Hakop Gochumyan

Hakop, who is a resident of Armenia, is serving a 10-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison for “engaging in deviant proselytising activity that contradicts the sacred law of Islam” through alleged membership and leadership of “a network of evangelical Christianity”.

Hakop has been in prison since his arrest, alongside his wife Elisa, in August 2023.

He was sentenced in February 2024 and informed in June 2024 that his appeal had failed, even though his lawyer argued that the evidence against him was so weak that the judge was forced to rely on a penal code provision enabling him to use his “intuition”.

Hakop’s conviction was reportedly based solely on his possession of seven Persian-language New Testaments and having visited two Armenian churches and a Persian-language house-church while on holiday in Iran.

Hakop and Elisa were two of over 100 Christians arrested in the summer of 2023, but the only ones who gave permission for their names and the details of their cases to be reported.
Nine other Christians were in fact sentenced alongside Hakop. Three also received 10-year sentences; another received a two-year sentence; five were banned from leaving Iran and from living in Tehran and its neighbouring provinces for two years; and all 10 were fined a total of 500 million tomans (around $8,000) and deprived of rights such as membership of political or social groups.

Many personal belongings were also confiscated as part of the verdict, including cash, digital devices and even, unusually, some properties.

Laleh Saati

Laleh, a Christian convert who was baptised in a church in Malaysia, returned to Iran in 2017, having grown frustrated at the time it was taking to process her asylum claim, and also to be reunited with her elderly parents.

She was summoned and interrogated by intelligence agents on numerous occasions after returning to Iran.

Then, on 13 February 2024, she was arrested at her father’s home in Ekbatan Town, a suburb of Tehran, and taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Laleh was interrogated for around three weeks in Ward 209 – during which time photographs and videos of her Christian activities and baptism in Malaysia were brought before her as evidence of her “crime” – before being transferred to the women’s ward of the prison.

On 16 March 2024, she was brought before an increasingly notorious judge, Iman Afshari, at Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, who asked her why she had risked returning to Iran and a court case being opened against her, “given that you have done such things [Christian activities] outside of Iran”.

Laleh’s sentence was communicated to her lawyer on 25 March 2024. Her family were then informed and able to pass on the information to Laleh in prison.

Mina Khajavi

Christian convert Mina, who is in her sixties, began serving her six-year prison sentence in January 2024.

She was arrested back in 2020 and sentenced in 2022 alongside fellow Christian convert Malihe Nazari, who also received a six-year sentence, and Iranian-Armenian pastor Joseph Shahbazian, who was sentenced to 10 years.

However, while Joseph and Malihe began serving their sentences a few months later, Mina was viewed as being unfit to serve her sentence, after she was run over by a car.

Mina’s ankle was badly broken, and metal plates had to be fitted.

Mina continues to walk with a limp today and has developed arthritis, but on 3 January she was told she must submit herself to Evin Prison within five days.

This is in spite of the fact that both Joseph and Malihe, who were convicted on the same charge, were released early from their sentences.

Joseph’s sentence was initially reduced to two years, after an appeal-court judge ruled there was “not 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”. Then in September 2023, Joseph was completely “pardoned” and released.

Malihe, meanwhile, had been released earlier in 2023, reportedly due to the deteriorating health of her son, who was in hospital with leukaemia.

Article18’s Mansour Borji commented: “Article18 was shocked by the unjust sentence that was initially handed down to Mrs Khajavi for exercising her right to freedom of religion or belief. We are further appalled by the absurdity of the summons to serve that sentence, despite the serious physical harm that prison conditions can potentially cause her.”

Abdolreza Ali (Matthias) Haghnejad

Matthias and eight other Christian converts from the northern city of Rasht were arrested in January and February 2019.

In July 2019, Matthias and four others had their bail increased tenfold - to the equivalent of $130,000 each - after insisting upon being defended by their own lawyer. Being unable and unprepared to pay such an amount, they were transferred to Ward 4 of Tehran’s Evin Prison.

The other four decided to defend themselves and were therefore released on their pre-existing bail (the equivalent of $13,000 each) until their next hearing, when the judge accused them of promoting Zionism and said the Bible had been falsified.

In October 2019, all nine men were sentenced to five years in prison for “acting against national security”. Their appeals were rejected following a hearing in February 2020.

In November 2021, the Supreme Court ordered a review of their case, ruling that: “Merely preaching Christianity, and promoting the ‘Evangelical Zionist sect’, both of which apparently means propagating Christianity through family gatherings [house-churches] is not a manifestation of gathering and collusion to disrupt the security of the country, whether internally or externally.”

The Christians were released a month later, pending the result of the review, and on 28 February 2022 they were all acquitted. However, on 15 January 2022 Matthias had been sent back to prison to serve a previous six-year sentence - of which he had been acquitted seven years previously - following the intervention of a different Supreme Court judge.

In July 2023, Matthias was transferred, without warning or the chance to say farewell to his wife and daughter, to a prison on the other side of the country, 1,000 miles from home. He remains there, in Minab Prison.

Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh

Ayoob and his two friends Morteza Mashoodkari and Ahmad Sarparast were first arrested during raids on a house-church and another private home on 5 September 2021 in Rasht, northern Iran.

On 25 January 2022, the three men were charged under the amended Article 500 of the penal code with “engaging in propaganda and educational activities for deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia”.

They denied the charges, saying they were “just Christians worshipping according to the Bible” and "did not engage in any propaganda against the regime or any action against national security".

But on 9 April 2022, Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht sentenced them to five years in prison. They were also fined 18 million tomans (around $750).

While awaiting for the outcome of their appeal, the three men were arrested again in May 2022.

Their appeals were eventually rejected in June 2022, and in July they were told they must return to court to face a second trial on identical charges.

On 2 November 2022, a Rasht Revolutionary Court cleared them of wrongdoing in this second trial. Then on 9 November 2022, Morteza was informed that he had been granted a "partial pardon" in the first case, and that his sentence had been reduced to two and a half years. However, there was no such pardon for Ahmad and Ayoob.

In May 2023, Morteza was permitted serve the remainder of his sentence outside prison, but told he must still report back daily to work at an adjacent factory. In October 2023, Ahmad and Ayoob were granted access to the same scheme.

Ahmad Sarparast

Ahmad and his two friends Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh and Morteza Mashoodkari were first arrested during raids on a house-church and another private home on 5 September 2021 in Rasht, northern Iran.

On 25 January 2022, the three men were charged under the amended Article 500 of the penal code with “engaging in propaganda and educational activities for deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia”.

They denied the charges, saying they were “just Christians worshipping according to the Bible” and "did not engage in any propaganda against the regime or any action against national security".

But on 9 April 2022, Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht sentenced them to five years in prison. They were also fined 18 million tomans (around $750).

While awaiting for the outcome of their appeal, the three men were arrested again in May 2022.

Their appeals were eventually rejected in June 2022, and in July they were told they must return to court to face a second trial on identical charges.

On 2 November 2022, a Rasht Revolutionary Court cleared them of wrongdoing in this second trial. Then on 9 November 2022, Morteza was informed that he had been granted a "partial pardon" in the first case, and that his sentence had been reduced to two and a half years. However, there was no such pardon for Ahmad and Ayoob.

In May 2023, Morteza was permitted serve the remainder of his sentence outside prison, but told he must still report back daily to work at an adjacent factory. In October 2023, Ahmad and Ayoob were granted access to the same scheme.

Morteza Mashoodkari

Morteza and his two friends Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh and Ahmad Sarparast were first arrested during raids on a house-church and another private home on 5 September 2021 in Rasht, northern Iran.

On 25 January 2022, the three men were charged under the amended Article 500 of the penal code with “engaging in propaganda and educational activities for deviant beliefs contrary to the holy Sharia”.

They denied the charges, saying they were “just Christians worshipping according to the Bible” and "did not engage in any propaganda against the regime or any action against national security".

But on 9 April 2022, Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht sentenced them to five years in prison. They were also fined 18 million tomans (around $750).

While awaiting for the outcome of their appeal, the three men were arrested again in May 2022.

Their appeals were eventually rejected in June 2022, and in July they were told they must return to court to face a second trial on identical charges.

On 2 November 2022, a Rasht Revolutionary Court cleared them of wrongdoing in this second trial. Then on 9 November 2022, Morteza was informed that he had been granted a "partial pardon" in the first case, and that his sentence had been reduced to two and a half years. However, there was no such pardon for Ahmad and Ayoob.

In May 2023, Morteza was permitted serve the remainder of his sentence outside prison, but told he must still report back daily to work at an adjacent factory. In October 2023, Ahmad and Ayoob were granted access to the same scheme.