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Maryam (Nasim) Naghash Zargaran has been taken back to Evin Prison before her medical treatment could be completed, after the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office ruled not to extend her leave.

She had been on medical leave since 20 October, but has now been returned to prison before her diagnosis could be completed.

The Christian convert has spent more than two years in prison since her conviction on charges relating to her Christian activities.

She was first summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence in March 2010. During her interrogation, she was quizzed about her church activities and threats were made against her family. 

She was then arrested just a few days after the arrest of Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American citizen who had returned to Iran to establish an orphanage in the north of the country.

On the day of Nasim’s arrest, her house was searched and her Christian books and pamphlets, and other personal belongings, were seized.

Most of the questions she was asked during her interrogation related to the increase in Iranians attending churches, the types of people attending, and what the church services entailed.

Nasim was eventually transferred to Evin Prison and brought before Branch 2 of the Shahid Moghadas Public Prosecutor’s Office. The only charge against her was “propaganda against the regime”.

Nasim was initially arrested in November 2012 and released on bail 19 days later, on bail of 70 million tomans. In March 2013, she was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment by Judge Moghiseh, head of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, for “gathering and colluding and acting against national security”. This was despite the fact that such an accusation was never known to her.

The case against her centred on:

* Her change of religion from Islam to Protestant Christianity

* Her active membership in “house churches”.

* Setting up churches to attract young people to Christianity

* Communicating with Christian organisations abroad to promote Christianity

* Travel to Turkey to attend Christian gatherings

The verdict stated: “The court considers the activities carried out in pursuance of the security objectives of the United Kingdom and the occupying regime of Jerusalem to spread Christianity in Iran in order to pervert Iranian society away from Islam.” 

She was charged under articles 610 and 46 of the Islamic Penal Code.

Her appeal was rejected and on 15 July 2013 she was taken to Evin Prison to begin her sentence.

During her detention, her brother and sister were prevented from visiting her for several months.

Nasim underwent heart surgery nearly nine years ago and is in urgent need of medical care. In addition, during the last year she has suffered ankle, back and chest pains. A doctor also diagnosed her with lumbar disc disease, osteoporosis and arthritis, and prescribed physiotherapy. But though she is still suffering from severe pain, the prosecutor has not granted her permission to receive therapy.

Nasim also suffers from severe anaemia and diabetes, conditions that have become worse during her incarceration due to a lack of available treatment.

Eight Christians arrested at a house-church in Karaj in August have been released on bail.

Esmaeil Falahati, Hayedeh Shadnia, Shahin Bashiri, Mona Chahardoli, Nematullah Yousefi, Ziba Jalilvand, Hossein Rastegari and a man named Razmik were arrested by plainclothes intelligence agents on Friday 7 August.

Esmaeil and Hossein were released on bail on 9 September, after spending 33 days in solitary confinement, accompanied by “mental torture”, according to Mohabat News.

They were charged with “propaganda against the regime” and “gathering with intent to disrupt public security”.

Hayedeh has also been released on bail, while three of the other Christians were released shortly after their arrests after signing disclaimers.

Esmaeil, 35, who has now fled the country, spoke to Mohabat News about his experiences.

“It was 7 August and we had gathered in Hossein’s garden, near Kan, with a few brothers and sisters when security authorities entered the garden and arrested us,” he explained.

“The authorities threatened the owner of the garden and put him on the ground with a gun to his throat, in front of his child. What was surprising to us was that they had a warrant pre-signed and stamped, and they wrote our names on it on the spot.

“They searched the whole garden, despite it being very dark. It seemed they were looking for something specific.

“They took me to my house at around 10pm to search there as well. I had some Bibles and Christian books at home. They took away all the books, as well as my computer and some other personal belongings.”

Esmaeil said he had posted bail of 700 million rials (around $25,000) and that his interrogators told him to leave the country after his release, “otherwise they would harm me and my family in an irreversible way”. 

At least eight members of a house-church in Karaj were arrested earlier this month during a raid by plainclothes intelligence agents.

During the raid on Friday 7 August the agents confiscated Bibles, Christian pamphlets, a computer and other belongings, and arrested all those in attendance: Esmaeil Falahati, Hayedeh Shadnia, Shahin Bashiri, Mona Chahardoli, Nematullah Yousefi, Ziba Jalilvand, Hossein Rastegari and a man named Razmik.

Five days later, Esmaeil, a 35-year-old father of two, was able to call home, though he didn’t say anything about where he was being held.

According to HRANA, quoting witnesses and neighbours, the arrests were carried out by more than 15 armed intelligence agents, who beat the Christians before taking them away in vans.

Mohabat News reported that the plainclothes agents, who were armed with handguns, failed to produce a search warrant. They also reportedly later attempted to round up some other members of the group.

Mohabat said the arrests were “due to their Christian beliefs and attendance at house-church meetings, and are aimed at increasing pressure on the Persian-speaking Christian community in Iran”.

Three of the detainees have reportedly been released on bail, but there has been no news about the other five, despite their families’ attempts to find out information via both the prison and Revolutionary Court.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom last week, on the eve of the second year of the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, continued to condemn human rights abuses in Iran, including the arrest and detention of many prisoners of conscience, and demanded their release.

Also, Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, warned at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council that the rights of religious minorities in Iran, such as Yarsanis, Baha’is, Christians, Dervishes and Sunni Muslims, are still being violated, and are now at a “crisis” point.

Christian prisoner Esmail (Homayoun) Shekoohi was yesterday released after 40 months in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz.

Homayoun was arrested on 8 February 2012, along with several other Christians at a “house church” in Shiraz. At the same time, his wife, Fariba, and 17-year-old son, Nima, were also arrested and subsequently released on bail until the trial.

On 10 June 2013, Homayoun and three other Christians were sentenced at the Shiraz Revolutionary Court to three years and eight months in prison for “propaganda against the regime and action against national security by attending a house-church, evangelising and propagating Christianity”. Fariba was meanwhile sentenced to two years in prison, and Nima to 18 months’ suspended imprisonment.

The Christian converts were held in the Band-e-Ebrat (Ward of Lessons) ward of Adel Abad Prison, which is notorious for its poor conditions, including denial of access to medical care and clean drinking water, and a lack of cooling facilities in the summer, and heating in the winter.

Homayoun was released on parole on 10 November 2014, but his family’s joy was soon quashed when, less than two months later, the authorities said they had made a mistake in issuing the release order, and he was forced to return to prison to complete his sentence. He returned to prison in April.

Homayoun is the last of the four Christians to be released. Mohammad Reza (Koroush) Partovi was released on 13 May, 2014, Vahid Hakani was released on 26 January, 2015, and Mojtaba Hosseini was released on 18 March, 2015.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in his March report expressed “deep concern” about the situation of religious minorities in Iran, noting the particular pressures on converts who leave Islam and on the Christians who evangelise to them.

Thirteen converts to Christianity have lost their appeals against one-year jail sentences and two-year travel bans.

The verdict was recorded at Branch 14 of the Appeals Court of Isfahan Province on Sunday 5 April. 

Article18 understands that the converts are determined to appeal again to a higher court.

Nasrin Kiamarzi, Maryam Bateni Nia, Akbar Ahmadi, Bita Ja’fari, Abbas (Peyman) Kiani, Fatemeh (Arina) Zarei, Masoumeh (Sahar) Dashti, Ramin Bakhtiarvand, sisters Leila, Sara and Samira (Atena) Fooladi, and two other unnamed converts, were first arrested on 20 February 2013 during a raid on their “house church”.

They were released on bail a month later, but convicted on 18 June 2013 at the Revolutionary Court of Shahin Shahr, north of Isfahan, of “propaganda against the regime, the propagation of evangelical Christianity, and the formation of house churches”, under Article 500 of the Penal Code.

At least 93 Christians are currently in prison in Iran because of their religious faith and activities. In the first two months of this year alone, 18 Christians in Rasht, Tonekabon, Karaj and Isfahan were sentenced to a combined total of 23 years and nine months in prison. At the same time, new arrests have been reported in Bushehr and Tonekabon.

Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in March expressed concern over “the underlying causes” of targeting of prisoners of conscience, and the widespread use of “vaguely defined national-security charges”.

A Christian prisoner’s request for early release has been rejected.

Behnam Irani has been in prison since May 2011 after being convicted of “actions against national security” and “propaganda against the system” – for his Christian activities.

He was arrested at his “house church” in Karaj in April 2010 and convicted in January 2011. 

When he was taken to prison in May 2011, the Christian convert believed he was going to serve a one-year sentence, but during his incarceration he learned that the one-year sentence had been added to an earlier suspended five-year jail term on similar charges, dating back to 2008 – so six years in all.

In March 2015, he wrote a letter to the prison authorities, requesting early release.

But Branch 7 of the Public Court of Karaj rejected his request, saying in a statement: “Because there is no sign of remorse in the prisoner, but he is continuing his illegal actions, so the court is rejecting this request and until the time that he officially and clearly states his remorse, it will be rejected.”

However, a legal expert told the HRANA news agency that in Iranian law Penal Code, “the need for repentance” is not a requirement for release. 

Behnam’s case has been widely reported by Christian websites and raised with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Two Christians have been sentenced to five years each in prison for “acting against national security by gathering and collusion”.

Ebrahim Firouzi (left) and Sevada Aghasar were sentenced today at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Karaj, chaired by Judge Mohammad Nasser Moghiseh.

Ebrahim is a Christian convert and prisoner of conscience, who has been arrested many times for his evangelism and has already spent a year in prison. 

On 13 July 2013, he was sentenced to a year in prison and two years in exile in the far-southeastern city of Sarbaz, in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, for “propaganda against the regime by establishing and organising Christian gatherings” and “having contacts with anti-revolutionary networks outside Iran”.

However, on the completion of his jail sentence in January, prison authorities refused to release him until a new court order was issued.

Sevada, an Armenian Christian living in Tehran, was arrested alongside Ebrahim on 25 August 2013, at the workplace of another friend, Masoud Mirza’i, who was also arrested but then released.

Sevada spent more than six months in Ward 350 of Evin Prison before his release on bail. He will now return to Evin Prison to begin his sentence. Ebrahim will remain in Rajaei Shahr Prison.

At least six converts to Christianity were arrested at a “house church” in Karaj last Friday, 10 April. 

Among those arrested were Abbas Seifzadeh, Mehdi Abdollahi, Saeed Heidari, Yashar Ghalandari, M. Ishaqi, Hengameh Taghavi, Mohammad Ghadimi, a man named Vahik, and another whose identity is unknown.

The group were arrested during a raid by plainclothes officers on Abbas’ house, where they had gathered for prayer and worship, and taken away in two vans.

Abbas’ neighbours were also intimidated by the officers, who searched his house and confiscated Christian books, CDs and pamphlets, and his satellite-television equipment.

Efforts of family members to discover where their loved ones are being held have so far proved fruitless.

Iran is among the top-ten countries on the World Watch List produced by Open Doors International – of the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to be a Christian. 

In recent days, churches in the city of Orumiyeh, in West Azerbaijan Province, were sent a letter by the local police department warning them not to hold Easter celebrations.

Iran is ranked among the top-ten worst persecutors of Christians by Open Doors, which noted in its latest report that Christian converts in Iran are routinely persecuted, imprisoned, ordered to return to Islam and threatened with execution.

Christian prisoner of conscience Mojtaba Hosseini has been conditionally released after more than three years in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz.

The Persian-speaking Christian was granted early release on Wednesday, 18 March, 2015.

Fellow convert Esmail (Homayoun) Shekoohi was meanwhile granted ten days’ leave. 

Previously, on 10 November 2014, Homayoun had been granted conditional release after two years and eight months in prison, but a few days later Judge Rashidi, head of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz, said the decision was “wrong” and he was returned to prison.

Homayoun and Mojtaba were two of four converts, alongside Mohammad Reza (Koroush) Partovi and Vahid Hakani, arrested in February 2012 during raids on two house-churches in Shiraz. In June 2013 they were each sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for “promoting Christianity”, “association with Christian organisations abroad”, “propaganda against the state”, and “disrupting national security”.

In recent years, many Persian-speaking Christians have been arrested and sentenced to jail.

Article18’s Advocacy Director, Mansour Borji, described the often-used national-security charges as “a cover and justification for suppressing the religious activities of these Christians”, adding: “To reduce international sensitivities, Iranian judicial officials have blamed these prisoners of conscience with security charges and restricted religious freedoms with irrational and ambiguous interpretations of the law.”

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in his latest report, expressed concern about violations of freedom of religion or belief, including the 92 known Christian prisoners.