Iran Jails Convert For Refusing To Abandon Christian Faith
A former Muslim who embraced faith in Christ has been ordered to begin a ten-month prison sentence for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” Worthy News learned Wednesday.
A former Muslim who embraced faith in Christ has been ordered to begin a ten-month prison sentence for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” Worthy News learned Wednesday.
Three former Muslims in Iran are the first Christians to be given prison sentences under Article 500, a new amendment to Iran’s penal code that aims to block the spread of the Gospel in the country, Morning Star News reports. Iran ranks 8 on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries that persecute Christians.
An Iranian court has sentenced three Christians from the evangelical Church of Iran denomination to five years imprisonment each for “engaging in propaganda against the Islamic regime,” trial observers say.
As Iran continues a relentless campaign of persecution against Iranian believers, on June 26 the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, northern Iran sentenced three Christians to five years in jail for “engaging in propaganda against the Islamic regime,” Christians Worldwide Solidarity reports.
Iranian Christians have urged prayers for a Christian convert after an appeals court upheld his 10-month prison sentence for “propaganda against the regime,” Worthy News learned.
Christians said Thursday they fear that the election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s president will lead to more persecution of religious minorities.
Iran is persecuting Christians in the country by wielding against them a new law that severely punishes “any deviant education that contradicts sacred Islamic shari’a,” Christian Today reports.
Iranian Christians requested prayers Monday for a Christian convert after he turned himself in to start serving a nine-month prison term in Iran for evangelism and leaving Islam, sources told Worthy News.
Christian converts and evangelists in Iran attend ‘persecution preparedness’ meetings to share practical and psychological ways of coping with the threat of government raids on underground churches and the prospect of being jailed in notoriously appalling prisons on the grounds of ‘national security,’ Open Doors UK reports.
Four devoted Christian men mistreated while in detention in Iran have been temporarily released due to the coronavirus pandemic, activists confirmed Thursday.
While Christian convert Majidreza Souzanchi was released from Iran’s Greater Tehran Penitentiary on April 8, four other Christians were arrested and detained by Iranian intelligence officials on April 19, International Christian Persecution reports. Iran currently ranks 8 on the Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith.
MajidReza Souzanchi Kushani, a Christian who was charged and imprisoned in Iran for promoting house churches, was given early release from jail because he caught COVID-19, Christian Response reported Friday. Iran ranks no. 8 on the US World Watch List 2021 of countries that persecute Christians.
Iranian Christians requested prayers Wednesday for Homayoun Zhaveh, 62, and his wife Sara Ahmadi, 42, as they were due to be summoned to prison for house church activities, Worthy News learned.
Iranian Christian Ebrahim Firouzi who spent years in prison after abandoning Islam and was recently jailed, could be released this weekend, Christians told Worthy News.
A Christian online writer who already received lashes for expressing her faith in Christ and criticizing Iran’s human rights abuses has been detained again, supporters said Thursday.
The U.S. State Department has condemned Iran’s reported flogging of a former Muslim-turned-Christian for drinking Communion wine.
Three Iranian Christian converts have fled Iran following the rejection of their appeals, rights activists confirmed. “Kvian Fallah-Mohammadi, Hadi Asgari, and Amin Afshar-Naderi were facing a combined 35 years in prison because of their faith,” said advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC).
A new survey on the growth of Christianity in Iran suggests there could soon be 1 million Iranian Christians living in the Islamic Republic, CBN News reports. Carried out by the non-profit Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN), the survey questioned 50,000 Iranians, 90% of whom live in the country. The survey showed that 1.5% of respondents identified as Christian.
A prominent Pentecostal pastor and his wife have fled Iran after their appeal against a 15-year combined prison sentence for Christian activities failed, rights activists and family confirmed late Tuesday.
A Christian convert in Iran has won an appeal against conviction for “insulting the sacred beliefs of Muslims,” but lost his appeal against two charges of inciting “propaganda against the state” and for “membership of a [“Zionist” evangelical] group hostile to the regime” respectively, the Christian Post reports. Ismaeil Maghrebinejad was arrested in January 2019 and sentenced by a civil court in January 2020 to a total of six years imprisonment on the original three charges.