Iran is also a democracy, and Ahmadinejad became its president by popular vote.
Below is a subsection of a main article (ex Wikipedia) on Iran. You will see that Christians are allowed in Iran.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Iran
en.wikipedia.org
Ethnic diversity of Iran
Languages of IranIran is a mosaic of ethnic minorities cemented by the Persian culture. The minorities of the country maintains its local customs and traditions, such as the Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Persian Jews and Armenians amongst many others. The latter two also reserves under Law the rights to consume alcohol in contrast to the majority of the Persian and Azeri Shia Population. The Bahá'í Faith is the second largest religion in Iran, but it is not recognized by the government and its followers are largely persecuted. Persians constitute the majority of the population and are the founders of Ancient Persia. The native speakers of Iranian dialects in Iran (70%) are ethnically and linguistically "Aryan", a term adopted in remote antiquity by speakers of the dialects as part of a national identity meaning noble/spiritual/elevated, as well a racial designation. The majority of the population speaks one of the Iranian languages, including the official language, Persian. The major ethnic groups and minorities include the Persians (51%), Azeris (24%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Baluchi (2%), Lurs (2%), Turkmens (2%), Qashqai, Armenians, Persian Jews, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, Tats, Pashtuns and others (1%).[15] The number of native speakers of Persian in Iran is estimated at around 40 million.[16] However, the Iranian language and its various dialects (est.150-200 million speakers) exceeds the Iranian borders and are spoken throughout western China, southern Russia, and central Turkey.
Iran's literacy rate is 80%, with the population increasing dramatically during the latter half of the 20th century to reach about 70 million by 2006. More than 2/3 of the population are under the age of 30, In recent years, Iran appears to have taken control of its high population growth rate and many studies show that Iran's population growth rate will continue to decline until it will reach replacement level and stabilize by the year 2050 (100 million).[17] [18] [19]
The Iranian diaspora is estimated at over three million people who emigrated to North America, Europe, South America and Australia, mostly after the Iranian revolution in 1979. Iran also hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with more than one million refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq. Official government policy and social factors aim towards repatriation.[20] [21] [22]
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Most Iranians are Muslims; 90% belong to the Shi'a branch of Islam the official state religion, and about 9% belong to the Sunni branch (many of them are Kurds). The remainder are non-Muslim religious minorities, mainly Bahá'ís, Mandeans, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians.
[15]
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The latter three minority religions are officially recognized and protected, and have reserved seats in the Majles (Parliament). In contrast, the Bahá'í Faith, the largest religious minority in Iran, is not officially recognized, and has been persecuted during its existence in Iran. Since the 1979 revolution the persecution has increased with executions and the denial of access to higher education. More recent persecution towards Bahá'ís has led to the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights stating on March 20, 2006 that "this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating." [23]
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