Two brothers arrested at a Christmas celebration near Isfahan in December 2021 have been summoned to begin serving four-year prison sentences on charges related to their Christian activities.

Christian converts Mansour (50, pictured on left) and Mahmoud (57) Mardani-Kharaji began serving their sentences on 16 and 20 December respectively in Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison. They had been charged with “deviant propaganda activities contrary to the holy religion of Islam” and “acting against national security by participating in a house church” and a year ago they were sentenced to four years in prison. They were also sentenced to two years’ post-release exile from their home province of Isfahan, a five-year ban on membership of any group and fines equivalent to around €1400 each.

Mansour and Mahmoud were summoned by the 2nd Investigation Branch of the Lenjan City Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office to a court hearing on 12 November 2024, when bail was set and an arrest warrant was issued on charges filed under the amended Article 500 of Iran’s penal code, under which many Christians have been convicted in recent years. Two other Christians (who cannot be named) were arrested with the brothers and were also present at the hearing but the charges against them were dropped. The brothers were sentenced on 16 January 2025 by Judge Mohammad-Ali Abbasi of the Lenjan Revolutionary Court.

Christmas celebration raided

Mansour and Mahmoud were arrested on 22 December 2021 at a house-church meeting in Fooladshahr, a small city just outside Isfahan, with around eight other Christians who had gathered for a Christmas celebration. The gathering was raided by plainclothes intelligence agents who showed no warrant and did not state which security agency they came from.

Mahmoud and Mansour were held incommunicado for over a month after their arrest before they were released on bail and local officials reportedly mocked and threatened family members when they sought information about them.

(Article 18, Mohabat News)