Five Christian converts have been sentenced to a total of over forty years in prison on charges related to their religious activities. They were arrested in June 2024 and sentenced in July 2025, but their cases have only now been made public and just three have been named – pictured from left they are Morteza Faghanpour-Saasi, Hessamuddin Mohammad Junaidi and Abolfazl Ahmadzadeh-Khajani.
The Christians were sentenced on 15 July at the 1st Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Varamin, where each was given a sentence of seven years and six months in prison for “propaganda activity contrary to Islamic law with overseas connections” plus seven months in prison for “propaganda against the system”. The charges are thought to relate to participation in Christian training courses in Turkey, attending church meetings in their homes and online, and other online activities. Morteza was sentenced to an additional 17 months in prison for “insulting the leadership” – allegedly insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on social media.
The five Christians and at least two other converts were arrested at their homes and workplaces in the cities of Varamin and Pishva, just south of Tehran, in June 2024 and personal items including Bibles were confiscated. They were held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for between one and six months before being released on bail equivalent to up to €26,000 each. Several were pressurised to sign statements renouncing their Christian faith to receive reductions in their sentences, and Article 18 reports that Morteza was tortured physically during his six-month pre-trial detention.
Morteza was arrested at his workplace in Varamin on 12 June 2024, after which agents raided his home and confiscated personal belongings including his Bible, other Christian literature and images and the cross on his wall. The propaganda charges against him relate to his alleged illegal distribution of Christian books and to his having taken part in Christian courses and church services online. He spent a month in Ward 240 of Evin Prison, followed by twenty days in Ward 209 (which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence and is where he was tortured) and then four months in Ward 8 as he could not afford bail at the time.
The five Christians’ appeals against their sentences were rejected on 30 September by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal. The following day, Article 18 reported that “All five Christians must appear at a civil court next week to face separate charges of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’” – for having been present at a Zoom meeting during which a Christian leader living outside Iran allegedly said something considered critical of Islamic beliefs.
(Article 18, Middle East Concern, Mohabat News)
(Photo: Mohabat News)