The Asian Chronicle

IRAN UPDATE Volume 6, Issue 12  |   December 30, 2017 Spotlight A message from CHRI's Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi Since President Rouhani first took office in 2013, he and high-level members of his cabinet have used Twitter, which is filtered in Iran, to prop up the image of the Islamic Republic. This holiday season the message came from Foreign Minister Zarif, who  tweeted  a “very happy and peaceful Christmas to all.” His words don’t apply to  Christian converts  in Iran, who are arrested and sentenced to long prison terms for their faith. Iran’s  Constitution  recognizes Christians as an official religious minority, but the state continues to persecute the faith, especially converts, as a threat to the prevailing Shia order. Zarif’s tweet doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground in Iran; the fact that  11 converts  were arrested during the course of two months in 2017 can’t be hidden by seemingly warm messages on social media. It’s lon