List of Christian Prisoners in Iran in Recent Years and Months
The number of Christian prisoners in Iran has increased in recent years and months.
Christians living in Iran have not only been subjected to oppression, persecution, torture, arrest, and execution by the Islamic Republic system over the past decades, but since 1988, the pace of their arrests has intensified, especially in the past two years and even in recent months, when many of them have been arrested and their personal property and in some cases their real estate has been confiscated by the government.
It is worth noting that many of them, who have converted from Islam to Christianity, in addition to being considered apostates, have been arrested on charges of acting against national security and after months of uncertainty in prison, are deprived of the right to choose their own lawyer, or have been temporarily released by posting very heavy bail bonds.
Therefore, in this report, we address the arrest of Christian individuals who have been detained due to their beliefs under the charges of propaganda against the system and acting against national security.
“Abdolreza (Mathias) Alighegnajad” is one of the leaders of a house church known as “Church of Iran” and was arrested in December 2022 at a Christmas gathering in Bandar Anzali and transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht. His wife, “Anahita Khademis,” was summoned a week later for interrogation at the Bandar Anzali Intelligence Office and was arrested at the same location and transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht.
“Bianca Zia,” an Assyrian citizen in Tehran who participated in nationwide protests, was arrested on November 26 in a raid on her residence by security forces and was accused of “propaganda against the system through Christian evangelism.” After one month of detention in Evin Prison, she was released on bail of 500 million tomans.
“Mohammad Golbaz” was arrested in August by security agents in Karaj and transferred to an unknown location. He was arrested on charges of “propaganda against the system” and was temporarily released on bail of 1.5 billion tomans.
“Gholamreza Kivanmanesh” was arrested following his participation in a house church in Nishapur that was raided by IRGC intelligence agents. He suffers from a serious illness and there are many concerns about his health. It is worth noting that four other people were also arrested at this house church and eight others were released after signing a commitment not to participate in Christian activities. Gholamreza Kivanmanesh was arrested on charges of “propaganda against the system and insulting sacred values” and is temporarily released on bail of 700 million tomans.
“Rahmat Rostamipour,” 49 years old, was arrested following a raid on his residence by 12 security agents. His wife, named “Azar,” was also interrogated and accused of “propaganda against the system through participation in an illegal house church group.” Security agents also confiscated Bibles, books related to Christianity, and personal items including their children’s mobile phones and tablets. According to a ruling issued by Branch 102 of the Bandar Anzali Civil Court, he was accused of “communicating with others about Christianity,” “teaching the Christian faith,” and “propaganda against the system.” Rahmat Rostamipour was released after explicitly confessing to operating a house church, but due to educational activities contrary to Islamic sacred principles through establishing a house church, he was required to pay 50 million tomans in cash fines and was deprived of social rights for five years and one day.
“Anoshan Audian” in Tehran, along with Maryam Mohammadi and Abbas Souri, was among 18 Christian citizens arrested in summer 2020 following their participation in a house church service after a raid by Ministry of Intelligence agents and transferred to Evin Prison. He was accused of forming an illegal group to act against national security and after spending 32 days in solitary confinement, was temporarily released on bail of 1 billion tomans. According to statements by their lawyer Iman Soleimani, the retrial of these three Christian citizens was rejected by Branch 26 of the Supreme Court without any justification and without considering their previous defenses. They were sentenced last year to 10 years in prison and 10 years of deprivation of social rights.
Fariba Dalir, Mansoor Mardanipour Kharaji, Ahmad (John) Sarparast, Ayoub Pourrezazadeh, Mortaza Hajab Mashudhkari, Hojjat Loftikhalaf, Ismail Narimanpour, Alireza Varksah, Mohammad Ali Torabi, Mohammad Kaedgap, Masoumeh Ghasemi, Ibrahim A, Yaser, Sohrab A, Joseph Shahbazian, Salar Ashrafi Moghaddam, Farhad Khazaei, Samiyeh, Sonya, Sadegh, Maliha Nazari, Reza N, Maryam Khajavi, Mina Khajavi, Farhad Mohseni, Arash R, Alireza M, Reza Zaeemi, Hadi (Muslim) Rahimi, Catherine (Saeideh) Sajadpour, Ramin Hasanpur, Sekineh (Mehri) Behjati, Puria Peima, Sam Khosravi, Maryam Falahi, Sasan Khosravi, Marjan Falahi, Khatoun Fathallahzadeh, Habib Heidari, Homayoun Zhawe, Sarah Ahmadi, Babak Hassanzadeh, Mahdi Khatibi, Behnam Akhlagi, Hamed Ashoori, Kamal Nemanyan, Mohammad Vafadar, Shahrooz Islamdoust, Hossein Kadimour, Khalil Dehqanpour, Mahdi Akbari, Mahdi Rokhparvari, Fatima Sharifi, Simin Sohili Nia, Ismail Maghribinezad, Sina Moloudian, Roksaneh Qanbari, Shima Zanganeh, Shokufeh Zanganeh, Farzad Behzadizadeh, Abdullah Yousefi, Jamshid Dorkhshan, Asghar Salehi, Mohammad Reza Rezaei, Aziz Majidazadeh, Sepahrak, Amin Khaki, Milad Goodarzi, Shahabeddin Shahi, Alireza Normohammadi, Yaghub Nateghgi, Ali Amini, Majidpeza Souznachi, Marie (Fatima) Mohammadi, Abdalali Pourmand, Mohammad Ali Torabi, Iskander Rezaei, Soroush Sarayi, Shamiram Issawi, Fatima (Ailar) Bakhtari, Anusha Rezabakhsh, Soheil Zargarizadeh-Sani, Nana Badriyan, Andre Vartanian, Alef Sepahri, Ramiel Battamarz, Hadi Asgari, Amir Saman Dashteh, Mohammad Dehnoui, Nasser Nordgol Tapeh, Youssef Farhadov, Yusuf Naderkhan, Zaman Fedaei, Mohammad Ali Mesibzadeh, and Mohammad Reza Omidi are people who have been arrested and imprisoned in recent years in different cities because of their beliefs. It is worth noting that the number of arrested individuals exceeds this number, the mention of whose names would span many pages.
Many other individuals in various cities have been arrested by regime agents on charges of propaganda against the system, acting against national security through Christian evangelism, insulting sacred values, and participating in house churches. Christians who are officially recognized under the constitution have been temporarily released by depositing bail bonds of less than one billion tomans and Christians who are not officially recognized and have converted from Islam to Christianity have been temporarily released and subsequently imprisoned by posting bail bonds of over one billion tomans.
