Iran: Historic Christian Cemetery demolished in Kerman Province

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

KERMAN PROVINCE, IRAN (ANS) -- News of the destruction of a 200 year old historic cemetery in the Ghal'e-dokhtar area of Kerman province, south-east of the Iranian capital of Tehran, by agents of the Iranian government, has just reached the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)

A man points to the destruction of gravestone in the cemetery
According to the Iranian Christian News Service, Mohabat News (http://mohabatnews.com), the Islamic republic's agents had first of all destroyed an historic church building in Kerman, and now they have also "completely demolished" the Christian cemetery.

"Based on this report, local people estimate that this cemetery has existed for more than two hundred years," said a spokesperson for Mohabat News.

The news service of a cultural heritage organization quoted Mohammad Mehdi Afzali, head of public relations for the Cultural Heritage organization of Kerman, as saying, "Destruction of this cemetery was conducted as part of a project by the municipality and Cultural Heritage organization, to release lands around Ghal'e-Dokhtar and Ghal'e Ardeshir."

He added, "After the reports and photos of this destruction were published by news services, a team of experts of the Cultural Heritage office of Kerman was sent out to the cemetery to prepare an expert report."

The spokesperson for Mohabat News said, Of course, Mr. Afzali denied this report in an interview with the pro-regime news service, IRNA on Wednesday."

Concerning this issue, Mr. Movahedi, Deputy Director of the General Office of Cultural Heritage of Kerman said, "The historical cemetery of Christians is located in the territory of Ghal'e-Dokhtar and as far as the territory of monuments is concerned, it is necessary for all the places located in the territory of Ghal'e-Dokhtar to receive proper attention."

Mr. Movahedi added that he is "still waiting" for the report of the experts and reliable information on this historical cemetery and specific results would be announced in the coming week.

Prior to this report, a historical church building in Kerman, which was registered as a national monument, was brought down using bulldozers. The church building was registered as a national monument in 2009 and so had to be protected and restored.

"However, it was completely destroyed overnight using heavy machinery for unknown reasons," said the Mohabat News spokesperson.

"Also, according to published reports, a historic English cemetery in Boushehr port, which was also used as a burial ground for Armenian minorities of Boushehr, is in a tragic condition in which all the crosses have been taken out of the ground.

"Day after day it seems that this historical graveyard is approaching complete destruction. Several attempts to contact officials of Cultural Heritage of Boushehr to obtain further information on this cemetery remain unanswered."
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