The sentences of five Christians condemned to a combined over 70 years in prison for ordinary Christian activities, such as praying, performing baptisms, taking Communion and celebrating Christmas, have been upheld by an appeals court.

The five Christians, including an Iranian-Armenian pastor and his wife and three Christian converts, were sentenced in October last year, though they weren’t informed until a month later.

They have now been told that their appeals have failed, though no hearing took place.

The five include two former prisoners of conscience, Iranian-Armenian pastor Joseph Shahbazian and Christian convert Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, who were re-arrested in February last year having previously spent a combined six years in prison on charges related to their involvement in house-churches.

The other three are women – Joseph’s wife Lida, Christian convert Aida Najaflou, who fractured her spine late last year after falling out her Evin Prison bunk bed, and a third woman whose name has not been made public.

It was initially reported that the Christians had been sentenced to over 50 years in prison, but as more details have become clear, it is now known that their combined sentences total at least 71 years.

Nasser, Joseph, Aida and the unnamed woman received 10-year sentences under the amended Article 500 of the penal code, while Lida was given eight years. Aida, Lida and the unnamed woman received additional five-year terms for the second charge of “gathering and collusion”, while Joseph was given six years.

Aida received an additional two-year sentence on “propaganda” charges related to social media posts, while it remains unclear whether Nasser, who did not appeal against the verdict, received an additional sentence.

In practice, the Christians must serve a combined 48 years in prison, as when there is more than one sentence, only the highest is enforced.

On top of the prison sentences, the Christians’ personal property, including Bibles and other Christian literature, was confiscated by the state for the “research” purposes of the Ministry of Intelligence – as happened in another case last year involving two Christians sentenced to 12 years each in prison for “smuggling” Bibles into Iran.