Three Christian converts arrested in the northern Iranian city of Nowshahr last month remain in detention in an unknown location nearly a month after their arrest.

Jahangir Alikhani, Hamed Malamiri, and Gholam Eshaghi, who were previously arrested at Christmas last year and were already facing charges relating to their Christian faith, were arrested on 23 and 24 September by intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

They are believed to have been taken to Sari, the provincial capital, which is three hours’ drive from Nowshahr, but their families have not heard from them since their arrest, while Article18 understands they have been denied access to a lawyer. 

The three were among 20 Christians first arrested by armed agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence in Nowshahr and nearby Chalus in coordinated raids on their homes in the early hours of the morning after Christmas, when the agents filmed themselves as they confiscated personal items including identity papers, Bibles and other Christian literature.

Some of the Christians were released later that day, after questioning, but at least nine, including Jahangir, Hamed and Gholam, were transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sari, where they were interrogated regarding their faith and peaceful Christian activities.

Article18 understands that on the morning of their arrest, the investigator of the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Nowshahr briefly met with the detained Christians but did not officially notify them of any charges they may be facing.

In the interrogations that followed, the detained Christians were verbally accused of “establishing house-churches”, “propagating Christianity” and following a “religion disturbing to the holy religion of Islam”, before being released on bail after between two and five weeks’ detention. Additionally, the Christians were prohibited from leaving Iran for the next six months.

In May, several family members of the arrested Christians were summoned for prolonged interrogations, during which they were threatened, insulted and intimidated. At least one female family member was reportedly beaten by her male interrogator.

According to Article18’s sources, the interrogators attempted to force the families of the accused Christians to confess to having had contact with foreign countries or Christian organisations abroad.

On 27 August, 14 of the Christians, including Jahangir, Hamed and Gholam, were summoned to the 1st Branch of the Prosecutor’s Office of the General and Revolutionary Court of Nowshahr to present their last defence against charges of “collaborating with hostile foreign countries against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran and insulting to the religion of Islam and its sanctities through the press”.

It was as the Christians awaited the outcome of their trial that Jahangir Alikhani and Hamed were arrested by IRGC agents, who violently searched their homes, overturning sofas, before taking the Christians away to an unknown location.

Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, said it was clear from the wording of the charges that the Christians were being tried under the amended Article 500 of the penal code, which has been labelled a “full-on attack on religious freedom”.

“The Islamic Republic blatantly violates the international human rights standards to which it is a signatory,” Mr Borji said. “The amended articles of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code (IPC) are used to criminalise peaceful religious practices through vague interpretations, and they must be repealed. These laws have been stretched to suppress minorities, with judicial and intelligence institutions collaborating to punish any expression of religious freedom under the pretence of legality.”