A 47-year-old Christian woman has been named as another of those arrested during a series of raids on the homes of Christians last week by intelligence agents belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Malihe Nazari, who is married with two sons aged 22 and 15, was arrested at her home in the Sadeghiyeh district of Tehran last Tuesday evening, reports Mohabat News.

Article18 reported on Friday that at least 12 Christians had been arrested in a coordinated operation on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning targeting house-church members in Tehran, sister city Karaj and also Malayer, 400km southwest of Tehran. 

The confirmation of Malihe’s arrest means that the total number of arrests was at least 13.

As Article18 reported, the others known to have been arrested were: in western Tehran’s Yaftabad district, Iranian-Armenian Christian Joseph Shahbazian and Christian converts named Reza, Salar, Sonya, and elderly sisters Mina and Maryam; in separate raids on their homes in Tehran and Karaj, two men named Farhad and another named Arash; and, finally, three more Christian converts in Malayer named Sohrab, Ebrahim and Yasser.

Dozens more Christians were ordered to provide their contact details and told they will be soon be summoned for questioning.

According to Mohabat News, Malihe is a member of a women’s-only house-church known as “Yek Delaan” or “One Heart”, which has dozens of mostly middle-aged members.

During the raid, Malihe’s house was reportedly searched and several of her personal belongings were confiscated, including her computer, mobile phone and a number of books.

The agents then took Malihe away, and told her family she would be taken to Evin Prison.

When they went to visit her at the prison the next day, they found Malihe’s name on the list of detainees but weren’t able to see her, although the following day she was able to briefly call home to say that she was OK. 

Malihe’s eldest son has reportedly been battling with cancer for the past two years.