Iran Profile

Total Area:
1,648,000 sq. km

Population:
65,875,223 (July 2008 est.)

Ethnicity:
Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%

Language:
Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, Other 2%

Religion:
Muslim 98% (Shi'a 89%, Sunni 9%), other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i) 2%

Government Type:
Theocratic Republic

Capital:
Tehran

Population Below Poverty Line:
18% (2007)

Country Reports
Christian Converts Released from Prison Print E-mail
June 04, 2008

IranAn Iranian Christian convert, Homayon Shokohie Gholamzadeh (48), who was arrested on May 11 by police in the city of Shiraz (click here for more details), was released from prison on May 22, according to a May 29 report from Compass Direct. He was taken into custody with his wife and another couple of Christian converts before boarding a flight at Shiraz International Airport. On June 2, another Iranian Christian convert from Islam arrested on May 11, Mojtaba Hussein (21), was also released from prison, according to a June 3 report from Compass Direct. The authorities demanded valuable property deeds as bail collateral for the release of the two believers.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in Iran, go to the Iran Country Report.
 
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