Eight-Year Prison Sentence Issued for ‘Mansour and Mahmoud Mardani,’ Christian Citizens

Mansour and Mahmoud Mardani, Christian citizens, have been sentenced to 8 years imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court of Lanjan.

The 56-year-old Mansour and 49-year-old Mahmoud, two Christian brothers, were arrested in 1400 (2021) while celebrating Christmas at a house church in Fooladshahr, Isfahan. Ten other Christian citizens participated in the ceremony, but only these two brothers were detained. Subsequent reports indicated investigations and interrogations of other Christian citizens.

Most of these individuals were issued orders dismissing charges against them for “actions against national security through participation in a house church,” but judicial proceedings against the Mardani brothers began in Dey 1400 (December 2021). Branch 2 of the Investigation Department of the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Lanjan County, in Aban 1403 (October 2024), summoned Mansour and Mahmoud, issued a one-billion-tomans bail for each, charged them with “deviant educational and propagandistic activities contrary to Islamic law,” and issued an order for their prosecution. Meanwhile, two other citizens related to their case were only issued orders dismissing charges.

In Dey 1403 (December 2024), the court presided over by Judge “Mohammad Ali Abbasi” sentenced Mansour and Mahmoud Mardani to residential ban from Isfahan Province and Fooladshahr City, and two years of mandatory residence in “Ardal” district of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. These sentences were issued according to Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code.

According to published reports, the two Christian brothers have now been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court of Lanjan district, in addition to the heavy sentences already issued against them, to 4 years each of discretionary imprisonment, 150 million tomans in fines, and deprivation of social rights for 5 years.

These two brothers are neither the first nor will be the last to be arrested during Christmas. For several years, the Islamic Republic government has raided homes and house churches in various cities during Christmas, arrested Christians, subjected them to harassment and abuse—including children—and sentenced them to severe punishments, deportation, and imprisonment.