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The number of Christians in Iran is estimated at between 200,000 and 500,000, out of an overall population of nearly 78 million. Although the Islamic Republic’s constitution guarantees on paper that Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism are protected religions, the application of Sharia Law — or Islamic Law — relegates the members of the minority religions to second class citizens. The historical term for a subjugated non-Muslim religious minority member living in an Islamic society is dhimmi. In response to multiple FoxNews.com media queries about the convicted Iranian Christians, Hamid Babaei, head of the press office in the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in New York, declined to comment. Saba Farzan said the latest crackdown is further affirmation that the current talks between the U.S. and Iran on lifting economic sanctions in exchange for guarantees Iran won't pursue nuclear weapons can not proceed in good faith. They never made sense and never will, Saba Farzan said. The West can't discuss arms control with a leadership that oppresses religious minorities and human rights activists.