A 62-year-old Iranian-Armenian pastor serving a 10-year prison sentence for leading a house-church has been acquitted and released after just over a year in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Anooshavan Avedian was released last night, after his appeal was accepted at a hearing yesterday afternoon at Branch 21 of the Appeal Court of Tehran. 

Anooshavan spent just over a year in prison, having been summoned to serve his sentence on the very same day that another Iranian-Armenian pastor, Joseph Shahbazian, was released from his own 10-year sentence.

The pastor’s first day in prison coincided with the visit of Iran’s former president, Ebrahim Raisi, to New York, while his last day in prison coincided with the visit of Raisi’s successor, Masoud Pezeshkian. However, Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, warned against assuming the release was linked, and added: “For Anooshavan to have spent even one day in prison was unjust, especially now that he has been found to have committed no crime. We hope that he will be fully compensated for all that he has endured.” 

Last year, the UN Human Rights Committee called on Iran to “immediately release those imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief”, and ensure they are provided with “adequate compensation”.

Meanwhile, Article18 called on the Iranian authorities to immediately release Anooshavan, among other Christian prisoners of conscience, as part of our latest joint submission to the UN in July. 

At least 21 other Christians are currently serving sentences related to their faith, including at least 10 in Evin Prison.

Among them is Hakop Gochumyan, an Armenian citizen who is serving his own 10-year sentence for allegedly engaging in “deviant proselytising”, and who accompanied Anooshavan to the Evin Prison gate yesterday.  

Anooshavan’s appearance at the Tehran appeal court came after the Supreme Court accepted his latest petition for a retrial, lodged in April 2024, having previously denied all other petitions.