ATHENS DAY 8

Pireaus is the chiefest port of all Greece, since ancient times, and it is there that most of the refugees first enter the city of Athens. Mehrdad had con­vert­ed to Chris­tian­i­ty sev­er­al years before emi­grat­ing, a dan­ger­ous deci­sion to make in Iran. Decid­ing to wor­ship in a Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ty has to be done in some dis­cre­tion because it is not explic­it­ly ille­gal in Iran, it is pun­ish­able by prison and tor­ture to assem­ble as Chris­tians, and also to proselytize.

Before he had con­vert­ed to Chris­tian­i­ty, Mehrdad had been a suc­cess­ful con­trac­tor, sup­port­ing a wife and two chil­dren. His wife became influ­enced by a neigh­bor that was a Mul­lah, or reli­gious leader, who over time, con­vinced her to become more con­ser­v­a­tive in her beliefs. Mehrdad felt alien­at­ed from the Mus­lim faith. The gov­ern­ment in Iran hides behind Islam, in the name of absolute pow­er over its cit­i­zens. Search­ing for solace, Mehrdad start­ed prac­tic­ing Chris­tian­i­ty at a secret chapel, where they would hold pri­vate gospel, prayer, and music. Soon, how­ev­er, one of the mem­bers of this small chapel revealed them­selves as a gov­ern­ment infor­mant and deliv­ered Mehrad to the police. He was arrest­ed and held in jail for nine days. He was forced to sign a paper that said that he would nev­er wor­ship in a Chris­t­ian church again. The gov­ern­ment of Iran pays its cit­i­zens to inform on their neigh­bors, so adding to the pres­sure to con­form to its stan­dards. Any­one can be an infor­mant. When Mehrdad was released from jail, he found that the mon­ey in his bank account had been blocked, and he was unable to run his con­tract­ing busi­ness, so he was forced to dis­solve it. He found work as a taxi dri­ver. His wife refused to live with him. He con­tin­ued to go to the same church and wor­ship. He had noth­ing else. The same infor­mant turned him in again. He went back to jail where he was beat­en with cables. He still has scars all over his body. When he was released from prison, he was per­mit­ted to leave the coun­try and received a pass­port. He went immediately.

He flew into Turkey, and from Istan­bul, he trav­eled by bus to Edirne. From there he walked. He went by foot and crossed the jun­gle along the bor­der. He con­tin­ued to Thes­sa­loni­ki, still on foot, where he was arrest­ed and kept in a deten­tion cen­ter for three months. He applied for Greek asy­lum, and it was denied. He is now in the process of an appeal. Many peo­ple are flee­ing to Greece, hop­ing to find accep­tance. When a gov­ern­ment uses reli­gion to estab­lish dom­i­nance, a gov­ern­ment con­trols the love and fideli­ty of its cit­i­zens. Sim­ple faith becomes rebellion.