which

1817-475: The Arab incursion into Persia during Shapur II 's reign, he scattered the defeated Arab tribes by deporting them to other regions. Some were deported to Bahrain and Kirman , possibly to both populate these unattractive regions (due to their climate) and bringing the tribes under control. In 395 AD 18,000 Roman populations of Sophene , Armenia , Mesopotamia , Syria , and Cappadocia were captured and deported by

1896-607: The Great Depression, more stringent enforcement of immigration laws were ordered by the executive branch of the U.S. government, which led to increased deportation and repatriation to Mexico. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression , between 355,000 and 2 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported or repatriated to Mexico, an estimated 40 to 60% of whom were U.S. citizens – overwhelmingly children. At least 82,000 Mexicans were formally deported between 1929 and 1935 by

1975-523: The IOM operated, using Australian government funding, was described by the Refugee Council of Australia "inhumane conditions, solitary confinement, lack of basic essentials and medical care, physical and sexual abuse, and severe overcrowding". Rohingya John Joniad described the housing as an "open prison". Christianity in Iran Christianity in Iran dates back to the early years of

2054-708: The IOM to cease operation the process centres, which it stated were "detention centres" and to hand management of the centres to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . Amnesty International expressed concern that the IOM undertook actions on behalf of governments that negatively impacted the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. Amnesty International cited an example of fourteen Kurds in Indonesia who were expelled from Australian waters by Australian authorities and relocated to Indonesia. Amnesty International requested an assurance that

2133-506: The IOM will abide by the principle of non-refoulement . In 2022, the role that the IOM played in housing refugees in Indonesia was described by the Refugee Council of Australia as presenting a "humanitarian veneer while carrying out rights-violating activities on behalf of Western nations” by researchers Asher Hirsch and Cameron Doig in The Globe and Mail . The community housing that

2212-571: The IOM's history tracks the man-made and natural disasters of the past half century, including Kosovo and Timor 1999, and the Asian tsunami , the 2003 invasion of Iraq , the Pakistan earthquake of 2004/2005, the 2010 Haiti earthquake , and the European migrant crisis —its credo that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society has steadily gained more international acceptance. The organization

2291-516: The IOM's role in the Australian government's " Pacific Solution " of transferring asylum seekers to offshore detention centres. Human Rights Watch criticized the IOM for operating Manus Regional Processing Centre and the processing centre on Nauru despite not having a refugee protection mandate. Human Rights Watch criticized the IOM for being part of "arbitrary detention" and for denying asylum seekers access to legal advice. Human Rights Watch urged

2370-694: The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) in 1952, to the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration (ICM) in 1980, and finally to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 1989 reflects the evolution of the IOM's mandate over its existence, becoming the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. In 1992, it was granted observer status at the United Nations General Assembly (GA resolution A/RES/47/4). In September 2016,

2449-598: The Iranian judiciary sentenced five Christian converts to a total of over 25 years in prison. Armenian and Assyrian Christians use Bibles in their own languages. Multiple Persian translations and versions of the Bible have been translated in more recent times, although distribution of Christian literature in Persian is currently illegal. Portions of the Bible are translated into Azeri , Mazanderani , Gilaki , Bakhtiari, Luri, Kurdish ( Kurmanji and Sorani ). In 2023,

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2528-543: The Iranian-American pastor and former Muslim Saeed Abedini , who in 2013 was sentenced to eight years prison, allegedly "Helped to build the country's underground Christian church network". Satellite TV networks , such as Mohabat TV, Sat7 Pars, and TBN Nejat TV, distribute educational and encouraging programs for Christians, especially targeting Persian speakers. Some Christian ex-Muslims emigrate from Iran for educational, political, security or economic reasons. It

2607-624: The Judean population upon conquering Judah in 597 BC and 587 BC. Deportation was practiced as a policy toward rebellious people in Achaemenid Empire . The precise legal status of the deportees is unclear; but ill-treatment is not recorded. Instances include: Unlike in the Achaemenid and Sassanian periods, records of deportation are rare during the Arsacid Parthian period. One notable example

2686-837: The Ottoman actions, being reduced from formerly composing majorities in some of the regions, to very small – though noticeable – surviving communities. Prior to World War I and the Assyrian genocide, the population of Urmia was 40% to 50% Christian, for example. Nowadays, this number for the same city lies at 1% to 2%. In 1918, during the Persian Campaign , about half of the Assyrians of Persia died in Turkish and Kurdish massacres and in related outbreaks of starvation and disease. About 80 percent of Assyrian clergy and spiritual leaders perished, threatening

2765-692: The Persian Empire's numerous Armenian subjects gained the official right to profess Eastern Christianity freely. Political pressure within Persia and cultural differences with western Christianity were mostly to blame for the Nestorian schism , in the course of which the Roman Empire church hierarchy labelled the Church of the East heretical . The bishop of Ctesiphon (the capital of the Sassanid Empire ) acquired

2844-563: The United Nations (UN) Member States, through the General Assembly, unanimously adopted a resolution approving the agreement to transform IOM into an affiliated organization of the UN. This agreement has strengthened the relationship between IOM and the UN and improved its ability to fulfill its respective mandates in the interests of migrants and Member States. The IOM supported the creation of

2923-604: The United States by being arrested and brought to the federal immigration control station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor and, from there, forcibly removed from the United States on ships. Many criticize deportations as inhumane, as well as questioning their effectiveness. Some are completely opposed towards any deportations, while others state it is inhuman to take somebody to a foreign land without their consent. In literature, deportation appears as an overriding theme in

3002-721: The Venezuela Situation working with UNHCR and 17 countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) , IOM is one of the central actors in humanitarian aid within the UN system, especially in the context of displacement. IOM's main aid measures include shelter, protection, the provision of basic medical and sanitary care, life safety, coordination, telecommunications and logistics. On

3081-418: The annual budget and determine the organization's programmatic objectives. The official languages are English , French and Spanish . According to its own figures, the organization's budget in 2020 was around two billion US dollars. This is made up of voluntary contributions from the member states and donations. The Director General of the organization is elected by the delegates of the IOM member states for

3160-589: The area which became the United States, Australia became the destination for "criminals" deported to British colonies. Britain transported more than 160,000 British "criminals" to the Australian colonies between 1787 and 1855. Meanwhile, in Japan during Sakoku , all Portuguese and Spanish people were expelled from the country. In the 18th century the Tipu Sultan , of Mysore , deported tens of thousands of civilians, from lands he had annexed, to serve as slave labour in other parts of his empire, for example the: Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam . In

3239-415: The beginning of the 20th century the control of immigration began becoming common practice, with the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 in Australia, the Aliens Act 1905 in the United Kingdom and the Continuous journey regulation of 1908 in Canada, elevating the deportation of "illegal" immigrants to a global scale. In the meantime, deportation of "regular residents" also increased. In the 1930s, during

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3318-456: The campaigns of Khosrau I from the Roman cities of Sura , Beroea , Antioch , Apamea , Callinicum , and Batnai in Osrhoene , to Wēh-Antiyōk-Khosrow (also known as Rūmagān; in Arabic: al-Rūmiyya). The city was founded near Ctesiphon especially for them, and Khosrow reportedly "did everything in his power to make the residents want to stay". The number of the deportees is recorded to be 292,000 in another source. The Medieval European age

3397-399: The church following his visit. The Arab Islamic conquest of Persia , in the 7th century, originally benefited Christians as they were a protected minority under Islam. However, from about the 10th century religious tension led to persecution once more. The influence of European Christians placed Near Eastern Christians in peril during the Crusades . From the mid-13th century, Mongol rule

3476-422: The context of migration, adding: "The terminology used at the domestic or international level on expulsion and deportation is not uniform but there is a clear tendency to use the term expulsion to refer to the legal order to leave the territory of a State, and removal or deportation to refer to the actual implementation of such order in cases where the person concerned does not follow it voluntarily." According to

3555-498: The countries in the Persian Gulf have even used this to deport their own citizens, paying the Comoros to give them passports and accept them. The period after the fall of the Iron Curtain showed increased deportation and readmission agreements in parts of Europe. During its invasion of Ukraine , the Russian Federation has perpetrated mass deportations of Ukrainian citizens to Russia and occupied territories. While independent numbers are difficult to come by, and depending on

3634-410: The country illegally, overstayed or broken the conditions of their visa , or otherwise lost their legal status to remain in the country may be administratively removed or deported. Since the 1980s, the world also saw the development of practices of externalization /"offshoring immigrants", currently being used by Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Some of

3713-441: The country; other reports put the figure at over half a million people. The "Country Information and Guidance: Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" report published in December 2014 by the U.K. Home Office states that there were 370,000 Christians in Iran. According to the Acts of the Apostles there were Persians , Parthians and Medes among the first new Christian converts at Pentecost . Since then there has been

3792-419: The crown and made the kingdom Christian ( c. 550). Very soon the rumour proved false, but people who appear to have been in the pay of Justinian persuaded Nushizad to endeavour to maintain his position. The actions of his son deeply distressed Khosrau; he had to take prompt measures, and sent the commander, Ram Berzin, against the rebels. In the battle which followed Nushizad was mortally wounded and carried off

3871-499: The data from the mid 1990s, all Protestant churches in Iran claimed an ethnic and Iranian membership of 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000. A 2015 study estimated (describing this as a conservative estimate) that there were 100,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical or Pentecostal Christians. Significant numbers of Muslim converts to Christianity in Iran are estimated to range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources. Other estimates put

3950-504: The data. In 2008, the central office of the International Union of Assyrians was officially transferred to Iran after being hosted in the United States for more than four decades. The government guarantees the recognized Christian minorities a number of rights (production and sale of non- halal foods), representation in parliament , special family law etc. According to US-based Barnabas Fund government intrusion, expropriation of property, forced closure and persecution, particularly in

4029-422: The degree of Russian coercion or force required to meet the definition of "deported", reported numbers range from tens of thousands to 4.5 million deportees. Dominican Republic deported more than 250,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent to Haiti in 2023. Alexander Berkman , Emma Goldman , C.L.R. James , Claudia Jones , Fritz Julius Kuhn , Lucky Luciano , and Anna Sage were all deported from

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4108-431: The double-tax of Shapur II in the 340s. The Sassanids feared the Christians as a subversive and possibly disloyal minority. In the early-5th century official persecution increased once more. However, from the reign of Hormizd III (457–459) serious persecutions grew less frequent and the Persian church began to achieve a recognized status. Through the Battle of Avarayr (451) and the resultant treaty of 484, for example,

4187-712: The early 20th century, once again Iran's stable and extant Christian population was boosted – this time due to the effects of the Assyrian genocide (1914–1924) and the Armenian genocide (1914–1923), as many tens of thousands of refugees poured in. However, both massacres drastically negatively affected Iran's Christian population as well, as Ottoman troops crossed the Iranian border in the later stages of World War I and massacred many tens of thousands of Armenians and Assyrians within Iran's borders as well, especially in West Azerbaijan Province , but also in adjacent provinces. Vibrant, huge and millennia-old native Christian communities in these parts of Iran were virtually shattered by

4266-408: The early days of Christianity. Some historians regard the Assyrian Church of Mart Maryam (St. Mary) in northwestern Iran, for example, as the second-oldest church in Christendom after the Church of Bethlehem in the West Bank. A Chinese princess, who contributed to its reconstruction in 642 AD, has her name engraved on a stone on the church wall. The famous Italian traveller Marco Polo also described

4345-413: The extant churches of the country while improving education and health-care. Unlike the older, ethnic churches, these evangelical Protestants began to engage with the ethnic Persian Muslim community. Their printing presses produced much religious material in various languages. Some Persians subsequently converted to Protestantism and their churches still exist within Iran (using the Persian language ). In

4424-442: The field. In his tent he was attended by a Christian bishop, probably Mar Aba I , the Patriarch of the Church of the East from 540 to 552. To this bishop Nushizad confessed his sincere repentance for having taken up arms against his father, an act which, he was convinced, could never win the approval of Heaven. Having professed himself a Christian he died, and the rebellion was quickly put down. Many old churches remain in Iran from

4503-530: The government. Voluntary repatriations were more common than deportations. In 1954, the executive branch of the U.S. government implemented Operation Wetback , a program created in response to public hysteria about immigration and immigrants from Mexico. Operation Wetback led to the deportation of nearly 1.3 million Mexicans from the United States. Nazi policies deported homosexuals , Jews, Poles , and Romani from their established places of residence to Nazi concentration camps or extermination camps set up at

4582-499: The initial years after the Iranian Revolution, have all been documented. On 2 February 2018, four United Nations human rights experts said that members of the Christian minority in Iran, particularly those who have converted to Christianity, are facing severe discrimination and religious persecution in Iran. They expressed their concerns over treatment of three Iranian Christians imprisoned in Iran. Iranian Christians tend to be urban, with 50% living in Tehran. Christianity remains

4661-532: The instructions of the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator , IOM, together with UNHCR, is primarily responsible for camp coordination and management in humanitarian emergencies. The organization is also active in stabilization, peacebuilding and development in the context of migration. As of 2023, the International Organization for Migration has 175 member states and 8 observer states. Member states: Observer States : Non-Member States : In 2003, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were critical of

4740-404: The large number of internally displaced persons and war refugees in Europe after the Second World War . The IOM was initially a logistics agency that organized the transport of nearly one million migrants in the 1950s and has undergone several name changes since its inception. The transition from the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME) in 1951 to

4819-404: The late 19th century the United States of America began designating "desired" and "undesired" immigrants, leading to the birth of illegal immigration and subsequent deportation of immigrants when found in irregular situations. Starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act , the US government has since deported more than 55 million immigrants, the majority of whom came from Latin-American countries. At

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4898-405: The nation's ability to survive as a unit. In 1976, the census reported that the Christian population of Iran holding citizenship there numbered 168,593 people, with most of them being Armenians . Due to the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, almost half of the Armenians migrated to the newly independent Armenia , but one estimate from 1999 placed

4977-470: The newer and smaller churches are drawn both from the traditionally Christian ethnic minorities and converts from a non-Christian background . The main Christian churches in Iran are: According to Operation World , there are between 7,000 and 15,000 members and adherents of the various Protestant , Evangelical , and other minority Christian denominations in Iran. In the 2016 census, the Statistical Center of Iran reported there were 117,700 Christians in

5056-404: The number as high as 310,000. Other estimates since 2000 have placed the number of Christians with Iranian citizenship as high as 109,415 in 2006. Significant immigration of Assyrians from Iraq has been recorded during this period, due to massacres and harassment in post-Saddam Iraq . However, most of those Assyrians in Iran do not have Iranian citizenship, and therefore are not included in

5135-411: The number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million". In May 2019 Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi expressed concern over Iranian Muslims converting to Christianity and said the Intelligence Ministry have dispatched agents active in "countering the advocates of Christianity" to areas where there is a potential for people to convert. In June 2024, it was reported that

5214-511: The numbers between 800,000 and 3 million. According to scholar Ladan Boroumand, "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world." According to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University , “ Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest”, and in 2018 "up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals." He adds that "recent estimates claim that

5293-417: The organization has earned it praise for flexibility in crisis situations, but also criticism for legal accountability in protection issues. Due to complementary mandates, IOM often cooperates with the UNHCR . For example IOM coordinates work in response to the situation in Venezuela through the Office of International Organization for Migration Director General's Special Envoy for the Regional Response to

5372-399: The religion during the time of Jesus . Through this time the Christian faith has always been followed by a minority of the population of Iran under its different state religions : Zoroastrianism in historical Persia , followed by Sunni Islam in the Middle Ages after the Arab conquest , then Shia Islam since the Safavid conversion of the 15th century . However, Christians comprised

5451-501: The second-largest non-Muslim minority religion in the country. A June 2020 online survey found a much smaller percentage of Iranians stating they believe in Islam, with half of those surveyed indicating they had lost their religious faith. The poll, conducted by the Netherlands-based GAMAAN (Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran), using online polling to provide greater anonymity for respondents, surveyed 50,000 Iranians and found 1.5% identified as Christians. Beginning in

5530-464: The spread Christianity in the Sassanian empire . In Rēw-Ardashīr ( Rishahr ; Yarānshahr), Persis, there was a church for the Romans and another one for Carmanians . Their hypothesized decisive role in the spread of Christianity in Persia and their major contribution to Persian economy has been recently criticized by Mosig-Walburg (2010). In the mid-3rd century, Greek-speaking deportees from north-western Syria were settled in Kashkar , Mesopotamia. After

5609-549: The targeting of at least 13 distinct ethnicities and 8 entire nations. Many historians have described Soviet deportations as ethnic cleansing , crimes against humanity , and/or genocide . An estimated 120,000 Serbs were deported from the Independent State of Croatia to German-occupied Serbia , and 300,000 fled by 1943. All countries reserve the right to deport persons without right of abode , even those who are longtime residents or possess permanent residency . In general, foreigners who have committed serious crimes, entered

5688-571: The then-capital Isfahan, which is still largely populated by Christian Armenians some four centuries later: the New Julfa district. Other hundreds of thousands of Christian Georgians and Circassians were furthermore deported and resettled during the same Safavid era and in the later Qajar era within Iran, although both communities are exclusively Muslim nowadays. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Protestant missionaries began to evangelize in Persia. They directed their operations towards supporting

5767-409: The title first of catholicos , and then patriarch , completely independent of any Roman / Byzantine hierarchy. Some regard Persia as having very briefly been officially Christian. Khosrau I , Shahanshah from 531 to 579, married a Christian wife, and his son Nushizad was also a Christian. When the king was taken ill at Edessa a report reached Persia that he was dead, and at once Nushizad seized

5846-779: The victims were indigenous Assyrians and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and of Orthodox Churches. In 1445 a part of the Sureth -speaking Church of the East entered into communion with the Catholic Church (mostly in the Ottoman Empire , but also in Persia). This group had a faltering start but has existed as a separate church since Pope Julius III consecrated Yohannan Sulaqa as Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon in 1553. Most Assyrian Catholics in Iran today are members of

5925-737: Was a relief to Persian Christians until the Ilkhanate adopted Islam at the turn of the 14th century. The Christian population gradually declined to a small minority. Christians disengaged from mainstream society and withdrew into ethnic ghettos (mostly Assyrian and Armenian speaking). Persecution against Christians revived in the 14th century; when the Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Timur (Tamerlane) conquered Persia, Mesopotamia , Syria , and Asia Minor , he ordered large-scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria. Most of

6004-432: Was charged with apostasy and executed in 1990. Mehdi Dibaj was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years before he was sentenced to death in 1993, but after international pressure, he was freed in 1994, although the death sentenced was not lifted. He was murdered the next year. In 2011, Youcef Nadarkhani , an Jammiat-e Rabbani pastor, was allegedly sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith. More recently

6083-509: Was marked with several large religious deportations, including that of Christians, Jews and Muslims. For instance, the Almoravid deported Christians from Spain to Morocco, with mass deportations taking place in 1109, 1126, 1130 and 1138. With the beginning of the Age of Discovery , deporting individuals to an overseas colony also became common practice. As early as the 16th century, degredados formed

6162-604: Was spoken by nearly all Iranians, combined with dissatisfaction at violence connected to the Iranian Revolution , led to substantial numbers of Iranian Muslims departing Islam and converting to Christianity. This took place both within Iran and abroad, among the Iranian diaspora . It is currently illegal to distribute Christian literature in the official language, Persian. Muslims who change their faith to Christianity are subject to societal and official pressure which may lead to

6241-609: Was the deportation of the Mards in Charax , near Rhages (Ray) by Phraates I . The 10,000 Roman prisoners of war after the Battle of Carrhae appear to have been deported to Alexandria Margiana (Merv) near the eastern border in 53 BC, who are said to married to local people. It is hypothesized that some of them founded the Chinese city of Li-Jien after becoming soldiers for the Hsiung-nu , but this

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