15-Year Prison Sentence Issued for Yaseen Mousavi, Christian Citizen
Yaseen Mousavi, a Christian citizen, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court.
According to published reports, Yaseen Mousavi, a Christian believer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Third Branch of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court, headed by Mahdi Fatahi-Nia, on charges of “membership in groups intended to disrupt security” and “propaganda against the system through the promotion of Zionist Christianity.” He was sentenced to 10 years for the first charge and 5 years for the second charge, charges that fall under security-related offenses.
Yaseen Mousavi was arrested in September 2017 and held for 3 months, and again in March 2021 for 3 months in Shiban security prison. He was also arrested during nationwide protests in November 2022 in the city of Izeh and spent time in prison. According to some unofficial sources, it is reported that in the indictment text of Yaseen Mousavi, it was written that he played an active role in the 2022 nationwide protests and is one of the network leaders of the Christian organization of Ilam in Khuzestan Province.
He was arrested again on December 24, 2023, in the city of Izeh along with several other Christian citizens including Ismail Narimanpour. After enduring 20 days of solitary confinement at the Ministry of Intelligence, he was transferred to Shiban security prison in Ahvaz and was held in custody for 5 months. Eventually, on May 1, 2024, he was temporarily released on a bail of 2 billion tomans pending the court hearing. He was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison at the court session held on May 27.
In addition to the sentence issued against him, other Christians who were arrested in the city of Izeh last year were also tried in court. According to published reports, “Hamid Afzali” was sentenced to 10 years on security charges, “Nasrollah Mousavi” and “Bijan Gholi-Zade” were each sentenced to 5 years, “Zahrab Shahbazi” to 9 months, and “Iman Salehi” to 5 years in prison. Several others whose identities are protected were each sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Since the conversion of Muslims to Christianity is not officially recognized by the judicial authorities, treatment of those involved is conducted with high sensitivity and coercion. The severe handling and issuance of heavy sentences for them occurs despite Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which state that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the freedom to change his religion or belief and to manifest his religion or belief, either individually or in community with others and in public or private.
