Iranian Cyber Police Raid Christian Blogger’s Home

Another Christian blogger is tortured to death

By Dan Wooding, Assist News Service

GORGAN, IRAN (ANS) — A number of plain-clothes authorities, said to be from Iranian Cyber Police forces, have raided a Christian convert’s home in Gorgan, the capital of Golestan Province, Iran, searching it thoroughly.

They had his arrest warrant with them but had no warrant giving authorities permission to search his home.
According to Mohabat News, reports indicate that the Iranian Cyber Police, known as FTA, raided residence of Alireza Ebrahimi, a Christian convert. They intended to arrest him as they had his arrest warrant. Also, the authorities in plain clothes searched the house without having the required permission.

The security authorities had already raided Mr. Ebrahimi’s home on May 30, 2012, confiscating his personal belongings including his personal laptop, articles, notes and books related to Christianity. Prior to this attack, they had planned to arrest him on May 27, but Mr. Ebrahimi was not present at his home.

“Speculating that he might have gone to his friends, the authorities raided the homes of two of his Christian friends — Saeed Mirzaei and Sadegh Mirzaei – also Christian converts, and arrested them charged them with ‘propagating against Islam’ and ‘action against national security,’” said Mohabat News. “No precise information is available on their present situation ever since.”

Alireza Ebrahimi converted to Christianity three years ago. He is a Christian blogger who has also been active evangelizing through social media like Facebook.

“Although there is a possibility that he might have left the country, the Iranian Cyber Police is still searching to arrest him,” added Mohabat News.

The Iranian Christian news agency said that “Mr. Ebrahimi used to evangelize through internet together with some other Christian converts including Saeed Mirzaei and Sadegh Mirzaei.”

The Cyber Police Deals with Anti-Religion Websites and it was not long ago that the Iranian Cyber Police Chief announced they were determined to deal with anti-religion websites.

In an interview with one of the domestic news services, commander Seyyed Kamal Hadiyanfar said, “We will definitely deal with anti-religion websites and weblogs and those who are after creating riots in cyberspace. Any group who targets people’s lives or wealth or is using cyberspace to interrupt religious relations and create division among religions will be dealt with.”

Mohabat News said that the Iranian Cyber Police which in short is known as “FTA” was launched on January 23, 2011 and is a special unit and subcategory of the official Iranian Police. The “FTA” in Persian stands for the police of information production and communication. The unit’s primary task is to monitor cyber-crimes and closely watch on Iranian bloggers’ activities.

A Christian blogger tortured to death
Sattar Beheshti, a laborer and blogger who was tortured to death, had been arrested without an arrest warrant by the Iranian cyber police as well. He had been arrested on October 30 for “action against national security through social media activities” and eventually tortured to death on November 3 in a police detention center.

Ahmadreza Radan, deputy commander of the Iranian police, said that he was “sorry” for the man’s death.