A Christian convert has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges including engaging in “propaganda” by “propagating Christianity”, an Iranian Christian news site has reported.

The convert, Toomaj Aryan-Kia, was also convicted of “collaborating” with the “hostile governments” of Israel, the UK and the US, and of membership in “anti-regime groups”, according to Mohabat News. 

The charges were pronounced on 5 November at the 3rd Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Karaj, by Judge Mostafa Narimani, who also banned Toomaj from membership of any group for two years after his release.

According to the report, which Article18 has not yet been able to independently verify, Toomaj has appealed against the sentence, although his request for a retrial was denied.

Toomaj was reportedly first arrested in October 2022, when his home was searched by plainclothes intelligence agents who confiscated personal items including Bibles. He is said to have been held in solitary confinement for the next 28 days, before being transferred to the general ward of Karaj Prison for a further 40 days. Toomaj was then released on bail equivalent to $75,000.

Toomaj is at least the sixth Christian in 2024 to receive a prison sentence of at least 10 years, in what appears a growing trend. In February, Armenian Christian Hakop Gochumyan and three others received 10-year sentences, while in May Christian convert Yasin Mousavi received a 15-year sentence as part of a group of Christians sentenced to a combined 45 years in prison.