The Iranian government is planning to convert a Christian church it illegally confiscated years ago into a mosque despite protests.
According to the Foreign Desk, the regime illegally seized the Assyrian community’s Chaldean Catholic Church in western Tehran two years ago. Church leaders were informed then that the property would be used to build an Islamic prayer hall.
Despite protests, the government has refused to return the church and is moving forward with the transformation.
According to the National Council of Resistance in Iran, Jonathan Bet-Kelia, who represents the Christian minority in the Iranian Parliament, told a state-run newspaper that he recently voiced concern about the matter to a special assistant to President Hassan Rouhani on ethnic minorities affairs. The assistant, Ali Younesi, said nothing could be done about the confiscation.