Grandfather with cancer among four Christians arrested in Neyshabur 19 July 2022 News A grandfather in his late fifties who has cancer is one of four Christian converts still detained more than three weeks after their arrest at a house-church gathering in a conservative Shia Muslim region of northeast Iran. Gholamreza Keyvanmanesh is being held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, a holy city for Shiites, two hours’ drive from Neyshabur, where the arrests took place on Sunday 26 June. The other three – two women and another man in their forties and fifties, whose names cannot be reported – are being held in Neyshabur Prison. Article18 understands the four Christians are facing charges of “acting against national security through propaganda against the regime” and “insulting the sacred” (blasphemy). At least another eight Christians were also present at the meeting and though they were not detained by the arresting agents – members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who are becoming ever more frequently involved in arrests of Christians – they were told to soon expect a summons for further questioning. They were also forced to sign commitments to refrain from gathering with other Christians. Bibles and mobile phones were among the items confiscated from the church members. Little more is known about what took place, though there have been suggestions that other members of the church who were not present at the meeting, and family members who have tried to follow up their cases with the IRGC, have also been threatened with detention. It has also been reported elsewhere that the three Christians being held in Neyshabur have been told they will be detained for at least two months. While Iran claims to provide religious freedom for its citizens, including Christians, who are among the recognised minority faiths in Iran, converts to Christianity are not recognised as Christians and are instead vilified and labelled members of “enemy groups of a ‘Zionist’ cult”. Converts are banned from attending the churches of Armenian and Assyrian Christians, who are themselves only permitted to teach in their own ethnic tongues and not to seek new members. Converts therefore meet together in private residences, but these are frequently raided and members charged with belonging to “illegal” groups with “anti-security” purposes, even though in reality the meetings are no different from church gatherings anywhere else in the world. In recent years, dozens of Iranian Christians have been handed prison sentences of up to 15 years on such trumped-up charges.
Converts face second trial on identical charges 11 July 2022 News Left to right: Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh. Three house-church members already facing five years in prison for “engaging in propaganda and education of deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia” have today been informed they must return to court next week to face a second trial on identical charges. Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh, who were only sentenced in April, were re-arrested in May, before their appeals in their initial case had even been rejected, and they remain in detention in Lakan Prison in Rasht, northern Iran. Now they have been told their second trial will take place next Tuesday, 19 July, at the same court that sentenced them the first time, the 2nd Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht. Ahmad, Morteza and Ayoob, all members of the controversial “Church of Iran” denomination, gave their final defence last week via video link from prison. During that hearing, on 5 July, the three men presented an almost identical argument to their previous final defence in February, when they stated they were “just Christians worshipping according to the Bible” and “have not engaged in any propaganda against the regime or any action against national security”. This time, in their second “final defence”, Ahmad, Morteza and Ayoob said they wanted to be “dealt with according to the constitution”, under which Christianity is a recognised minority faith. “We are Christians,” they said, “and we reserve the right to have a place for prayer and collective worship.” They again denied engaging in “any activities contrary to the country’s laws”. But despite these protestations, today they were informed they must again prepare to be tried for allegedly continuing to engage in “propaganda and education of deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia”. This wording is lifted directly from the new Article 500 of the penal code, which was amended last year amid concerns it may be used to target minority-faith adherents. Four others acquitted Behnam Akhlaghi (left) and Babak Hosseinzadeh. The new case against Ahmad, Morteza and Ayoob initially included four others, two of whom – Behnam Akhlaghi and Babak Hosseinzadeh – were only released from separate five-year sentences in January. However, Behnam, Babak and the other two men were informed today they will not have to face trial in this case. Behnam and Babak were among nine “Church of Iran” members acquitted by the Supreme Court in November, with the judge concluding their involvement in house-churches or even the propagation of what was pejoratively referred to as the “Evangelical Zionist sect” could not be deemed an “action against national security”. But just six weeks after their release, Behnam and Babak were re-arrested and told they faced new charges of “propaganda against the state”, in a case that remains open. They were arrested again in May, alongside Ahmad, Morteza and Ayoob, and the ongoing legal proceedings against all five men shows there is still a desperate need for the Iranian authorities to provide clarity on the question of where converts can worship. This question, voiced so eloquently by Behnam and Babak and another imprisoned convert, Saheb Fadaie, back in October, has become the focus of a campaign, titled “Place2Worship“. The question these converts are asking is simple: where can they worship while not fearing arrest and imprisonment? For although Christianity is a recognised religion in Iran, converts are not recognised as Christians and are prohibited from attending the churches of the recognised Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent, who are themselves only permitted to preach in their own ethnic languages and not in the national language of Persian. So, as Behnam asked in his October video: “If attending a house-church is considered a crime, and churches are closed off – or even if a church is open then it is limited to special individuals who can anyway only participate with restrictions – then as a Christian who is told, ‘We respect you, your faith, and the path you have chosen,’ my question is: in view of this respect, how and where should I perform my religious rites?” Or as Babak put it: “When I am released, will you put me back in prison again because I continue to believe in Christ? Will I be separated from my family again? Will I still be threatened with exile? The churches in our city have been closed down, the doors are shut, so we can’t worship in a church building. The churches that remain open are accessible for only certain people – those born into Christian families – and not to us [converts]. Because of this, and the closure of the other churches, we have no church building in which to worship. So I want you to answer my question: ‘Where am I to worship after these five years [in prison]?’”
Convert fined and deprived of social rights for teaching others about Christianity 8 July 2022 News A Christian convert has been fined and “deprived of social rights” for five years for “engaging in educational activities contrary to the holy religion of Islam by establishing house-churches”. Rahmat Rostamipour, 49, must pay 6 million tomans (around $185) now and a further 18 million should he “re-offend” in the next two years. He is the latest Iranian Christian to fall foul of Iran’s amended Article 500 of the penal code, which allows charges to be brought for educating others in a way deemed “contrary to Islam”. Three house-church members from Karaj are already serving three-year sentences under the new law, and three others from Rasht face five years in prison. In Rahmat’s case, the court verdict issued on 21 May by Branch 102 of the Civil Court of Bandar Anzali states that Rahmat was found to have engaged in “propaganda” because of “messaging others about Christianity”, “teaching the religion of Christianity”, and as a result of “his own clear confession that he has held Christian house-churches”. And although the fine issued for Rahmat is relatively light, 6 million tomans equates to around one month’s wages in Iran at the moment, and he now has a criminal record. Background Rahmat was arrested on 18 April at his home in Bandar Anzali, which is in the north of Iran, by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence, who also confiscated several personal belongings, including Bibles. The agents also took possession of the family’s phones, ID cards, a number of books, and some tablets used by his children for school, before taking Rahmat into custody. The agents made it clear they also intended to arrest Rahmat’s wife, Azar, but refrained from doing so because the raid brought on a panic attack in the couple’s teenage daughter. However, Azar was summoned to the MOIS Office in Anzali the following day, and returned home after hours of interrogation. Although Christianity is one of three recognised religions in Iran, converts are not recognised as Christians, nor are they permitted to attend the churches of the recognised ethnic Armenian and Assyrian Christians. As a result, the only available place for them to worship is within private homes in what have become known as house-churches. But these are not tolerated by the regime and have been referred to as “enemy groups” of a “Zionist cult”. Hundreds of house-church members have been arrested in recent years and scores given sentences of up to 15 years in prison on charges of “acting against national security”.
Mother-of-three refused access to prison scheme allowing more time with children 8 July 2022 News The women’s ward of Lakan Prison in Rasht (Photo: Mojnews) An Iranian mother-of-three serving a two-year sentence for “spreading ‘Zionist’ Christianity” has been denied access to a scheme that would have allowed her to spend most of her time outside prison working and with her children. Sakine (Mehri) Behjati, who began serving her sentence in April, was hoping she may be able to serve the remainder of her sentence as an unpaid worker at a factory designated by her prison in Rasht, northern Iran, while also being able to see her children more. But she has now been informed that, despite positive signals from officials at Lakan Prison, her request to join the scheme was refused by the prosecutor’s office in Tehran. “Mehri was hoping she may be viewed more mercifully because of her children,” explains Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji. “But she has been told she must stay in prison. It’s a blow for her, having wanted to be able to see and spend more time with them.” Mehri’s three children are aged seven, 11 and 16. Background Mehri was one of four members of a “Church of Iran” house-church arrested in Rasht in February 2020, including her nephew, Hadi (Moslem) Rahimi, and married couple Ramin Hassanpour and Kathrin (Saeede) Sajadpour. The four were officially charged in May 2020 and taken to Lakan Prison after being unable to afford the bail set for them – of 500 million tomans (around $30,000). They were eventually released a week later on reduced bail of 200 million tomans ($11,500). They were sentenced in August 2020 to between two and five years in prison for “acting against national security” by belonging to a house-church and “spreading Zionist Christianity”. Ramin was given a five-year sentence, Moslem four years, and Mehri and Saeede two years. Their appeals were rejected in September 2020. On 9 January 2022, Moslem left behind his nine-month-old daughter to begin serving his four-year sentence at Evin Prison so that the property deed submitted by a friend to secure his bail may be released. A month later, the other three were told they must hand themselves in to the authorities in Tehran by the end of February. However, Mehri was later permitted an additional six weeks at home, in order to be able to spend the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, with her family. Mehri and her nephew, Moslem, applied to the Supreme Court for a retrial, but their applications were rejected by Branch 9 of Iran’s highest court in February.
‘When they call you “apostate”, they don’t see you like a human anymore’ 8 July 2022 News Mojtaba Hosseini (left), alongside three other survivors of apostasy and blasphemy laws around the world. Iranian Christian convert Mojtaba Hosseini was one of the speakers at a fringe event on the side of the International Ministerial on Freedom of Religion or Belief in London this week, which focused on apostasy and blasphemy laws around the world. Iran is one of a dozen countries where leaving Islam is still punishable by death, even if this has not been enforced since the hanging of Rev Hossein Soodmand in 1990. And Mojtaba, who spent three years in prison for joining a house-church after converting to Christianity, said: “When they call you ‘apostate’, maybe they don’t kill you, but they don’t see you like a human anymore, so they give this right to themselves to just treat you anyway they like.” Mojtaba explained how before converting to Christianity he wasn’t even aware that it was dangerous to practise the Christian faith in Iran. “Me and my brother went to official church, an Anglican church in my city, Shiraz,” he said. “And the person opened the door and said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t let you in. The government has banned us to let anyone in.’” And after joining a house-church, Mojtaba was then arrested and held in solitary confinement for 22 days, and subjected to what he described as “such heavy interrogations”. Aged 20 at the time, he said the whole experience was “a big shock”. “It was so tough,” he said. “I think I can say it was the toughest experience I’ve had, even harder than when my dad passed away.” Mojtaba said he was later “forced” to flee Iran and become a refugee in Turkey, which he called “a continuance of all I faced and the suffering I had, because I didn’t have any rights in Turkey, and lots of trauma with me; I didn’t have any support, and the immigration pain added to previous pains.” “The Iranian government not only they put chains on my hands and my feet,” he said. “By forcing me to leave Iran, they put a chain on my heart.” ‘One of my heroes’ Introducing the event, organiser Kamal Fahmi, founder of Set My People Free, had described another Iranian “apostate”, Mehdi Dibaj, as one of his heroes. “He was the head of the Bible Society [in Iran],” Kamal explained. “And he was arrested and convicted for apostasy. He was sentenced to death, and he was imprisoned for nearly 10 years. "Mehdi Dibaj is one of my heroes" says @KamalFahmis @SetMyPeopleFree, introducing victims of #apostasy, #blasphemy law. Mehdi was freed from death sentence following advocacy efforts of fellow pastor Haik Hovsepian, but both later killed. #FORBforall #Iran https://t.co/P3yQVeUa6e— Article18 (@articleeighteen) July 6, 2022 “He said, ‘I’m not just willing to suffer for Christ, I’m also willing to die for him.’ And he was released after a lot of pressure from the international community. And when he was released, two weeks later, the pastor who helped to get him out [Haik Hovsepian] was murdered. And people said to Mehdi Dibaj, ‘Leave Iran, you will get killed!’, but he decided to stay. And six months later, he was kidnapped and disappeared. And his body was found cut to pieces in a plastic bag.” ‘The most dangerous thing’ Another speaker, Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, described converting from Islam to Christianity as “the most dangerous thing you can do”. “Everyone should have the right to decide on his own faith, on his own worldview, and whatever way he changes should be free to do this without being threatened by any kind of penal law, and truly not by death,” he said.“But at the same time, we have to see that the most dangerous thing in the moment, statistic-wise, you can do is change from Islam to Christianity.” Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance. Meanwhile, Ulrika Sundberg, Sweden’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Interreligious and Intercultural dialogue, said blasphemy laws were “counterproductive”, as “not only do they have a chilling effect, but they actually censor all inter- and intra-religious belief and dialogue, debate and criticism, most of which would be constructive, and in many times is needed.” Ms Sundberg also noted how Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allows for the death penalty to be used only for the most heinous crimes. “Now, can we consider blasphemy to be one of those?” she asked. “No, I think we can reasonably convince them [countries that apply the death penalty for blasphemy] that it’s not necessary.” Jennifer Tridgell, Senior Legal Advisor to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, agreed that both apostasy and blasphemy laws are “neither justified, nor justifiable within international human rights law”. She added that Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed has “also been very clear that freedom of religion or belief as a human right protects individuals, not religions or belief as such, from critique or criticism”. Meanwhile, former Dutch parliamentarian Joël Voordewind explained how his involvement in the case of Mariam Ibraheem, a Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy while pregnant, had “opened [his] eyes to the cruelty of not being able to convert from Islam to other faiths, or even to be a non believer”. Mariam was another of the speakers at the event, alongside other survivors from Pakistan, Nigeria and Yemen. You can watch the whole event via the two links below.
Convert’s continued imprisonment a ‘deterrent’ to other Christians, says lawyer 7 July 2022 News An Iranian Christian prisoner of conscience recently adopted by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief has been denied parole for a fifth time. Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, who is 60 years old, has been in prison since January 2018, serving a 10-year sentence for “acting against national security by establishing house-churches”. He is eligible for release on parole having served well over one-third of his sentence, but all requests for either parole or a reduction in his sentence have been denied. His lawyer, Iman Soleimani, says he has been told that Nasser is being held as a “deterrent” to other Christians, and that it is believed that to release him ahead of time would send out the wrong message. Nasser has suffered several health issues during his incarceration and was recently sent for an MRI scan after losing hearing in his left ear, which also affected his balance and led to a number of falls. His elderly mother also recorded an emotional plea on video a year ago for her son and primary carer to be returned to her side, but he remains in prison. Article18 calls on Iran to free Nasser Navard and all other Christians detained only as a result of their personal beliefs and the peaceful outworking of that faith.
Iran’s new Islamic Penal Code provisions: Tools for further repression 6 July 2022 Reports Christian converts are among the groups likely to face “heightened levels of repression” as a result of last year’s controversial amendments to the penal code, according to a new report. The report, ‘Iran: New Penal Code provisions as tools for further attacks on the rights to freedom of expression, religion, and belief’, by ARTICLE19, says the amended Articles 499 and 500, which came into force in February last year, “impose broad and vaguely worded restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief”, which will “disproportionately impact” religious and belief minority groups. Three house-church members were charged under the amended Article 500 just three months after it became law. The three men were subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. Several other Christians have since been charged and sentenced under Article 500, such as Iranian-Armenian pastor Anooshavan Avedian, who was given a 10-year sentence, and three more house-church members, who were given five-year sentences. Article 500 “effectively criminalises adherence to, practicing, and promotion of religions and belief systems that fall outside the legally recognised religions under the Constitution, as well as dissenting opinions within the legally recognised religions”, the report says. It notes how the Iranian authorities have “increasingly used national-security related provisions such as ‘propaganda against the system’ and ‘membership in illegal and enemy groups’ to prosecute Christian converts for exercising their right to freedom of expression and belief”. While the wording of the laws suggests some “protective role for individuals belonging to ethnic and religious minorities”, they in fact “further tighten the already shrunken space for freedom of expression in the country”, the report says. “The right to freedom of expression also extends to controversial, false, or even shocking material. The mere fact that an idea is disliked or thought to be incorrect cannot justify preventing a person from expressing it. “The interpretive discretion granted to the judicial authorities is also likely to result in attacks on the rights to freedom of assembly and association, as peaceful and legitimate assemblies and associations may be deemed ‘organised criminal groups’.” While the amended articles criminalise making “false” religious claims, ARTICLE19 says the “falsity or otherwise [of a claim] is to be decided by persons, not the State”. Furthermore, claiming divinity or prophecy, or claiming to be in communication with the prophets, which are also criminalised in the amended articles, are “protected under the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of religion and belief”. ARTICLE19 calls for the amended articles to be immediately repealed, amid a “substantial review and reform of all domestic legislation, with a view to bringing them into conformity with international law”. The NGO also calls on Iran to amend Article 13 of the Constitution, which recognises only three minority faiths, and to repeal all legislation that prohibits and criminalises defamation of religion, blasphemy, and apostasy.
Article 500 likely to ‘heighten repression’ of Christian converts, report warns 6 July 2022 News Christian converts are among the groups likely to face “heightened levels of repression” as a result of last year’s controversial amendments to the penal code, according to a new report. The report, ‘Iran: New Penal Code provisions as tools for further attacks on the rights to freedom of expression, religion, and belief’, by ARTICLE19, says the amended Articles 499 and 500, which came into force in February last year, “impose broad and vaguely worded restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief”, which will “disproportionately impact” religious and belief minority groups. Three house-church members were charged under the amended Article 500 just three months after it became law. The three men were subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. Several other Christians have since been charged and sentenced under Article 500, such as Iranian-Armenian pastor Anooshavan Avedian, who was given a 10-year sentence, and three more house-church members, who were given five-year sentences. Article 500 “effectively criminalises adherence to, practicing, and promotion of religions and belief systems that fall outside the legally recognised religions under the Constitution, as well as dissenting opinions within the legally recognised religions”, the report says. It notes how the Iranian authorities have “increasingly used national-security related provisions such as ‘propaganda against the system’ and ‘membership in illegal and enemy groups’ to prosecute Christian converts for exercising their right to freedom of expression and belief”. While the wording of the laws suggests some “protective role for individuals belonging to ethnic and religious minorities”, they in fact “further tighten the already shrunken space for freedom of expression in the country”, the report says. “The right to freedom of expression also extends to controversial, false, or even shocking material. The mere fact that an idea is disliked or thought to be incorrect cannot justify preventing a person from expressing it. “The interpretive discretion granted to the judicial authorities is also likely to result in attacks on the rights to freedom of assembly and association, as peaceful and legitimate assemblies and associations may be deemed ‘organised criminal groups’.” While the amended articles criminalise making “false” religious claims, ARTICLE19 says the “falsity or otherwise [of a claim] is to be decided by persons, not the State”. Furthermore, claiming divinity or prophecy, or claiming to be in communication with the prophets, which are also criminalised in the amended articles, are “protected under the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of religion and belief”. ARTICLE19 calls for the amended articles to be immediately repealed, amid a “substantial review and reform of all domestic legislation, with a view to bringing them into conformity with international law”. The NGO also calls on Iran to amend Article 13 of the Constitution, which recognises only three minority faiths, and to repeal all legislation that prohibits and criminalises defamation of religion, blasphemy, and apostasy. You can read the full report here.
‘Becoming a refugee in Turkey is the worst decision you can ever take’ 1 July 2022 Features “Sometimes I feel like I’ve waste my whole life.” These are the words of Iman Ghaznavian Haghighi, an Iranian Christian who has been living as a refugee in Turkey for nearly a decade now. After arriving in 2013 aged 27, Iman now finds himself in his late 30s, still in the same place, and with very little apparent change to his circumstances. In those nine years, Iman says, it’s as if his life has just been on hold, waiting for a change that has not come to pass. First there was hope, after his case was accepted by the UNHCR and forwarded onto the US, that perhaps he might be resettled there. But with the change of approach during the Trump years, this was a hope that was swiftly snuffed out. And so it was back to the drawing board for Iman, and countless other Iranian Christians like him, as his case was passed back to the Turkish authorities, who have been known to reject the asylum claims of several Iranian Christians previously accepted by the UN. Iman’s latest hope is for resettlement to Canada, with his case in the apparent final stages of the process. But for now he’s just waiting on the call, and with every day that passes it’s a wait that takes its toll. While he waits, Iman has some messages that he wants to share: one for the Turkish authorities, one for fellow Iranian Christians, and one for the wider Church. To the Turkish authorities, he asks whether, recognising how difficult it must be to host so many refugees – of whom Iranian Christians are only a tiny fraction – at the same time he wonders whether they couldn’t make life just slightly more comfortable for refugees, who have no right to work, nor do they receive any significant help from the government. There is an unspoken understanding that refugees will work, but that such work will be “off-the-books”, leaving the refugee even more vulnerable to exploitation. Meanwhile, Iman says they feel entirely without status and, with it, identity. “The Turkish government, they give you an ID card, but it’s just a piece of paper, and you are even shy to show it to anybody,” Iman says. “You cannot even rent an apartment, you cannot do anything – no bank account, nothing. “You have a paper to just stay here and wait to go to the third country that is accepting refugees and can accept you as a citizen. You don’t have any identity. No work. You need to work, but you can only work illegally, and I don’t know how it looks for a Christian to work illegally. “It’s not about people looking for a better life. We want to have just basic things. If they accepted us as citizens, for sure we would stay here and we would be happy, because it is a culture near to ours.” And meanwhile the sentiment within Turkey continues to grow more and more anti-refugee. It’s clear they are not welcome. So for Christians like Iman who are still in Iran and may be considering fleeing the country due to the persecution they are experiencing there, Iman’s message is simple: don’t come to Turkey. “This is the worst decision you ever can take,” he says. “Your children’s lives will destroyed, your life will be destroyed.” Sometimes, Iman says, he even regrets not taking the path other friends did after leaving Iran and fleeing illegally to other European countries, where some have now been granted the right to remain. Finally, Iman has a message for the wider Church. And again, it’s a simple one: please help refugees like him. How hard can it be, Iman wonders, for a Church of over 2 billion people around the world to come together to help the relatively small number of Iranian Christian refugees, numbering, he estimates, around 500-600. “It’s not difficult for all of the Christians [in the world],” he pleads. “We just need 500 families willing to help 500 people. That’s it!” It’s a message close to Iman’s heart, and a purpose that drives him, with Iman saying that when, eventually, all being well, he arrives in Canada, this is what he wants to do with his life: to help others like him, who are in his current situation, devoid of hope. Some have even committed suicide in the years of waiting and hopelessness, he says, when life has just been on hold. Does Iman have a wife or girlfriend? “No,” he says, adding that he’s even rejected any thought of it, given his situation. Life is so tough, he says. Why would he want to add to that? And what kind of life would he be giving his children, to bring them into this struggle? For now at least, Iman’s stasis continues. No identity, little support. Just the same hope that he’s held onto since first arriving nine years ago, that one day, hopefully soon, he may be resettled somewhere where he might have a chance to really live. Will it be Canada? He hopes so, but when? “No idea,” he replies. “Day by day, I’m waiting and praying that God one day does it.”
Leave used as leverage against Christian prisoners 30 June 2022 Analysis By Mansour Borji Saheb Fadaie with his wife, Marjan, and their 15-year-old daughter, Martha. 17 June marked the 41st birthday of Saheb Fadaie, currently serving a 10-year prison sentence – reduced to six years – for “acting against national security by forming a house-church and promoting Christianity”. Saheb has been in Tehran’s Evin Prison since July 2018 and it has been nine months since his last leave of absence, while his latest request for leave remains unanswered. His daughter, Martha, who is now 15 years old, has been deprived of her father’s presence for the past four years. “Every time I do a thorough house-clean, Martha asks excitedly if her father is about to be released on leave,” says her mother, Marjan. “It is useless to deny it, because even if I do she convinces herself that our intention is to surprise her. But when she eventually finds out that it isn’t the case, at this moment she is confronted with despair and unanswered questions in the face of all this injustice.” Two days before Saheb’s birthday, Marjan went to the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office to follow up on her husband’s latest request for leave. Despite having booked an appointment, it took four hours before Marjan was admitted to see the prosecutor, Ali Salehi, and still the meeting proved utterly fruitless. His formal response – “We will have to make enquiries” – is a well-known method of the prosecutor’s office and prison officials to shirk responsibilities and palm off work to other offices. But the main hindrance to approvals of requests for furlough – or any other benefits that prisoners are legally entitled to – is that it is the representatives of the Ministry of Intelligence or Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who have the final say. In recent years, these security forces have abused their judicial immunity and lack of public accountability by openly imposing their arbitrary decisions on even the highest judicial authorities. Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, 60, has not been permitted even one day of leave during his four and a half years in prison. According to the testimonies of current and former prisoners of conscience, these security agencies use medical care, leave and other legally guaranteed benefits as leverage to force them to comply with their illegal demands. On several occasions the families of Christian prisoners who have sought medical care, release, leave or other rights for their imprisoned relative have been told in no uncertain terms: “If you want your request to be granted, tell your loved one to cooperate!” But what does this “cooperation” entail? In most cases, the prisoner is told they must either deny their faith or at the very least refrain after their release from meeting and worshipping with other Christians – innocent actions interpreted in recent years as a “serious threat” to the Islamic Republic. Leave from prison is not always contingent on such demands, but the abuse of these rights by the government, security and judicial officials as a lever of pressure against prisoners of conscience is undeniable. Failure to grant leave a type of torture According to lawyer Mohammad Oliaei-Fard, not granting leave or conditional release is tantamount to torture. Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was recently given his first leave from prison in four years. “The purpose of imprisonment is to ‘correct’ the offender, and one of the methods of ‘correction’ is that the prisoner must be in contact with the outside world,” he told IranWire. “Because if a prisoner is not in contact with the outside world, it is considered a double punishment and a kind of torture. A prisoner will not be reformed without contact with the outside world, but instead will become depressed and ill.” Mr Oliaei-Fard argues that failure to grant leave to a prisoner is therefore a clear example of torture. And at the same time, according to prison regulations, the authorities are obliged to grant leave to even political or so-called “security” prisoners, while such prisoners who have served even one-third of their sentence are eligible for release on bail. ‘Go thank God we didn’t execute you!’ In international law, and the domestic law of most countries, the rights of prisoners are “guaranteed”. These rights include telephone contact with one’s family, face-to-face visits, medical care, leave, and other things that today some of the leaders of the Islamic Republic attempt to label as “privileges” and therefore levers of pressure. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was himself detained during the Shah’s reign, and at that time wrote a letter asking why he had been deprived of his “right prescribed by law” to use the telephone, describing the deprivation as “medieval”. Khamenei’s letter from prison. This same man is now ultimately responsible for ensuring others endure the same kinds of deprivation, and much worse. Farshid Fathi, a Christian leader who spent five years in prison without a single day off, told Article18: “Having served one third of my sentence, I, along with several other prisoners, took a letter requesting leave, and handed it to official responsible. This man looked at the letter, placed it on the desk in front of him, and then said to me: ‘Go away, and be thankful to God that we didn’t execute you! Don’t apply for leave again!’” Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, 60, is another Christian convert serving a 10-year sentence in Evin Prison since January 2018 for his peaceful ideological activities. He has so far been deprived of even one day of leave. After four and a half years in prison, Nasser’s repeated requests for leave, parole or a retrial have been denied, without explanation. Meanwhile, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who was detained for nearly four years without leave, was finally permitted his first visit home in April having previously being denied leave without explanation. The UN’s Working Group of Arbitrary Detention ruled in 2020 that Yousef’s detention is illegal, but he remains in prison. As does Mehdi Akbari, a Christian convert who was informed three days after Christmas that his 18-year-old son, Amir Ali, who had underlying health issues, had died due to complications after surgery. Even then, due to the bureaucracy involved in securing his release, including a heavy bail demand, it took four days before Mehdi was able to secure a five-day leave from prison. By that time the funeral of his only child had already taken place.