Youhan Omidi returns home from four years’ prison and exile 29 June 2022 News After two years in prison and nearly two more in internal exile over 1,000km from his home and family – not to mention being flogged for drinking Communion wine – Mohammad Reza (Youhan) Omidi is finally free, at least for now. The 49-year-old, who begun his exile in September 2020, four weeks after concluding a two-year prison sentence for “acting against national security by propagating house-churches and promoting ‘Zionist’ Christianity”, was on 6 June told he could return home for 14 days’ leave, after which his term in exile would be considered complete. He is now finally back home in Rasht, northern Iran, with his wife Maryam, and daughters Sara and Sandra, after completing his final 15-hour journey from his city of exile in the far south, Borazjan. Youhan was one of four house-church leaders from the “Church of Iran” denomination to be sentenced to 10 years in prison in July 2017, alongside Yousef Nadarkhani, Zaman (Saheb) Fadaie and Mohammad Ali (Yasser) Mossayebzadeh. In June 2020, Youhan’s sentence was reduced at a retrial to two years and Saheb and Yousef’s to six. Yasser, who had not applied for a retrial, was granted conditional release in February 2021 on the proviso he engaged in no further Christian activity, and it was understood he was pressured to recant his faith in order to secure an early release. Youhan was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison just two months after the retrial, but forced to journey into exile – another part of his sentence that had not been reduced – less than a month later. Then, just one month into his exile, he was called back to Rasht so that a separate sentence of 80 lashes for drinking Communion wine could be carried out. Saheb was also flogged for the same “offence”, while Yousef, who was once sentenced to death for “apostasy”, must also endure a two-year term in exile following his eventual release from prison, scheduled for 2024. Left to right: Saheb Fadaie, Yousef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, and Youhan Omidi. The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in 2020 that Yousef’s detention at least is illegal on four grounds – lack of legal basis for detention; detention resulting from “legitimate exercise” of freedoms; lack of fair trial and due process; and “discrimination based on religious beliefs”. And while two of the four men are now free, it has come at huge personal cost to both them and their families, and there is little hope that either will remain free from further prosecution should they again practise the faith for which they were imprisoned. It is for this reason that Saheb and two other prisoners of conscience, Behnam Akhlaghi and Babak Hosseinzadeh, last year called for clarity on the question of where they could worship once released. This action inspired what became the #Place2Worship campaign, calling on all Persian-speaking Christians to be given a place in which they can worship, free from the fear of arrest and imprisonment. For while on paper Iran affords Christians freedom of religion as one of three recognised religious minorities, in practice such freedom only extends to the ethnic Armenian and Assyrian minorities, and only in so far as they worship in their own ethnic languages and keep this faith to themselves. Those who break the mould are punished as severely as converts to Christianity, as seen most recently in the 10-year sentences given to two Iranian-Armenian Christians, Joseph Shahbazian and Anooshavan Avedian, who dared to share their faith with others. So while today we rejoice with Youhan and his family, it remains clear that tomorrow may well bring trouble of its own. Youhan with his wife Maryam and daughters Sara and Sandra. Youhan has already been contacted by Ministry of Intelligence agents since his return home and warned against any contact with or attempt to gather with his co-religionists. At the same time, he must also now attempt to pick up the threads of a working life so abruptly halted after his arrest six years ago, when he was just an ordinary salesman. All Youhan’s goods were confiscated that day, and they have not been returned. So now Youhan must begin again, with no goods, nor capital, nor any possibility to work in a government-run organisation, and all the while knowing that many employers are actively discouraged from employing converts. The road ahead continues to look anything but straightforward for the Omidi family and the many others like them.
Anooshavan Avedian awaits imprisonment as converts summoned to Tehran prosecutor 29 June 2022 News Left to right: Maryam (Khadijeh) Mohammadi, Anooshavan Avedian, and Abbas Soori. A 60-year-old Iranian-Armenian Christian is awaiting a summons to begin his 10-year prison sentence for “engaging in propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam”. This comes after his case, and that of two Christian converts facing exile from their home city of Tehran, was sent to the court responsible for executing judgements. The two converts, Maryam Mohammadi, 46, and Abbas Soori, 45, have already been summoned to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran for the execution of their sentences, meaning that it seems only a matter of time before Anooshavan is also called. The three Christians were sentenced in April, and their appeals rejected in May, though Abbas and Maryam’s 10-year deprivation of social rights was removed from their sentence and their fines for being in possession of satellite receivers were reduced from 50m tomans ($2,000) to 6m tomans ($190) each. The Christians’ lawyer, Iman Soleimani, has appealed to the Supreme Court for a retrial, but this does not block the execution of their sentences. Mr Soleimani earlier voiced his dismay that his clients’ appeals were rejected in absentia, despite pleading for their case to be heard in person. He also complained that after submitting at least seven folders of documents, including around 600 pages each, and detailing numerous legal challenges, the verdict was issued in less than 10 days. This, he said, “demonstrates insufficient study of the case by the appeal judges, dismissal of the defence, and an unjust process”. Mr Soleimani added that as Anooshavan was not permitted to have a lawyer in his initial trial at the Revolutionary Court, he was unable to defend himself adequately against the volume of accusations built up against him by interrogators. All three Christians appealed against the initial verdict, which was issued by Judge Iman Afshari at the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran on 11 April. Judge Afshari, who is also head of intelligence at the court, has issued some of the harshest recent sentences against Christians, including a 10-year sentence earlier this month for another Iranian-Armenian Christian, Joseph Shahbazian, and six-year sentences for two women converts, Malihe Nazari and Mina Khajavi.
Confiscated Church-owned retreat centre set to be repurposed 28 June 2022 News Photographs showing some of the Christian events that took place at the retreat centre, and of the confiscation order. A Protestant Church-owned retreat centre appropriated four years ago by an institution headed by Iran’s Supreme Leader is now in the process of being repurposed, Article18 understands. The Garden of Sharon in Karaj, which has belonged to the Iranian Assemblies of God (AoG) denomination since the early 1970s, has been out of use since a July 2015 court order by a Tehran Revolutionary Court, though it took a further three years for the confiscation to be officially enacted. Now, another four years on, the former retreat centre – beloved by many in the Iranian Church – looks set to become the latest emblem of Protestant Christianity in Iran to be given a facelift. It follows the bishop’s house in Isfahan, former home to the Anglican bishop of Iran, which earlier this year was turned into a museum, and the many other formerly church-run institutions – such as hospitals, schools and institutions for the blind – to have been radically reshaped in the years since the 1979 Islamic revolution. According to Article18’s sources, security forces broke into the main building of the retreat centre on 13 May, posted guards outside, and have since begun renovations, with a view to reopening the site for unknown purposes. The 10,000-square-metre plot, with a value of nearly $3million, was purchased with donations from church members and used for children’s camps and family retreats. The 2015 ruling of the Revolutionary Court ordering the confiscation of the property claimed the AoG denomination was “funded by the United States and CIA spy agency to infiltrate the countries of the Islamic world, especially Iran, and engage in evangelical activities”. It further alleged that the AoG was a branch of the “American Philadelphia Church”, an entity that remains a complete mystery. Edward Hovsepian, the brother of murdered pastor Haik and former superintendent of the AoG in Iran, told Article18 at the time of the confiscation: “The Assemblies of God in Iran has not had any association with American congregations in any period of its history, whether before or after the revolution, and has always been independent of it. Our partnership with other AoG churches around the world was only in shared religious beliefs.” At the same time, Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, told the BBC the confiscation was part of the Iranian authorities’ attempts to “eliminate Protestant and Evangelical Christians from the social scene of Iran”. “The ultimate goal of the campaign is to render Protestant and Evangelical churches, with more than 630 million adherents worldwide, as an outsider cult with no official recognition in Iran,” he said. “Every church leader, every church member will [now] be quite frightened because of the prospects of prison and being labelled as collaborators with the ‘enemy’.” Meanwhile, the British MP, Tobias Ellwood, criticised the confiscation in an official statement to parliament, saying: “We condemn … reports of Christian property being seized and reports of theological schools being closed. We call on Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to allow freedom of religion to all Iranians.”
Converts’ five-year prison sentences for ‘deviant beliefs’ upheld 27 June 2022 News Left to right: Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh Three house-church members who have been held for over a month in solitary confinement have now been informed that their appeals against five-year prison sentences have been rejected. Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh, all members of the “Church of Iran” in Rasht, were re-arrested early last month, despite already facing imprisonment for “engaging in propaganda and education of deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia”, under the amended Article 500 of the penal code. Now their lawyer, Iman Soleimani, has confirmed that the trio’s appeals have been flatly rejected, commenting: “No attention was paid to the defence, or to the fact that these clients, with no criminal records and young families, were re-arrested before the outcome of their appeal, without committing a crime, and are currently being held in solitary confinement.” Ahmad, Ayoob and Morteza are currently in the hands of intelligence agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who were responsible for their re-arrest. Article18 understands the three men were told that the reason for their re-arrest was that they had continued their religious activities, and therefore had been brought to “consider their actions in private”. “Inquisition” into a person’s beliefs is prohibited by the Iranian constitution, and just last week Iran’s “High Council for Human Rights” claimed “no one is prosecuted in Iran for merely holding an opinion or belonging to a particular class or group”. However, dozens of Christian converts have testified that following their arrests it was their beliefs that were called into question during subsequent interrogations, while these beliefs often also form the basis of official charges, as in Ahmad, Ayoob and Morteza’s case.
Anooshavan Avedian 24 June 2022 Case Studies (Last updated: October 2024) Case referenced by Article18, Iran International, The Christian Post, Asia News, International Christian Concern, Info Chrétienne, Church in Chains, Middle East Concern, Stefanus Alliance, Barnabas Fund, The Baptist Paper, Voice of the Martyrs Summary Iranian-Armenian Christian Anooshavan Avedian, who is in his sixties, was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the amended Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code for his leadership of a house-church, or what the Revolutionary Court judge referred to as “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam”. Case in full Anooshavan was first arrested on 21 August 2020, when approximately 30 agents of the Ministry of Intelligence Service (MOIS) raided a private gathering at his home in Narmak, north-eastern Tehran, where around 18 Christians, including members of Anooshavan’s family, had gathered to pray and worship. The agents confiscated all the Christians’ Bibles and communication devices, and demanded that everyone fill out forms providing their personal information, including passwords to their phones and social-media accounts. Several of the Christians were then transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison, including Anooshavan and Christian converts Abbas Soori, 45, and Maryam Mohammadi, 46. Maryam and Abbas were released two days later, but summoned again the following week and detained for a further 26 days in solitary confinement. They were also subjected to psychological torture during several intense interrogation sessions. The three Christians were eventually released on 23 September 2020 after depositing property deeds to cover bail demands of 1 billion tomans ($50,000) for Anooshavan, and 500 million tomans ($25,000) each for Abbas and Maryam. Others present at the gathering were also summoned to the offices of the MOIS for interrogations in the days and weeks after the raid, and many were forced to sign commitments to refrain from attending any further house-church meetings or even making any further contact with other Christians. On 10 April 2022, Anooshavan, Maryam and Abbas Soori were summoned to the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to face charges of “propaganda activity against the system” and “acting against the country’s security through organisation and leadership of an Evangelical Christian house-church”. On 11 April 2022, Judge Iman Afshari sentenced Anooshavan to 10 years in prison and the two converts to a range of non-custodial punishments. In addition to his 10-year sentence, Anooshavan was also sentenced to 10 years’ “deprivation of social rights” after his release, for example by restricting the types of employment he can have. Abbas and Maryam were also handed this 10-year deprivation, as well as two-year bans on any travel abroad, membership of any political or social group, and also of residence in their home province of Tehran or any adjacent province. The two converts were also fined 50 million tomans ($2,000) each and told they must regularly report to the offices of the MOIS. All three Christians appealed. In his sentencing, Judge Afshari found Anooshavan guilty of “establishing and leading an illegal group with the aim of disrupting the security of the country through educational and propaganda activities contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam, through the dissemination of false claims … as well as contact with foreign countries, or organisational guidance from abroad”. This wording was taken predominantly from the amended Article 500 of the penal code, under which several other Christians have already been convicted for their religious activities since the amendments were passed early last year. Maryam and Abbas were also convicted under the same article for membership of Anooshavan’s “illegal” group (house-church). The Christians’ defence was met with disrespectful remarks towards their character, and insults to their faith. The only “evidence” brought against them were the reports compiled by MOIS agents, including “confessions” extracted under duress. The charges against the three Christians blended elements of Articles 498, 499 and 500 of the penal code, relating to organisation (498) and membership (499) of “anti-state” groups, and propaganda (500) “contrary to Islam”, though only Article 500 was mentioned in the court document. On 29 May 2022, Anooshavan’s lawyer was informed that an appeal court had upheld his 10-year prison sentence. Despite repeated requests by the lawyer, Iman Soleimani, for the appeal hearing to take place in person, the ruling was made in absentia. In the verdict, Judge Abbasali Hozan of Branch 36 of Tehran’s appeal court upheld Anooshavan’s 10-year sentence, as well as the subsequent 10 years’ “deprivation of social rights” after his release. However, Abbas and Maryam’s own 10-year deprivation of social rights was removed and their fines for being in possession of satellite receivers were reduced from 50m tomans ($2,000) to 6m tomans ($190) each. According to Mr Soleimani, at least seven folders, including around 600 pages of documents each, had to be thoroughly studied and an extensive defence bill detailing numerous legal challenges considered, before the ruling could be passed. Therefore, the lawyer argued, the fact that the verdict was issued in less than 10 days “demonstrates insufficient study of the case by the appeal judges, dismissal of the defence, and unjust process”. Mr Soleimani added that as Anooshavan was not permitted to have a lawyer in his initial trial at the Revolutionary Court, he was unable to defend himself adequately against the volume of accusations built up against him by interrogators. His case was then passed on to the court responsible for executing judgements, meaning that Anooshavan could be summoned to serve his sentence at any moment. On 2 August 2022, Anooshavan and Abbas were informed that their appeal for a retrial with the Supreme Court had been rejected. Maryam’s had been rejected two weeks prior. A year later, on 13 September 2023, two plainclothes Ministry of Intelligence officers visited Anooshavan at his home and told him he must begin his prison sentence. He handed himself in five days later. Anooshavan’s summons came on the very same day that another Iranian-Armenian pastor, Joseph Shahbazian, was released from his own 10-year prison sentence, leading Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, to note that “the general policy of the Iranian government towards Christians has not changed”. “Although we have seen a number of Christians released this year,” he said, “the fact that somebody has now gone to prison on the same charges or for the same activities for which others have been pardoned or released, or had their sentences reduced, shows the arbitrary nature of the judicial system in Iran.” Mr Borji added that it was not clear why Anooshavan’s summons had taken so long, but that “the human effect of this long wait cannot be underestimated”. “While people appreciate enjoying as much time as possible with their family and loved ones, the constant threat of imprisonment hovering over your head is in itself a kind of torture,” he said. On 24 September 2024, Anooshavan was released from prison after being acquitted during a hearing that same day at Branch 21 of the Appeal Court of Tehran. This came after the Supreme Court accepted his latest petition for a retrial, lodged in April 2024, having previously denied all other petitions. Recommendations Article18 requests that the international community and Christians worldwide: Call for the immediate release of all Christians detained on charges related to the peaceful practice of their faith. Call for the swift application of due process in the cases of all who are detained and/or awaiting charges, trials, sentences or appeal hearings on account of their Christian faith and activities in Iran. Encourage Western countries to prioritise human rights in negotiations with Iran, especially freedom of religion or belief, and urge the government of Iran to recognise all minority-faith adherents, including converts to Christianity, as full citizens before the law, enjoying their full human rights. Call the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable for failing to uphold its international and constitutional commitments to protect the freedom of Christians in its territories. Closing churches, appropriating church property, arresting church leaders and threatening churchgoers are violations of freedom of religion or belief, as prescribed in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, without reservation, and therefore legally bound to uphold. Meanwhile, Article 13 of Iran’s Constitution states that Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians are recognised religious minorities, who are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies. And Article 23 says “investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no-one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief”. Background Though Christians are one of three recognised religious minorities in Iran, in practice only ethnic Armenians and Assyrians are permitted a degree of freedom to worship, but only within their own ethnic tongues, and not the national language of Persian. Over the past decade, the Iranian authorities have closed down almost all churches that offered services in the national language of Persian, or insisted they teach only in the ethnic minority languages. But the vast majority of Christians in Iran today are converts from at least nominally Islamic backgrounds, and therefore these Christians (who are thought to number several hundred thousand) have no official place to worship. As a result, many now meet in their homes, in what have became known as house-churches. Judge Afshari even admitted in his verdict that Anooshavan’s house-church had only been created because of the forced closure in 2013 of the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran. But even though the house-churches set up in the wake of such closures are no different in practice from any other Christian worship meetings around the world, they have been outlawed by the authorities, which referred to them in an official response to the UN last year as “enemy groups” of a “Zionist cult”.Thousands of house-church members across the country have been arrested in recent years, and hundreds sentenced to years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” – only as a result of their religious faith and activities, in spite of the repeated claims of Iranian regime officials that no-one is detained in Iran on account of their beliefs.
Malihe Nazari, Joseph Shahbazian and Mina Khajavi 24 June 2022 Case Studies (Last updated: April 2025) Case referenced by Article18, International Institute for Religious Freedom, Christian Today, Info Chrétienne, HRANA, Church in Chains, International Liberty Association, Asia News, Mohabat News, Middle East Concern, Barnabas Fund Summary Iranian-Armenian Christian Joseph Shahbazian and Christian converts Mina Khajavi and Malihe Nazari were sentenced to a combined total of 22 years in prison solely for practising their Christian faith, including through attending and organising house-churches. Case in full Joseph, Mina and Malihe were among at least 35 Christians arrested or interrogated by intelligence agents belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in a coordinated operation over two days and across three cities in the summer of 2020. The arrests took place on the evening of 30 June and the morning of 1 July in Tehran, its sister city Karaj, and Malayer, 400km southwest of Tehran. Dozens more Christians were ordered to provide their contact details and told they would soon be summoned for questioning. The first arrests took place at around 8pm on the evening of 30 June, in western Tehran’s Yaftabad district. Ten intelligence agents – eight men and two women – raided the home of a recent Christian convert, where around 30 Christians had gathered. The agents, who were armed and wore masks, were reportedly polite as they filmed the raid and separated men from women, but later turned the cameras off and treated the Christians harshly. All those present were taken down to the building’s car park, where a van with blacked-out windows awaited, as well as several cars. All cars belonging to local residents seemed to have been moved to make space for the agents’ cars and for the garage to become a quasi interrogation room. The agents then proceeded to read out a list of names written on an arrest warrant. The six present whose names were read out – including Joseph and Mina – were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away, and prevented from contacting their families to tell them where they had been taken. The others whose names were not read out – many of them recent converts – had their mobile phones confiscated and were ordered to fill out forms providing information of another method by which they could be reached, and told not to follow-up on the confiscation of their phones for at least 72 hours. They were also ordered to write down that none of their property had been confiscated, even after the confiscation of their mobile phones and despite their protestations. The agents then drove the six arrested Christians, as well as some of those whose names were not on the list, to their homes in Tehran and Karaj to carry out searches of their properties, looking especially for Bibles, other Christian literature and communications devices. According to the reports of witnesses, some of the Christians were beaten, as well as some of their non-Christian family members. The agents later went to the homes of the three Christian converts whose names were read out but had not been present, and arrested them. Meanwhile, on the same evening, Malihe was arrested at her home in the Sadeghiyeh district of Tehran. During the raid, Malihe’s house was searched and several of her personal belongings were confiscated, including her computer, mobile phone and a number of books. The agents then took her away, and told her family she would be taken to Evin Prison. When they went to visit her at the prison the next day, they found Malihe’s name on the list of detainees, but weren’t able to see her, although the following day she was able to briefly call home to say that she was OK. Also on the evening on 30 June, three Christian converts were called in the city of Malayer and told to report to the Revolutionary Guard intelligence office the next day for questioning. The three Christians were arrested the next morning, before they had the chance to turn themselves in. They were then detained, but released the next day after posting bail of 30 million tomans (around $1,500) each. It was reported that the concurrent raids were coordinated with the help of an informant, who had infiltrated the group within the past few months and gained their trust. This individual was reported to have accompanied the intelligence agents in their raid on the Tehran house-church, and to have even stood next to the judge as he later read out his bail demands. Following the arrests, Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents summoned many contacts of the Christians for questioning, including some who had not been in contact with them for years. On 15 July 2020, Article18 reported that at least 10 of the Christians had been charged with “acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity”. By this stage, eight had been released on bail, four remain detained, one had been released without charge, and another four had been released pending a decision on their case. Families of the detained Christians had been anxiously asking for an update about them, but despite some family members going to Evin Prison and the local courts on a daily basis to find out about the whereabouts and wellbeing of their loved ones, they were not even afforded the usual opportunity to have short telephone calls with them. On 20 July 2020, Mina was released on bail after 20 days’ detention. Mina had been blindfolded throughout her detention, so that she didn’t know where she was being held. When she was finally released, she was put in a car and dropped off on an unknown Tehran street, without either phone or money, so that she had to borrow a phone from a passerby to contact her family and ask them to find her and bring her home. On 23 July 2020, Article18 reported that Joseph’s family had been told they must deposit 3 billion tomans (around $150,000) for his bail – twice the previous highest amount demanded to secure the release of a Christian prisoner of conscience. Joseph’s family were initially told the figure was ten times lower – 300 million tomans – and that, unusually, they must pay in cash. Not possessing such an amount, they asked whether they could instead submit a property deed as a guarantee, as is common practice, but this request was denied. Then, having managed to cobble together the originally stated amount, they deposited it at the court, only to be called later and told the required amount was actually ten times higher. The family later returned to the court with two property deeds – one for the Shahbazian family home and the other belonging to Joseph’s elderly mother, who lives in the apartment below them. However, the total value of both properties, combined with the 300 million tomans they deposited in cash, was still some way short of the required bail. Malihe’s bail was also set at 3 billion tomans after she was transferred to the notorious Qarchak women’s prison, where there were fears for her health as a result of a Covid-19 outbreak in the prison. On 18 August 2020, Joseph’s wife and son were finally able to visit him for the first time, seven weeks into his detention. It remained unclear where he was being held, as he was driven, blindfolded, to the courthouse where they met and had been blindfolded every time he had been let out of his cell. On 22 August 2020, Joseph was finally released on bail after nearly two months in detention, after his family submitted property deeds to cover a reduced bail amount of 2 billion tomans (around $100,000), as they were not able to raise the initially demanded 3 billion tomans. Malihe was released two weeks later, on 5 September, also on reduced bail. A year later, on 16 October 2021, Joseph, Mina and Malihe, and two other Christians, were summoned to give their final defence before a Tehran prosecutor. According to their lawyer, Iman Soleimani, the charges read out to them at the prosecutor’s office included: “promoting ‘Zionist’ Christianity”, “weakening faith in Muslim clerics”, “membership in opposition groups” to “disrupt national security”, “weakening the foundation of the family”, and “attracting Muslims to house-churches”. They denied all the charges. Mina told the prosecutor the interrogators had thrown away her actual testimony and said to her: “You must write what we want you to write!” Her lawyer said the accusations against all the Christians were based only on the allegations of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents, and not on any evidence. Mr Soleimani added that Mina was asked by the prosecutor about the history of Protestantism and how it is connected with Zionism, to which she responded that she had no knowledge about such things. She was also accused of converting her husband and child to Christianity. She responded that she had not forced anybody to convert, but that her family members had decided to convert after seeing the profound change her new faith had made to her life. Mina was then told that another member of her house-church had brought charges against her. In December 2021, Mr Soleimani complained that the property of his clients remained confiscated more than a year after their arrest, despite the law stipulating they should be returned at the “earliest possible opportunity”. Mr Soleimani said that he went to the court again on 18 December 2021 to once more request the return of the items, but was not even permitted to enter the building and was told the judge was “too busy”. The lawyer added that the judge had previously sent two letters asking Ministry of Intelligence officials to return the belongings, but that these had had no effect. Mr Soleimani said some of the confiscated items did not even belong to the Christians but to their family members. On 29 May 2022, Joseph, Mina, Malihe and four other Christians were tried at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, on charges of “acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity” through either leadership or membership of a house-church. During the four-hour hearing the defendants and their lawyers were threatened, intimidated and ridiculed by the judge, Iman Afshari, and pressured to recant their faith as an incentive for a reduction in their sentences. Judge Afshari also attempted to persuade the other defendants to blame Joseph for their conversions, with the promise of lighter sentences should they comply. When they refused, the judge threatened to increase their sentences. Judge Afshari also used harsh and sarcastic language against the Christians to humiliate them and denigrate their beliefs, and when their lawyer objected, the judge replied that he was “only joking”. The judge not only failed to act impartially, but even spoke in defence of the charges and failed to ask the prosecutor’s representative even one question about the legality of the case against the defendants and their activities, despite the repeated objections of the Christians’ lawyer to this effect. On 6 June 2022, Joseph was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Mina and Malihe to six years each. Joseph was also sentenced to a two-year term in exile in a remote province in the southeast of Iran following his incarceration, and a two-year ban on travelling abroad or membership of any social or political group. Joseph must also report to the offices of Iran’s intelligence service for two years after his release on an unspecified “seasonal basis”. The four other Christian converts in the case – Salar Eshraghi Moghadam, Farhad Khazaee, Somayeh (Sonya) Sadegh and her mother Masoumeh Ghasemi – were sentenced to between one and four years’ imprisonment for membership of house-churches, but permitted to pay fines (equivalent to between $800-$1,250 each) instead of going to prison. However, there was no such clemency for Joseph, nor for Mina or Malihe, who could not attend the court hearing on 29 May because she was visiting her son, who has leukaemia, in hospital. Judge Afshari, who is fast building a reputation for harsh sentences against Christians, was particularly scathing towards Joseph in his verdict, stating: “The papers of this case file indicate that this person, who considers himself an Armenian [an ethnic group recognised as Christian in Iran] and has travelled abroad several times and attended a gathering in Turkey, having established a group to attract Muslims, and under the cover of religious programmes for prayer, has propagated Evangelical Christianity, and with illegal activities and unfounded claims has abused people’s inner weaknesses and attracted some of them to the membership of his group.” The judgment even acknowledged the Christians’ charitable activities “to both Christians and non-Christians” – such as handing out food parcels during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – but this did not save them. Their appeals were rejected on 17 August 2022. Judges Abasali Hozavan and Khosrow Khalili Mehdiyarji of the 36th Branch of the Appeal Court of Tehran said the defence had failed to meet the necessary criteria for the appeal to be considered. But their lawyer, Mr Soleimani, told Article18 the judgment had been reached “without an actual hearing, and with a complete disregard of the extensive and well-reasoned defence offered”. The court proceedings showed a “disregard of absolute legal and juridical principles, such as the principles of equal opportunity [to dispute accusations], legality of crimes and punishments, and right to a defence”, he said, adding that the copy of the verdict he had received came without any letterhead. Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, explained: “This is a common practice in cases of prisoners of conscience, where the Islamic Republic does not want to officially own the unlawful decisions they have taken, for fear of social and political backlash.” The judgment also made a passing reference to “the extent of the activities” of the accused, without giving any explanation. “Neither in the court, nor now in the appeal, has there ever been any mention of what ‘extensive’ activities they’re talking about,” said Mr Borji, “so it’s a claim without any substantiation.” He added: “It fits the pattern of complete disregard to the law, and clearly shows that they’ve not engaged even in the slightest way with the extensive legal reasoning the defence lawyer has provided. “None of this has even been considered in the verdict, nor responded to. This clearly displays Iran’s sense of impunity, as the international community continues to stand by and watch Iran’s blatant disregard of human rights.” On 30 August 2022, Joseph began serving his 10-year sentence, having the day before been given 24 hours to hand himself in to the authorities at Tehran’s Evin Prison. Malihe also began serving her sentence in August 2022, while Mina also received the summons but after presenting herself at the prison was told she could return home until she had recovered from a badly broken ankle. Masoumeh and Sonya were also summoned to pay their fines within 24 hours. On 25 February 2023, the 9th branch of Iran’s Supreme Court ruled that Joseph should be granted a retrial. Two months later, on 24 April 2023, Malihe was released from prison, reportedly after another Supreme Court decision to free her owing to her son’s ill health. Then, on 24 May 2023, the 21st Branch of Tehran’s Court of Appeal reduced Joseph’s sentence to two years. The court did not find “enough evidence to determine the maximum punishment specified in Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code”, which relates to the organisation of groups that “threaten national security”. The two-year sentence of exile was also thrown out. Joseph then applied for furlough, or to be released to serve the remainder of his sentence at home with an electronic tag. Then on 13 September 2023, the pastor was summoned to the Evin Prison office and informed that he had been “pardoned”. He was then given an hour to collect his things, and then finally released from Evin Prison and able to return home to be with his family, including a nine-month-old granddaughter – Joseph’s first grandchild – born during his imprisonment. Joseph suffered ill health during his 13 months in prison, but for several months was denied a medical appointment, and even afterwards was not told of his diagnosis. He later discovered, by chance, that he was suspected to be suffering from a serious illness, though it was not clear whether his “pardoning” related to this fact. Joseph was eligible for conditional release, having served more than one-third of his reduced sentence, but did not apply for it, because a conditional release would in effect be pledging not to engage in the activities for which he was first arrested – namely, organising and hosting house-church meetings with Christian converts. It is also worth noting that on the day of Joseph’s release, another Iranian-Armenian pastor, Anooshavan Avedian, was visited by two plainclothes officers from the Ministry of Intelligence and told he must begin his own 10-year prison sentence. Finally, on 3 January 2024, Mina was summoned to begin her own sentence until 3 January 2024, when she was told she must submit herself to Evin Prison within five days. Mina continues to walk with a limp today and has developed arthritis, but she submitted herself to the authorities at Evin on 8 January 2024 to begin her sentence. In April 2024, it was reported that Mina was struggling with pain and unable to access the medical care she required inside Tehran’s Evin Prison. Article18’s Mansour Borji said he was “appalled” that Mina had been forced to serve her sentence, given that she was palpably not in a fit state to go to prison. He called for her “immediate and unconditional acquittal”, and for “Iran to end the harassment of the Christian community and to respect the November 2021 Supreme Court ruling that ‘the promotion of Christianity and formation of a house-church is not criminalised in law’ and should not be deemed a threat to national security”. On 6 February 2025, Joseph and fellow Christian former prisoner of conscience Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh were re-arrested at their homes in the Tehran region, and taken back to Evin Prison. On 17 March 2025, Nasser suffered a stroke in his solitary-confinement cell, having been on hunger strike since his re-arrest in protest against the continued persecution of Christians in Iran. Nasser was rushed to the nearby Bani-Hashem Hospital, where he was treated and provided with a range of exercises to help him seek to regain movement in the left-hand side of his body. Two days later, he was returned to the general ward of Evin Prison, where he and Joseph remain detained at the time of writing, without any official charge. Recommendations Article18 requests that the international community and Christians worldwide: Call for Mina’s conviction to be immediately overturned and for her to be released unconditionally. Call for the swift application of due process in the cases of all who are detained and/or awaiting charges, trials, sentences or appeal hearings on account of their Christian faith and activities in Iran. Encourage Western countries to prioritise human rights in negotiations with Iran, especially freedom of religion or belief, and urge the government of Iran to recognise all minority-faith adherents, including converts to Christianity, as full citizens before the law, enjoying their full human rights. Call the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable for failing to uphold its international and constitutional commitments to protect the freedom of Christians in its territories. Closing churches, appropriating church property, arresting church leaders and threatening churchgoers are violations of freedom of religion or belief, as prescribed in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, without reservation, and therefore legally bound to uphold. Meanwhile, Article 13 of Iran’s Constitution states that Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians are recognised religious minorities, who are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies. And Article 23 says “investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no-one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief”.
Iran again claims ‘no-one prosecuted for merely holding an opinion’ 22 June 2022 News Embed from Getty Images Iran has once again denied imprisoning anyone because of their beliefs, in a strongly-worded response to the UN Secretary-General’s latest annual report on the the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic. “No one is prosecuted in Iran for merely holding an opinion or belonging to a particular class or group,” said a statement released yesterday by Iran’s High Council for Human Rights. The statement also claimed that the UN report, released last week, was “politically motivated, biased and unfair”. The report called on Iran to “release immediately all persons detained arbitrarily for legitimately exercising their freedoms of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly”, “guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression”, and “protect the rights of all persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, and address all forms of discrimination against them without delay”. However, there was no specific reference to the main victims of religious-freedom violations, other than a passing reference to the confiscation of properties belonging to members of the Baha’i faith. There was not a single mention of the plight of Christians, Jews, Gonabadi dervishes, Yarsanis, Sunni Muslims, nor any other religious-minority group. Last year, Article18 joined seven other Christian organisations in sending joint letters to the Secretary-General and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, calling on them to “include specific reference to the main victims of FoRB [freedom of religion or belief] violations” in each of their reports. The letters acknowledged that both figures have a broader focus on human rights and religious freedom in general, and also that the Special Rapporteur focused specifically on the persecution Christian converts in a previous report; however, the letters asked for consistency in naming the main victims of FoRB violations in every report. They further noted how neither the Secretary-General’s report last year, nor the Special Rapporteur’s January 2021 report, contained a single reference to Iran’s persecution of Christians, though both called more broadly for Iran to “end discrimination” against religious minorities.
Christian prisoner of conscience awaiting results of MRI scan 22 June 2022 News There are renewed concerns over the health of a 60-year-old Christian convert, who has spent the past four and a half years in Tehran’s Evin Prison because of his membership of a house-church. Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence on trumped-up charges of “acting against national security”, was last week admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment on hearing loss in his left ear, which has also affected his mobility and led to several falls. Nasser is now awaiting the outcome of an MRI scan, with results expected this week. Nasser remains deeply frustrated at the continued refusal of Evin’s chief prosecutor to grant him either conditional release, a reduction in his sentence, or a retrial, despite repeated pleas during his imprisonment. Last year, his elderly mother recorded an impassioned video message, calling on the authorities to reunite her with her son and primary carer, but it appears her appeal fell on dear ears. And this is not the first health scare during Nasser’s time in prison, Nasser also having fallen seriously in amidst a Covid-19 outbreak within his ward, and earlier being warned his teeth may fall out as a result of advanced gum disease.
Seven Iranian Christians sentenced to total of 32 years in prison 7 June 2022 News Malihe Nazari (left), Joseph Shahbazian and Mina Khajavi face a combined 22 years in prison. An Iranian-Armenian pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and two Christian women converts to six years for their leadership roles within house-churches. The Iranian-Armenian, Joseph Shahbazian, also faces a two-year term in exile in a remote province in the southeast of Iran following his incarceration, and a two-year ban on travelling abroad or membership of any social or political group. Joseph must also report to the offices of Iran’s intelligence service for two years after his release on an unspecified “seasonal basis”. The four other Christian converts in the case – Salar Eshraghi Moghadam, Farhad Khazaee, Somayeh (Sonya) Sadegh and her mother Masoumeh Ghasemi – were sentenced to between one and four years’ imprisonment for membership of house-churches, but permitted to pay fines (equivalent to between $800-$1,250 each) instead of going to prison. However, there was no such clemency for Joseph, who is 58 years old, nor for the two other converts, Mina Khajavi, who is 59, and Malihe Nazari, 49, who could not attend the court hearing on 29 May because she was visiting her son, who has leukaemia, in hospital. Judge Iman Afshari, head of the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, who is fast building a reputation for harsh sentences against Christians, was particularly scathing towards Joseph in his verdict yesterday, stating: “The papers of this case file indicate that this person, who considers himself an Armenian [an ethnic group recognised as Christian in Iran] and has travelled abroad several times and attended a gathering in Turkey, having established a group to attract Muslims, and under the cover of religious programmes for prayer, has propagated Evangelical Christianity, and with illegal activities and unfounded claims has abused people’s inner weaknesses and attracted some of them to the membership of his group.” A growing reputation Judge Afshari also recently handed down a 10-year sentence to another Iranian-Armenian Christian, Anooshavan Avedian, while he was also responsible for jailing another Christian woman convert, Fariba Dalir, who is now serving a two-year sentence. Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines religious freedom, including the freedom to change and to propagate one’s faith. However, as exemplified in Judge Afshari’s latest verdict, the propagation of Evangelical Christianity is often construed as “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic, and therefore an “action against national security”. Indeed, Joseph, Mina and Malihe now face prison for this very reason: that, according to the judgment, by organising and establishing house-churches they acted with “the intention of disturbing national security”. At the same time, the judgment even acknowledged the Christians’ charitable activities “to both Christians and non-Christians” – such as handing out food parcels during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – but this did not save them. Pressured to point the finger The court hearing on 29 May lasted more than four hours, and Article18 understands the defendants were pressured by Judge Afshari to blame Joseph for their conversions, with the promise of lighter sentences should they comply. When they refused, the judge reportedly threatened to increase their sentences. Article18 also understands that Judge Afshari used harsh and sarcastic language against the Christians to humiliate them and denigrate their beliefs, and that when their lawyer objected, the judge replied that he was “only joking”. Another Article18 source reported that the judge not only failed to act impartially, but even spoke in defence of the charges and failed to ask the prosecutor’s representative even one question about the legality of the case against the defendants and their activities, despite the repeated objections of the Christians’ lawyer to this effect.
‘If we could go back in time, we’d walk the same path’ 6 June 2022 Features When the Shekoohi family converted to Christianity, it was a decision for which every member would pay a heavy price. For the father, Esmail, it meant more than three years in prison. It also meant nine months in prison for the mother, Fariba, while their son, Nima, had to endure 38 days in solitary confinement at the age of 17, and, like his mother, was later handed a suspended prison sentence. For the daughter, Helma, who was just 12 years old when intelligence agents raided the house-church service taking place in their home, the impact was mostly felt at school, and also in having to live with other relatives and friends for the months when both her parents were in prison. For the first year of Esmail’s imprisonment, Helma wasn’t able to visit him even once. She says it even took “three or four months” to be able to see her mother for the first time, while for the first month of their detention she had not even been able to speak to them over the phone. Esmail was in his late 40s when he converted to Christianity in 2006, having battled against a drug addiction for the three decades prior. Fariba, who came from a religious Muslim family, converted nine months later, having seen the dramatic change in her husband, despite initially threatening to divorce him for his decision to follow Christ. But even after uniting over their faith decision, life was far from easy for the newly converted couple and their children, even before their arrest. There was pressure from family members regarding their decision to turn their backs on Islam; there was derision for Helma at school; and even in practical terms, the life of a Christian convert in Iran was far from straightforward. It took three months after his conversion for Esmail to even get his hands on a Bible, and several more months to find a place in which he could worship with other Christians. Esmail explains that there was just one church in their city, Shiraz – the same church in which another convert, Arastoo Sayyah, had been murdered just a week after the Islamic revolution of 1979 – but that this church was heavily surveilled and banned from accepting new members. “In such an atmosphere, it becomes difficult to even pray in that place,” Esmail says. “That’s why we never went to that church, because there was a heavy security atmosphere.” He adds: “The desire for worship comes from a basic need to express a belief that you have, whether Islamic, Baha’i, or Christian. But the reality in Iran is that most of the churches have been closed down, or we [converts] are forbidden from attending their meetings. So you can’t talk about your faith; you can’t have fellowship with other Christian believers; and you can’t be educated [about your faith] and as a result grow in the faith your heart has accepted.” Ultimately, the converts found they had just one place in which they could worship with other Christians: in their homes, where Esmail says that “at least our meetings were hidden from the eyes of government officials”. But, as they would soon discover, even this choice was not without consequences. Just two years after Esmail’s conversion, in May 2008, he and Fariba were arrested for the first time as they attempted to board a plane for Dubai, where they were to attend a Christian conference. On that occasion Fariba was released later that day and Esmail two weeks later, but only after being forced to sign a pledge to have no further contact with other Christians. The threat, should he fail to comply, was made clear: lifetime imprisonment, or even execution. So when, two years later, the couple were arrested again, it was clear from the outset that the cost would be greater, even if the agents’ gravest threats weren’t realised. Of the family of four, only Helma wasn’t arrested that night in February 2012. But the tearful 12-year-old girl was forced to watch as her father, mother and brother were taken away, then placed in separate solitary cells for more than a month. Fariba explains how she hadn’t even been aware that their 17-year-old son had also been arrested until one day she heard his voice in the interrogation room to which all three had been brought. “The fact that my son, who was a minor at the time and was in the middle of his exams, had also been arrested and sent to prison was in itself a kind of torture for me,” Esmail says. Nima’s parents were then told that if their son didn’t “cooperate”, he would be flogged, and beaten in front of their eyes. Fariba recalls that the interrogator also said: “Of course, we have also been very kind to him by beating him many times.” “Suddenly, Nima started to cry and said: ‘Mum, they beat me a lot; they beat me every day!’” she adds. But even after the months or, in Esmail’s case, years in prison were finally over, the challenges continued for the Shekoohis. Esmail says that one of the hardest things for him was regularly seeing his daughter returning home from school in tears, because of the comments made by teachers or other pupils about her Christian faith. Meanwhile, their home was attacked by members of the Basij, a paramilitary group of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who smashed the windows and tossed rubbish and lit cigarette lighters into their yard. But perhaps hardest of all, Esmail says, was that the family now really had no place at all in which to worship. “When I was released from prison, it wasn’t possible to hold church meetings in our home anymore, because we were under surveillance,” he says. “And not having a church or group worship was very difficult for me, and we felt that we couldn’t continue without a church.” Esmail explains how he once went to a church, but was told its doors were shut to all but members. “I stood there for about two hours, but nobody opened the door,” he says. Nima had also been forced to abandon his studies, and in the end it all became too much for the Shekoohis, and in late 2015 they took the hard decision to flee their homeland, and seek asylum elsewhere. After five years in Turkey, the Shekoohis are now based in Canada, but Esmail and Fariba fear the trauma their children were forced to endure has left lasting scars. And while Esmail expresses gratitude for the support he and his family received during his time in prison, he says he did wonder at one point what had happened to the wider Church body. When his wife became sick during his imprisonment and couldn’t afford her treatment, Esmail says that he cried out: “God, I’m in prison for believing in you, and I’m willing to do anything for my faith, and even accept the death penalty. But why doesn’t someone help my family? Where is the Church?” But he adds: “While it’s true that the Church didn’t do its duty and didn’t support us at that time, the main point I’d like to make is that I had always done what was right and what my faith had told me, that this faith is worth the suffering we endured, and if we could go back in time, we’d walk the same path.” You can read the Shekoohi family’s full Witness Statement here.