Hon Speaker, after months of study and investigation on the current situation and harassment of Christian converts in Iran, a group of Christian members of the British parliament released the outcome of their studies in the form of a report.
The report explains the harassment and persecution of Iranian Christian converts to be the most serious of its kind. According to the report, evangelical Christians face constant threats, arrest, harassment, unjust courts and are forced to pay heavy bails. Parts of the report are based on direct interviews with eye witnesses and Christian converts who were victims of persecution by the Islamic regime of Iran, and other sections are taken from reliable Iranian and foreign sources and organisations.
Members of the British parliament have called on the British government, European parliament, United Nations, UN, and other related institutions to require the Islamic government of Iran to fulfil its responsibility for implementing its legal commitments to honour Christians and religious minorities' rights. They also pleaded for them to support the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran to claim rights of Iranian Christians.
Mr Ahmad Shahid, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, said in his report that Christians, Sunni Muslims and Dervishes face discrimination and harassment in Iran, and that 300 Christians had been arrested since mid- 2010.
Mr John Baird, Canadian Minister of foreign affairs, also strongly criticised the violation of human rights in Iran during the international interparliamentary summit held in Quebec.