An imprisoned Christian convert who went on hunger strike to protest against his mistreatment in Tehran’s Evin Prison has started eating again after receiving reassurances.

Amir-Ali Minaei, who has a heart condition and was recently assaulted by a prison officer, began his hunger strike on 12 April after being denied access to a telephone but concluded it two days later and has since been afforded limited use of a phone.

The 31-year-old has also received medical care after fracturing a bone in his right leg.

Amir-Ali has been in Evin Prison since April 2024 and is serving a sentence of three years and seven months for “propaganda activities against the regime through establishing a house-church”. 

The sentence was handed down in March 2024 by notorious Revolutionary Court judge Iman Afshari, who also sentenced Amir-Ali to deprivation of social rights – such as membership of any organisation – following his imprisonment.

Amir-Ali was first arrested in December 2023 and detained for over two months in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence. 

He was then released on bail equivalent to around $10,000, following a series of intensive interrogations.

Amir-Ali’s heart condition was diagnosed between his release on bail and his sentencing, and is understood to have been caused directly by the stress he was placed under during his initial detention and the threat of further imprisonment. 

Nevertheless, every request that he has made to be referred to a cardiologist during his imprisonment has been rejected, and after his most recent request, Amir-Ali was assaulted by a prison officer, worsening his condition.

Amir-Ali applied for conditional release in January, but his request was blocked by Ministry of Intelligence agents due to his perceived lack of “cooperation” with them.

Article18’s Mansour Borji explained: “Detainees are often compelled to accept extrajudicial conditions as a prerequisite for receiving benefits such as temporary furlough, pardon, or early release. Authorities and interrogators seek to leverage these individuals as informants, or ‘collaborators’, requiring them to resume their daily lives while covertly gathering intelligence on other Christians and their activities. This practice constitutes a form of coercion, further infringing upon the detainees’ rights and subjecting them to ongoing surveillance and undue pressure.”

Mr Borji added that he was “extremely relieved” to hear that Amir-Ali had ended his hunger strike, but that the Christian convert “should not be in prison in the first place, nor have been denied the treatment he required, and certainly not assaulted”.  

He called on the Iranian authorities to “stop persecuting Christians simply for meeting together to worship, as is their right under the international covenants that Iran has signed”, and to “treat prisoners humanely”.