E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.2 page 18 the community concerned. The other churches, outside Tehran, are being pressured not to use the Persian language and not to accept Muslim converts. 75. According to non-governmental sources, the proportion of Muslim converts, amounting to at least 15,000 persons in the Protestant communities, although constituting a phenomenon of long standing, is increasing, but in a clandestine way. As a general rule, in the light of their interpretation of Islam, the authorities prohibit all forms of proselytism and conversion of a Muslim to another religion, and this explains the limitations placed on the religious activities of the Protestant churches and the closure or restrictions to which some places of worship have been subjected. 76. With regard to church property, in some cases, such as that of the Universal Church, the authorities had confiscated property (apartments, hospitals, institutes for the blind, schools and student hostels) since the Revolution and had frozen bank assets. 77. However, the Protestant representatives stressed that the authorities had begun to improve the situation in some respects, especially since the murder of the Protestant pastors Dibaj, Hovsepian and Michaelian. In particular, the restrictions on travel outside Iran had apparently been lifted for several Protestant pastors. (b) In other fields 78. In addition to the above-mentioned specific situations of Protestants in the religious field, the latter are also facing the situations reported in the case of the recognized religious minorities, particularly in the educational, professional and judicial fields. (c) Security of person 79. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur noted the traumatism caused to the Christian and Protestant communities by the murder of three Protestant pastors in 1994: the Rev. Tatavous Michaelian, Acting President of the Council of Protestant Churches of Iran; the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj, Minister of the Church of the Assemblies of God; and the Rev. Haik Hovsepian Mehr, President of the Council of Evangelical Ministers of Iran and Secretary-General of the Church of the Assemblies of God (see the urgent appeal of 3 August 1994 and the communication of 18 August 1994 addressed to the Iranian authorities by the Special Rapporteur in his preceding report E/CN.4/1995/91, paras. 63-65). 80. The Special Rapporteur was able to speak freely for almost five hours at Evin prison with the three persons charged with murder or aiding and abetting in murder: Farahnaz Anami, Batoul Vaferi Kalateh and Maryam Shahbazpoor. These persons, who were interviewed separately, said that they belonged to the Mojahedin organization and were responsible for the murder of pastor Michaelian, which that organization had ordered with a view to striking a blow at the Iranian State, which the international community would condemn as being responsible for those murders. They also indicated that the murders of pastors Dibaj and Hovsepian had been committed by another unit of the Mojahedin organization.