A 64-year-old convert to Christianity who failed to come home from a visit to a “house church” in Hashtgerd on 30 November has spent the last two weeks in Karaj’s Rajaei-Shahr Prison.

Jamshid Derakhshan, who has been a Christian for 30 years, called home on 12 December to tell his family he will soon be released on bail. 

Before his call, his family had had no knowledge of his whereabouts since his disappearance. Attempts to find out information from government agencies proved fruitless.

Article18 understands that his family are concerned for his health, as he suffers from a stomach illness, and that after his conversion to Christianity he was fired from a job with a government organisation.