According to religious freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Sharon Retreat Centre was served with the evacuation notice on 7th March and its caretakers were given only three days remove all of their belongings and hand the centre over to the government.
The centre is located in Karaj and sits on 10,000 square metres of land and is worth $2,200,000.
The Council of AoG Churches in Iran acquired it in the early 1970s for use as a retreat for church ministers, for youth camps, and for other church functions.
This is not the first time retreat centre has been the subject of much scrutiny.
CSW said in 2005, the centre was raided by security agents during a Council Synod meeting, and all the clergy on the Council were arrested.
The church leaders were interrogated overnight in a detention centre near Karaj and forced to sign an agreement stating they would comply with the government’s demands to limit church activities.
The charity added that one article of this agreement stated that they would use the retreat centre only for Armenian and Assyrian church members with the prior permission of security officials.
Also in 2015, a Revolutionary Court issued a confiscation order for the property and Iran’s government has accused the centre of being funded by the CIA to “infiltrate and undermine the country through evangelistic…
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