Iranian Christian convert Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh remains on hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin Prison, nearly one month after his re-arrest.

The 63-year-old was rearrested on 6 February, the same day as fellow former prisoner of conscience Joseph Shahbazian, an Iranian-Armenian pastor who will turn 61 later this month. 

Both remain detained on unknown charges, though there are particular concerns for Nasser, given the length of his hunger strike and the fact he had already suffered with poor health following his previous nearly five years’ imprisonment.

According to Article18’s sources, Nasser is protesting against his unjust re-arrest and detention, and insisting upon his immediate release. We further understand that Nasser has been denied the right to a lawyer and has been permitted only a few short supervised calls to his family, in which he has been prohibited from speaking about his hunger strike or any other conditions of his detention.

Article18’s director, Mansour Borji, commented: “We are seriously concerned about Nasser’s health, as a prolonged hunger strike can have irreversible health consequences. 

“Many prisoners of conscience in Iran use hunger strikes as the last resort and a final defence, when all other choices to defend them are taken away by the authorities, and Nasser already had poor health as a result of nearly five years of imprisonment following his previous arrest.

“The Iranian New Year is approaching, and if he is not released in the next few days, the likelihood is that he will spend the entire [two-week] holiday season in pretrial temporary detention, while his health deteriorates.”

Nasser was first arrested in 2016, sentenced in 2017, and imprisoned in January 2018. He was denied medical treatment during his time in prison and wrote several brave open letters, declaring he had been imprisoned only “because of my faith in Jesus Christ” and asking why house-church membership was considered an “action against national security”.

He remained in prison throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, even after an outbreak in his ward, and was repeatedly denied requests for a retrial or parole, before finally being released in October 2022 after being “pardoned”. Just one month later, his mother died.

Nasser briefly considered emigrating, but found life outside his home country unbearable, especially while dealing with the trauma of his five years of mistreatment.