Mehdi Dibaj, who converted from Islam to Christianity about forty-five years ago, had been imprisoned in Sari, northeastern Iran, from 1983 to 1994. In late June, another evangelical minister, Tateos Michaelian was shot and killed. He was acting chair of the Council of Protestant Ministers in Iran, a post he assumed following the murder of Bishop Hovasepian mehr. Pastor Mehdi Dibaj was killed a week later in early July. There was no evidence of a thorough official investigation into the killings, and Christian sources held the government responsible for the deaths.
Iranian officials claim that evangelical churches have political agendas besides worship.
There was also no let up in the persecution of the Bahai minority, which is not recognized as a religion under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and is referred to as a heretical sect. In February a judge released two Muslims who had killed a Bahai citing a religious authority to the effect that Bahai blood may be shed with impunity. According to Amnesty International, Haji Mohammad Ziaie, a Sunni Muslim leader from Bandar-Abbas, known to be critical of government policies, was found dead in suspicious circumstances in July. He had been summoned for interrogation by security forces in Laar, Fars province on July 15, and he was never been seen alive again. These incidents appear to illustrate the growing strength of militant forces within the Islamic leadership.