Iranian Christian convert Mary Mohammadi (27), who is a well-known human rights defender and journalist and a former prisoner of conscience, disappeared in late February and has not been heard from since then. She was in communication with her family after travelling from Tehran to Ahvaz until around 26 February, when contact abruptly ceased. Amnesty International believes that she is being detained by the Iranian authorities.

In a report published on 28 May 2026 titled Iran: Mass arbitrary arrests and political executions mark intensifying repression, Amnesty International stated: “Journalist and human rights defender, Mary Mohammadi, a Christian convert, has been subjected to enforced disappearance since late February 2026. According to an informed source, she had travelled from Tehran to Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, and was in contact with her family until around 26 February 2026 before communication ceased. The authorities have refused to disclose her fate or whereabouts to her family but, according to information gathered by Amnesty International, she was initially held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Ahvaz before being transferred to an undisclosed location on 2 April 2026.”

The report says Iranian authorities are using the cover of “wartime conditions” to “intensify their repression of dissent through mass arbitrary arrests, accelerated grossly unfair judicial proceedings, politically motivated executions, harsh prison sentences, and asset confiscations”.

It states that since the attack launched by the USA and Israel on Iran on 28 February, Iranian authorities have arbitrarily arrested more than 6,000 people including protesters, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, dissidents, and members of ethnic and religious minorities, and notes that there are “widespread concerns” about enforced disappearance, torture and the use of forced “confessions”.

Background: years of persecution

Mary Mohammadi, whose given name is Fatemeh, was born into a Muslim family and at the age of 17 she began to carry out extensive research into other religions, although she found it difficult to get hold of a Bible because printing Persian-language Bibles is illegal in Iran. She came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the most outstanding figure in world history and converted to Christianity at a house church meeting, later explaining, “I came to find truth, love, life, humanity, forgiveness, calmness.”

Mary was arrested for the first time aged 19 on 17 November 2017. She spent six months in Tehran’s Evin Prison on a charge of “membership of evangelical groups” before her release on 14 May 2018.

In July 2019 Mary faced fresh criminal charges, which were eventually quashed, relating to “improper hijab”. She initially went to police to complain that she had been assaulted by a woman wearing a chador who had taken issue with her “improper” wearing of her headscarf on a bus, but instead of responding to Mary’s complaint police detained her until 3am the following morning, when they released her with a warning.

In 2019 Mary courageously launched a campaign called “KHMA” (from the Persian for “Church is Christians’ Right”), campaigning for the rights of all Christians – whether from Christian homes, or converts – to be given the right to attend church. Christians in Iran are not permitted to meet for worship in Persian (Farsi, the official language of Iran, which is spoken by the general populace) and converts from Islam are not permitted to attend the historically-recognised ethnic minority Armenian and Assyrian churches.

In December 2019 Mary was kicked out of Azad University in Tehran, without explanation, on the eve of her English-language exams. A source told the Human Rights Activists News Agency that at the start of term Mary had problems obtaining a student card, which made her “virtually ineligible” to sit classes, and that the ineligibility had now been made official. Members of other religious minorities have also reported denial of education in Iran, especially the Baha’i community.

Mary was detained again on 12 January 2020 for participating in anti-government demonstrations with thousands of others in Tehran’s Azadi Square following the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Security forces brutally attacked, abused and arrested her. There was no word of Mary’s whereabouts for a month, but then it was confirmed that she was being held in Qarchak women’s prison, south of Tehran, which is notorious for overcrowding, beatings and other human rights violations.

After her arrest Mary was forced to sit in a yard for hours, in extremely cold weather, and was not given any food for 24 hours after her arrest. Her handcuffs were put on in a very uncomfortable cross shape. She was interrogated by three officers who gave her forms containing thirty questions, which Mary refused to answer in the absence of a lawyer. Male and female officers beat her so badly that the bruises were visible for three weeks and female officers strip-searched her twice, telling her that if she refused to remove her clothes they would rip them off her.

She was charged with “disturbing public order by participating in an illegal rally” and was released on bail on 26 February, but in April 2020 she was sentenced to three months in prison and ten lashes, suspended for one year.

Following her release on bail Mary was unable to return to her job as a gymnastics instructor, despite good relations with her employer. She says it was “very clear” that intelligence agents had put her employer under pressure to prevent her return to work.

On 18 January 2021, still denied employment, Mary was arrested for alleged “improper hijab” by Iran’s “morality police” who complained that her trousers were too tight, her headscarf was not correctly adjusted and she should not be wearing her coat unbuttoned. However, she was not called to serve her suspended sentence.

On 21 February 2022 Mary left Iran to travel to the US, and in April 2023 she was presented with the St Stephen’s Award for Persecuted Christians for her “outstanding courage” and “extraordinary selflessness”. The ceremony was held in Bonn but Mary was broadcast live from the USA.

Now in 2026, back in Iran, the brave Christian activist has once again been targeted by the authorities, and there are deep concerns for her wellbeing.

(Amnesty International, Article 18, Christian Broadcasting Network, Human Rights Activists News Agency, Middle East Concern, World Evangelical Alliance)

Photos: Article 18