Beleaguered Christians in and around Iran and Afghanistan will be able to access Christian teaching at home through the new Farsi-language Christian satellite television channel, which launches on Monday, writes Abigail Frymann.

Iran's estimated 175,000 Christians - mainly from historic Catholic and eastern Orthodox traditions - face increasing persecution, and conversion to Christianity from other faiths is deemed unacceptable. The new channel, SAT-7 Pars, put out by Iranian Christian Broadcasting (ICB) and the Arabic-language Christian television station SAT-7 and broadcast from Cyprus, will air a mix of Iranian-made soap operas, chat shows and women's and children's programmes that reflect an ecumenical Christian ethos, as well as overtly Christian teaching. SAT-7 is funded by Catholics and Protestants from around the world and its UK board members include the Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, and Lord Alton MP.

Large numbers of mothers, including some Muslims, have written to SAT-7's Cyprus-based Arabic channel praising the values behind its children's programming.