Digital Empowerment: Data Activism for Persecuted Iranian Christians

Fred Petrossian* – This paper was presented at the conference Digital Religion III: Challenges of Communication and Excommunication, organized jointly by the University of Silesia in Katowice, Palacký University Olomouc, and the University of Lodz.

Introduction

Since the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, Iranian citizens have faced continuous censorship and repression. This has disproportionately affected women and religious minorities, depriving them of fundamental rights. Repression began immediately after the revolution, with incidents such as the murder of a Christian convert pastor, Arastoo Sayyah, in Shiraz just eight days after the revolution’s triumph.[1] This murder, occurring less than 200 hours after the revolution, set the tone for a decades-long campaign of persecution that continues to this day.

The confiscation of Anglican (Episcopal) church hospitals and Bahá’í properties, the kidnapping and murder of Bahais’ leaders,[2] and the execution of Habib Elghanian ,a prominent Iranian Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist who served as the president of the Tehrain Jewish Society, are just a few examples of persecution of religious minorities in early months after the triumph of Islamists. [3]

In the early months of the revolution, the ruling Ayatollahs imposed the hijab on women,[4] marking the beginning of a dual system of gender and religious apartheid. This created an intersectionality of discrimination where a Baloch Sunnite woman or a Kurdish Yarsani woman can face three layers of marginalization: gender, religion, and ethnicity.

The Islamic Republic’s constitution states Twelver Ja’afari Shia Islam as the official religion and, besides Islam, recognizes only three religious minorities: Jews, Zoroastrians, and ethnic Christians, such as Armenians and Assyrians. Nevertheless, these groups are still treated as second-class citizens.

Millions of other Iranians, including Yarsanis, Bahá’ís, Christian converts, Mandaeans, and Zikris, are not even recognized as religious minorities by the state.[5] These citizens have become “ghosts” in their own homeland, deprived of basic human rights. Even some Muslim communities such as Sunnis and Dervishes face discrimination due to their beliefs.[6] It is therefore more accurate to refer to these groups as “persecuted communities of belief.”

The Iranian state seeks to control all aspects of life, from how people dress to what religion they follow. Despite the state’s monopoly on traditional media and the harsh repression of dissent and civil society actors, such as journalists and cyberactivists, digital tools such as blogging, Twitter, and YouTube have become vital spaces for resistance, raising awareness, and self-expression. In the context of digital religion and data activism, there is a stark contrast between the concerns of the Global North and the Global South.

This article explores how Iran’s persecuted Christian convert community, almost most are from Muslim origin, which has grown from a few hundred members before the revolution to several hundred thousand—possibly even a million according to some estimates[7]—can use data and digital technologies to empower themselves, resist oppression, and amplify their voices. These technologies may also foster democratization within the religious minority itself and enhance their knowledge and abilities at different levels. This shift reflects a movement from a paradigm of “power over” to one of “power within”, from domination to a deepened sense of self-worth and self-knowledge.

It is essential to recognize that there is no single, homogenous definition of the “Global South”—in fact, there are multiple “Global Souths.” While each oppressed community, such as Christian converts, faces unique challenges and develops specific strategies for resistance, common elements exist across these groups. These elements include what Johan Galtung describes as “triple violence”—physical or direct violence, structural or legal violence, and cultural violence[8]—as well as Patricia Hill Collins’ “matrix of domination,” includes four domains: structural (laws), hegemonic (culture and media), disciplinary (enforcement of laws), and interpersonal (individual experiences of oppression).[9]

While physical and legal aspects of domination, such as imprisonment, execution, confiscations, and discriminatory laws related to the job market and heritage, are visible and traceable in many cases, cultural and interpersonal aspects are less visible. Digital platforms can help to reveal and correct these less visible aspects to some extent within specific country.

Divergent Priorities: Global North vs. Global South

The priorities surrounding data activism differ significantly between the Global North and the Global South. In the Global North, concerns focus on data colonialism (the exploitation of data by tech corporations), data protection, and privacy rights.[10] By contrast, in Iran and some other lands of the Global South, the primary threat comes from oppressive state entities leveraging personal data for control and repression. “Data colonialism, or what some refer to as the ‘Data Grab,'[11] manifests differently when the immediate adversary is an oppressive state where state can use data against its own citizens but a democratic sovereign state in the Global South may prioritize controlling its own AI and data to prevent domination by corporations based in the Global North.”

Data harm, as outlined in taxonomies like Data Justice,[12] includes discrimination, surveillance, exclusion from resources, and structural injustice. Ironically, the Islamic Republic has perpetuated these harms for 45 years, with or without the use of modern digital tools. The state, rather than tech corporations, has been the primary agent of discrimination, injustice, and repression.

The link between Frankenstein and AI is explored in works like “Poor Technology” (Levi Checketts)[13] and “God-Like: A 500-Year History of AI” (Kester Brewin).[14] The creature turned against its creator, much like the Islamic Revolution, which was initially seen by the masses as a beacon of hope for freedom and justice but immediately turned into an oppressive regime and the majority of the Iranians, in particular women and communities of faith such Christian converts have been subjected to greater repression.

Amid censorship and media control, Iranian citizens, including Christians, have turned to digital tools such as blogs, YouTube, and Twitter to express themselves, raise awareness, and access uncensored information.[15]

Data as a Tool for Empowerment

Christian converts or Persian-speaking Christians face significant challenges, including limited access to physical church buildings, bookstores, and teaching centers, as well as attacks on their house churches. Under these state-imposed circumstances, digital platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Signal, and YouTube have become essential for connection, community-building, and religious outreach, supplementing Christian satellite TV broadcasts.[16]

Data activism, as discussed in Data Grab,[17] serves multiple purposes for marginalized communities, including:

Awareness-Raising: Highlighting disparities in resources and opportunities.
Challenging Power Structures: Questioning entrenched systems of control.
Accountability: Holding authorities and media outlets accountable for bias or misrepresentation.

A stark example of state-enforced cultural violence is the exclusion of certain religious minorities, such as Yarsanis, Bahá’ís, and Christian converts, from official population surveys. Even notable media outlets like BBC Persian omitted mention of Christian converts in their 2019 population statistics analysis of religious minorities within the state’s population survey, despite evidence of arrests and killings of their leaders.[18] In response, converts and other overlooked minorities can employ counter-data activism [19] to:

Produce alternative reports which highlight the discrimination and repression
Challenge biased media narratives and state’s population survey
Demand more accurate representation.

By doing so, these minorities can raise awareness about their situation, call for accountability from media outlets regarding biased articles, question how the structure of state discourse is reflected in media narratives, and defy “cultural violence”(Galtung) or hegemonic domain in matrix of domination (Hill Collins).

The state not only excludes data of some religious minorities but also erases the existence of already recorded data in population statistics. For instance, some Baloch individuals have had their national identity cards confiscated and were asked to provide DNA tests to prove their Iranian citizenship.[20]

AI and Digitalization for Community Building

Artificial Intelligence and digital platforms offer many opportunities for marginalized communities, including increasing accessibility to information and services beyond language barriers. For instance, platforms like spf.io caption and translate live events, [21] making them accessible to Persian-speaking Christians. AI and digital tools can also empower Christian communities to:

Christian converts within Iran, defied the ruling state and used digital platforms like social media to launch the “Place to worship” campaign [22] by publishing short videos on social media, asking the government a simple question “Where a Christian should go to pray and not to be sent to prison? They both raised awareness about both physical and structural violence (Galtung) and domains of structural and disciplinary domains in matrix of domination (Hill Collins)

Raising awareness and support for jailed Christians by launching “adopt a Prisoner”[23] to encourage individuals and groups such as churches to remember them and even advocate for them publicly. Besides these advocacy activities and campaigns.

Such activities is possible by data gathering and analysis of the prisoners,charges they face and layers of discrimination in society.

Among other products and services that digital platforms may offer, can be mentioned:

Create digital archives of persecution and achievements, for instance an interactive map of schools and hospitals built by Christians and their impact will not only put in value the contribution of a religious minority for common good but erasing the “internalized oppression” or “worthlessness “ [24] among the marginalized groups challenging the interpersonal domian in matrix of domination (Hill Collin)
Community activities such as a telegram group discussion on specific topics such as the environment
Helping with online courses, training, and consultancy from helping Christians who had post traumatic jail experience, challenging the interpersonal domain in matrix of domination (Hill Collin),

to teach them online and offline security measures

Analyze patterns of government hostility and hate speech.
Increase transparency and accountability within religious organizations, preventing authoritarian leadership.
Fact-checking and analyzing the teaching and preaching of “instant experts,” “whose rise was facilitated by internet platforms, allows people to rise to positions of influence through their perceived expertise online while bypassing time-honored training.”[25]

AI and data can also be used to analyze church spending, enhance community efficiency, and embrace pluralism. As explored in Data Feminism, “the most complete knowledge comes from synthesizing multiple perspectives, with priority given to local, Indigenous, and experiential ways of knowing.”[26] In other words, rather than pastors and priests becoming new Ayatollahs who think and decide for the entire community, church members can bring their experiences and expertise into account. This approach fosters a more inclusive and democratic decision-making process within the Christian community.

Other religious minorities also use digital platforms successfully. For instance, Bahá’ís have utilized virtual universities due to the state’s ban on their education in traditional universities[27], and Yarsanis have employed “social media as an important tool for presenting religious and social aspects of the Yarsani people.”[28]

Conclusion

By harnessing the power of data and AI, persecuted Christian communities in Iran can shift from being subjects of “power over” to agents of “power within.” This digital empowerment not only aids their resistance against state oppression but also strengthens community bonds, preserves cultural heritage, and fosters accountability and democratization within religious organizations. Christian converts can defy the “geography of oppression,”[29] with its state-imposed laws and invisible boundaries of exclusion.

Digital platforms such as apps make Christian literature and the Bible accessible to Iranian citizens, underscoring the central role of these texts in their identity and religious practices. However, the fact that more than one-third of the 166 Christians arrested in 2023 were charged with possessing or distributing Bibles in Persian [30] demonstrates both the risk and importance of this access.

As Zeynep Tufekci discusses in Twitter and Tear Gas, digital platforms offer immense potential for resistance but also face limitations. Governments have adapted by using misinformation, distraction, and surveillance. Tufekci argues that lasting social change, like that seen in civil movements such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s, often requires building relationships over time—something digital platforms alone may not easily achieve. The sustainability of these networks depends on continuous interaction and negotiation to transform them into durable social and political structures.

This article goes beyond the experiences of Christian converts to highlight how intertwined the struggles of various religious and ethnic minorities are in Iran. The liberty of one group cannot be achieved without the freedom of others. Movements like the 2009 Green Movement and the more recent Woman, Life, Freedom protests illustrate the Iranian public’s creative use of digital tools for resistance. Christian converts and other marginalized communities can learn from these examples to amplify their voices, challenge oppression, and assert their rightful place in society—not merely as victims, but as agents of change and resilience.[31]

References

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31 Zeynep Tufekci, “Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest,” 2017

*Fred Petrossian is a veteran journalist and researcher with extensive experience in media and civil society. He previously served as the Iran Editor for Global Voices, co-founded the award-winning March 18 Movement, and was the Online Editor-in-Chief for Radio Free Europe’s Persian service. Fred has spoken internationally on civil society and citizen media at various media and academic institutions, including Yale University, and his work has appeared in international outlets such as The Washington Post. Currently, he collaborates on projects related to religious minorities, including advocacy initiatives with the Christian organization Article 18