A Christian convert whose only son died during his nearly five years in Evin Prison has been released after his 10-year sentence was reduced by a Tehran appeal court. 

Mehdi Akbari, who goes by the name Yasser, was released yesterday after his sentence was reduced to four years and five months. (Yasser had been in prison for four years and nine months.)

He was met outside prison early yesterday afternoon by his family and friend and fellow Christian convert, Mehdi Rokhparvar, alongside whom he was initially sentenced and who was released from his own prison term last year.

Yasser’s release comes just five days after the release of another Iranian Christian who had been serving a 10-year term, pastor Anooshavan Avedian, who was acquitted by the same court of appeal (Branch 21) last Tuesday.

During his nearly five years in prison, Yasser applied for a retrial with the Supreme Court on five occasions. His first four applications were rejected, but his final application, lodged in April 2024, was accepted, and Branch 39 of the Supreme Court ruled that the length of his sentence should be reviewed, leading ultimately to yesterday’s hearing at the appeal court.

Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented:

“We welcome the release both of Yasser and Anooshavan, for whom we have long campaigned and neither of whom should have spent even one day in prison. Both Yasser’s reduction of sentence and Anooshavan’s acquittal show clearly how arbitrary their sentences were in the first place, being questioned not only by independent lawyers but also now by the judges of Iran’s own Supreme Court, further demonstrating the baselessness of the accusations that have led these and other Christians to spend years of their lives behind bars.

“We call now for the immediate release of the other at least 20 Christians still in prison only on account of their beliefs and the peaceful outworking of these beliefs, such as Armenian citizen Hakop Gochumyan, who is also serving a 10-year sentence only because he visited some churches and was in possession of a handful of Bibles.

“Iran has for too long targeted Christians simply on account of their beliefs, while at the same time claiming on the world stage that ‘no-one is imprisoned for their beliefs’. The cases of Yasser, Anooshavan, Hakop and many others betray the falsehood of this claim. In reality, evangelical Christians and converts to Christianity, alongside other unrecognised religious groups, continue to be targeted only because of their beliefs. If the Islamic Republic of Iran really wants to build a reputation for being a place where no-one is imprisoned on account of their beliefs, it must immediately release all other religious prisoners of conscience, and fulfil its obligations as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 18 of which enshrines religious freedom, including the freedoms to change one’s beliefs and to share them with others.”