Iranian Christian Jalal Darzi is bracing for the worst after authorities in Georgia rejected his asylum request, an increasing hardship for Iranian Christian converts hoping to escape persecution, as some have even been ordered to stop their religious services.

Darzi was rejected after his second interview with Georgian officials on the basis that he could not prove that he was a Christian. He says that the questions he was asked were oriented towards Orthodox Christianity, of which he had no knowledge. When he tried to talk about his beliefs, he was told he wasn't allowed.

“[The interviewer] said: 'When I have a question, you should answer.' Many times, she stopped me. I said: 'Let me speak!' But she stopped me, so I didn't continue. I felt like it was kind of a formality, that obviously they made a decision before the interview,” Darzi recently told investigators for joint report compiled by leading human rights organizations.

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Published Monday by Article 18, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors and Middle East Concern, the document highlights the plight of Iranian Christians fleeing persecution in their home country being rejected for asylum in nearby Georgia because their faith is found not to be “genuine.”

Despite the threat of persecution in Iran, the report states that Georgia's immigration services over the past three years accepted less than 1% of the more than 1,000 Iranians who applied for asylum.

“Asylum seekers, therefore, face an uncertain future, with little hope of being recognized as refugees but with few alternative options to access international protection,” the report says. “Several individuals whose asylum applications have been rejected in Georgia have already spent years as refugees in neighboring countries such as Turkey, and say they no longer know what to do or where to go.”

Almost one fifth of all individuals seeking asylum in Georgia are Iranians. While Turkey is the most common destination for Iranian asylum seekers, more Iranians have sought alternative countries such as Georgia as Turkey's conditions for minority faiths have worsened.

Despite the assertions of the Islamic Republic of Iran that it protects the rights of Christians, Christian converts and other followers of Christ continue to be subjected to arrest, in some cases, for “spreading a religion contrary to Islam.” In Iran, it is illegal to have a Farsi-language Bible or to convert from Islam to Christianity. It is illegal for people to even have contact with Christians who have converted from Islam. Those who are converts or are caught supporting converts are often sent to prison on national security charges.

Article 18 confirmed to The Christian Post that it personally knows the individuals featured in the report, noting that some studied with the Pars Theology Center, a Persian-language theology school in London.

The report notes that approximately 85% of Georgia's population identifies as Orthodox Christian. The religious freedom defense groups suggested that one of the reasons for the rejection of various applications is due to “intolerance of expressions of Christianity other than Georgian Orthodox”.

Another reason for rejection of applications, according to an anonymous asylum lawyer, is due to Georgia's developing relationship with Iran.

Pastor Reza Fazeli told investigators that the Georgian Secret Service summoned him in July 2024 for a meeting where he was told that Georgia's commitment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations outweighed its commitment to the Refugee Convention, according to the report.

“They said that the diplomatic relationship was more important: that it came first for them, and that 'secondly we must obey the rules on refugees and asylum seekers,'” said the priest.

During that meeting, the report states that Fazeli was ordered to close his church and “refrain from meeting with others in groups of more than five, and from conducting interviews with any news agencies.” The priest's church remained closed during the writing of the report.

Trade between Georgia and Iran officially amounted to $270 million in 2023, which could “unofficially” amount to $500 million, the report notes.

“So, for the Georgian government, Iran is very important, and if you are a small country and you have to make a good relationship with your big neighbor. [Iran]you cannot give refugee status to the citizens of that neighbor,” an unnamed lawyer is quoted as saying.

“At all times we go to court [for cases involving Iranian Christians]the [Georgian] Migration Department tells the court that Christians have no problem in Iran, and that if Christians return to Iran, they will not have any problem,” the lawyer continued.

As for Darzi, he was able to find work in Georgia and built relationships with his neighbors, but he can't stay because he can't get housing or insurance. He is currently trying to appeal the rejection of his asylum application, but said he is also making plans if he is ordered to leave.

After seeing his friends' pleas rejected, Darzi is skeptical and seeks to prepare for what may come next.

“I think I might have a year to decide. Maybe my first appeal will be in six months, and then the second in another six months. I'm trying to figure out where I should go because a lot of my friends have already left, and the guy, who first suggested that I come here has only a month to go [he found out] he has to leave the country,” he said. “I asked him, 'Where are you going?' And he said, 'I don't know.'”

The advocacy groups included several recommendations in the report, including demands for officials to recognize the “diversity of Christian faith” when evaluating whether an individual's conversion is genuine. In addition, the organizations recommended that officials refer to the reports of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran when “determining whether asylum seekers have a well-founded fear of persecution should they return.”

The groups are calling on Georgian authorities not only to recognize the persecution faced by Christians in Iran but also for the international community to “open new safe, legal avenues for resettlement”.