Congress is planning to end an expense-free humanitarian program that grants heavily persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in Iran a safe avenue to apply for refugee status.
According to International Christian Concern, Congress may end the “Lautenberg Amendment,” which has received bipartisan support for more than 20 years. It fears that without the program many persecuted Iranian Christians unable to flee their country will face imprisonment or execution.
Earlier this year, Andrew Johnston, advocacy director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and Mansour Borji, pastor of the Iranian Church in London, told the European Parliament’s Iran Delegation the situation was “dire” for the Evangelical Church in Iran.
Pastor Borji gave an account of the “appalling” conditions in which Christians were being held because of their faith by the Iranian authorities.
More than 250 Christians are known to have been arrested and detained across Iran since June 2010.
The Lautenberg Amendment has rescued persecuted Christians, Baha’is and Jews from Iran since 2003 by establishing a clear standard for processing refugee applications submitted by religious minorities.
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