A Christian convert arrested a week ago in the southern city of Shiraz is still being held in an infamous detention centre belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence.

Mojdeh Falahi, 36, whose two older sisters were arrested five years ago for their Christian activities, was arrested on 9 September at the prosecutor’s office in Shiraz, and has not been heard from since. 

Article18 understands that she is being detained in the Pelak-e 100 detention centre, which is under the jurisdiction of Iran’s intelligence ministry.

According to a source familiar with the case, Mojdeh, who is a hairdresser, had gone to the prosecutor’s office at around lunchtime at the request of a Christian friend, who had been arrested the day before, in order to provide him with some documents required for his release.

However, once she arrived, Mojdeh was immediately detained and is now being held on charges filed under the titles of “Christianity” and “illegal Christian activities”.

“Mojdeh has been a Christian for years,” Article18’s source explained, “though her activities have never been extensive.”

Mojdeh’s family have visited the prosecutor’s office several times since her arrest and asked to see her, but they have not been permitted to, and neither has Mojdeh been granted access to a lawyer.

Mojdeh’s sisters, Maryam and Marjan, were part of a group of eight Christian converts arrested in Bushehr, 300km west of Shiraz, in July 2019.

A year later, Maryam and Marjan were fined 8 million tomans (around $400) and 6 million tomans (around $300), respectively. 

Meanwhile, Maryam, who is a nurse, was banned for life from working for any national institution, including the hospital she had worked at for 20 years.

In a separate court case later that year, a judge ruled that Maryam and her husband, Sam Khosravi, could no longer keep custody of their adopted daughter, Lydia, because they were Christians and Lydia, being of unknown parentage, was considered to be Muslim. 

Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented: “Mojdeh’s mother, now in her 60s, was left deeply traumatised after enduring the arrest five years ago of two of her daughters for their Christian faith. She has never fully recovered from the pain and anguish of their detention, and now she is being forced to relive that nightmare after the arrest of her third daughter. 

“What the Iranian authorities fail to recognise is that every arrest they make shatters not just one life, but entire families. Each act of cruelty ripples through generations, leaving scars that may never heal, simply because of these people’s commitment to their Christian faith.”