Wall Street Journal:

ran's leaders are preparing for another visit to New York this month for the U.N. General Assembly, but many of their citizens aren't going anywhere as they languish in the regime's prisons for political crimes. One notable case is Farshid Fathi, an evangelical Christian pastor who this week will spend his 35th birthday in jail.

The intelligence ministry arrested Pastor Fathi in December 2010. The father of two then spent a year in solitary and semi-solitary confinement in Evin prison's Ward 209, reserved for political cases. There he was interrogated for hours on end and subjected to psychological abuse, according to an Iranian Christian convert who has also spent time in prison for his beliefs, currently resides in the country and is familiar with Pastor Fathi's case.

Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have recently given the world a display of brutal vigilantism against minority religions. Pastor Fathi's case is a reminder that persecution also is conducted by long-established states, a truth to keep in mind as the world's leaders sit down to tea with Iran's dictators.

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