WASHINGTON, DC (ANS) -- Iranian security forces on May 21 raided an underground house church and arrested five Christian converts from Islam in the city of Karaji, Iran.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC), citing the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN), plainclothes security officers handcuffed and took the five Christians to an unknown location. The officers also confiscated several Bibles. Mr. Javad Abtahi, the leader of the church, is among the detained Christians.

ICC (www.persecution.org ) says this arrest comes soon after news that two Christian women were imprisoned in March.

Iranian officials imprisoned Marzieh and Maryam, who are also converts from Islam, sending them to the notorious Evin prison, where American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who returned home to Fargo, North Dakota on Saturday after an appeals court reduced her sentence and allowed her to leave the country, had been held for four months on spying charges.

To read the detailed report on Marzieh and Maryam, see:www.persecution.org/suffering/pressdetail.php?presscode=280.

In an e-mail news release, ICC said: "Our sources indicate that Marzieh and Maryam are still in prison and Iranian officials have not brought charges against them. Please help Marzieh and Maryam by signing our petition calling for their release: at www.persecution.org/suffering/petitions.php "

ICC's Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East, Jonathan Racho, stated: "Iran should refrain from invading Christian houses, arresting converts and confiscating their properties. Iran must allow its citizens to choose what religion to follow. We call upon Iranian officials to release the five Christians arrested in Karaji as well as Marzieh and Maryam."

Please pray for the five detained Christians as well as for Marzieh and Maryam. Pray for their immediate release from prison. Also pray for God to give them perseverance and comfort.

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.'