October 25-2013
Eddie Romero, an American Christian pastor, was arrested while on a one-man protest outside Evin prison Monday and is being expelled from Iran.
Normally, anyone protesting outside Evin is swiftly taken inside and not heard from for a long time. The treatment of Romero, an American with no ethnic link to Iran, may indicate some rethinking of that. The Islamic Republic is still suffering from sour relations with Canada prompted when Zahra Kazemi, a dual national photojournalist arrested a decade ago taking pictures outside Evin, turned up in the morgue a few days later.
Romero contacted his wife Tuesday by telephone from the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, said Bob Wilcox, the pastor who succeeded Romero in July at Hacienda Christian Fellowship Church in La Puente, California.
Romero said he would be put on a plane for the US in the next few days. He said he would prefer to stay in Iran to continue to bring attention to the detention of Iranian Christians.
Romero, founder of the organization Exodus8one, surrendered to guards who brought him inside the prison for questioning, according to an account by his daughter.
He had crossed into Iran from Turkey October 14 as part of a tourist group, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
Romero left the group last Thursday and reappeared Monday at the prison, chanting “Let my people go,” his daughter, Sarah Yetter, told the newspaper.
He broadcast about six minutes of his protest and eventual detention on the Internet using a smart phone hidden in his pocket, Yetter said.
“He was heard being questioned about where he was from by someone in English, and he was heard repeating his appeal for the prisoners seven more times,” Yetter said.
Guards could be heard seeking an English translator when the phone transmission halted abruptly, she said.
Shahrokh Afshar, a pastor for The Iranian Church On The Way in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, said the guards sounded confused in the recording but remained respectful.
“They weren’t sure if he was there protesting or if he wanted to visit someone,” Afshar said.
Romero hoped to raise awareness about Christian prisoners Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American, Farshid Fathi, Mosta-fa Bordbar and Ali-Reza Seyyed-ian. All were imprisoned because of their faith, Afshar said.
In 2008, Romero was arrested in China during the Beijing Olympics after demanding the release of five Chinese Christians. He painted on the walls of a hotel room and then went on the run for 21 days before surrendering in Tiananmen Square. Chinese authorities held Romero for approximately 24 hours before putting him on a flight home, Yetter said.
