Page "Haik Hovsepian Mehr" Paragraph 4

Hovsepian spoke up for the rights of Christians in Iran.

In 1993 he was one of only two church leaders to refuse to sign a declaration stating that they would not allow Muslims or Muslim converts into their churches.

He also refused to sign a statement that Christians enjoyed full rights in Iran.

He compiled a detailed report on violations of religious freedom and invited Professor Reynaldo Pohl, the United Nations Special Representative to Iran, to visit the country and meet Protestant ministers and government officials to discuss these violations.

He also met the Ministry for Islamic Guidance for Minorities to call for the government to respect the rights of religious minorities set out in the 1979 Constitution.

Bishop Haik Hovsepian and the denomination he represented, the Assemblies of God, were ordered to comply with the following directives: ( 1 ) Church services could not be held in Persian, the official language of Iran ; ( 2 ) Church members must be issued membership cards and produce them upon attendance ; ( 3 ) Membership lists, complete with addresses, must be handed over to governmental authorities ; ( 4 ) Meetings must be confined to Sunday, not Friday the officially recognized day of worship ; ( 5 ) Only members could attend Sunday meetings ; and ( 6 ) New members could only be added to the membership and admitted to meetings once the Ministry of Information and Islamic Guidance had been notified.

Haik deliberately disobeyed and defiantly declared, " Never would he or his ministers bow down and comply with such inhumane and unjust demands " and that " our churches are open to all who want to come in .”