Escape From Terror.

Author and Speaker Sama Salimi Sadi.

Introduction.

It is my great pleasure to introduce my dear friend, Sama Salimi Sadi. The Lord brought our paths together, and I was deeply moved by her powerful testimony. She has written a book sharing her remarkable journey, and I was truly blessed to receive a copy. I felt led by the Lord to share her story on our ministry blog, and, God willing, we are also planning to have her speak at our church gathering toward the end of August. So, make yourself comfortable and take a few moments to read this inspiring and powerful testimony.

Life In Iran.

In an interview with The 700 Club, author Sama Salimi Sadi describes the extreme oppression faced by ordinary citizens under Iran’s Islamic regime since the 1979 revolution. The government tightly controls every part of life, including politics, finances, and social matters. This control severely restricts personal freedoms and enforces strict Sharia laws.

Sister Sama highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis. She notes that peaceful protests against the regime are met with brutal violence, which she refers to as a modern massacre. She calls on Western democracies to see that the Iranian people are victims and hostages of the regime, not its supporters. She urges the international community to take action.

Targeted Persecution Of the Church.

Sister Sama shares the harsh reality of growing up as the daughter of a Christian pastor who converted from Islam. Public Christian ceremonies like baptism or ordination are banned, and running house churches is seen as anti-government activity. Her family faced constant retaliation from the government. From the age of six, she witnessed terrifying raids on her home where security forces seized religious items and physically abused her parents.

To avoid directly targeting Christians on paper, the regime often labels believers with politically charged accusations like Zionist to justify their harsh treatment.

Arbitrary Detention and the turning point.

The oppression peaked in 2009 after her family tried to renovate an abandoned Anglican church, attracting intense scrutiny from the intelligence police. Sister Sama recounts the frightening experience of her father being secretly detained for a month, leaving the family unsure if he was alive. During this time, she was blindfolded and aggressively interrogated. Her father endured three months of solitary confinement in a small, windowless, unsanitary cell.

When he was finally released on bail, doctors warned that another imprisonment would likely cost him his life. This served as the final push for the family to plan their escape.

A Daring Escape and Continual Hope.

In 2016, the family made a bold escape from Iran into Turkey, where they registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations. Sister Sama chronicles this difficult journey of survival and faith in her book, Sama: A Modern Exodus. Despite the severe persecution she faced, she remains devoted to supporting Iran’s underground church through specialized ministry work. The interview concludes with a strong message of hope, emphasizing that despite intense persecution, Iran now has the fastest-growing Christian population in the world, with over a million citizens quietly turning away from the enforced state religion.

Except provided by the Word and Grace ministries—www.wordandgrace.blogspot.com