by designer | 31 May 2022 | Witness Statements
For a summary of the Shekoohi family’s story, you can read our feature article here. Names: Esmail (Homayoun) Shekoohi Gholamzadeh (Born, 1958) Fariba Nazemianpour (Born, 1970)Fatemeh (Helma) Shekoohi (Born, 2000) Dates of arrest: May 2008, 8 February 2012 Date...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 17 May 2022 | News
Left to right: Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh. Three house-church members already facing five-year prison sentences remain in detention more than a week after they were re-arrested. Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh and Ahmad Sarparast were arrested...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 13 May 2022 | News
‘Challenging Minority Discrimination in Iran’ was the title of a conference held at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday. The two-hour discussion was hosted by Italian MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo, and jointly organised by Minority Rights Group...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 11 May 2022 | Features
Nima Rezaei, born in the year of the Iranian Revolution, was just one month old when his father died. The impact of this event on him and his mother was so profound that, as a teenager, it led him to stray onto the wrong path, culminating in a 13-year battle against...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 10 May 2022 | Witness Statements
For a summary of Nima’s story, you can read our feature article here. Background 1. My name is Nima Rezaei and I was born in 1979 in the city of Sari, in Mazandaran province [northern Iran]. When I was 40 days old, my father died in an accident. Since my mother was...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 9 May 2022 | News
Left to right: Behnam Akhlaghi, Morteza Mashoodkari, Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh, Ahmad Sarparast, and Babak Hosseinzadeh. Four “Church of Iran” members already facing criminal charges relating to the practice of their faith, with two having spent over two years...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 5 May 2022 | News
An Iranian-Armenian Christian faces 10 years in prison for teaching other Christians in his home, or what a notorious judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam”. Anooshavan Avedian, who will celebrate his 60th birthday on...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 3 May 2022 | News
A group of Persian-speaking Christians protesting in Stockholm on International Workers’ Day. (Photo: Twitter @iamchristiantoo) Twenty-five Iranian Christians have signed a joint statement highlighting the Islamic Republic’s deprivation of Persian-speaking...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 29 Apr 2022 | News
Arbitrarily detained pastor Yousef Nadarkhani must return to Tehran’s Evin Prison today after enjoying his first visit home in nearly four years. The pastor, once sentenced to death for “apostasy”, has been serving a 10-year sentence – later reduced to six...
by Steve Dew-Jones | 28 Apr 2022 | News
A second Iranian woman convert began a two-year prison sentence on Easter Saturday on charges related to the practice of her faith. Sakine (Mehri) Behjati handed herself in to the authorities at Evin Prison in Tehran on the same day as Fariba Dalir, and both are now...
