Continued arrest of a non-Christian couple in Tehran
Sara Nemati and Mehrdad Houshmand, a Christian couple who were arrested in Tehran on September 10, are still being held in Evin Prison in uncertain conditions.
According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, security forces in Tehran arrested Sara Nemati and Mehrdad Houshmand, a newly married Christian couple, after summoning them to the city's intelligence department's follow-up office. The Christian converts are accused of performing Christian rituals and ceremonies at a funeral in Behesht-e-Zahra.
Despite the passage of more than ten days since their arrest, their fate remains shrouded in uncertainty. As of the time of writing, only Ms. Nemati has been allowed to briefly contact her family, in which she stated that she and her husband are still being “interrogated.”
HRANA had previously reported that on September 10 of this year, while the funeral was being held in Plot 300 of Behesht Zahra, Mehrdad Houshmand and his wife Sara Nemati participated in the ceremony as Christian converts.
These two Christian converts conducted ceremonies and recited prayers in their own religious way during the ceremony.
An informed source explained to HRANA’s reporter, “During the ceremony, strangers came to the scene and filmed Mr. Houshmand and his wife during the ceremony. They allegedly demanded and confiscated Mr. Houshmand’s identification documents after the ceremony ended.”
According to this informed source, the day after the ceremony, this Tehran citizen and his wife were summoned to the Intelligence Department's follow-up office to retrieve documents and answer some questions.
Mehrdad Houshmand and Sara Nemati were arrested at the same location after several hours of interrogation and then transferred to Evin Prison.
It is worth noting that although the constitution of the Islamic Republic names Christianity as one of the official religions of the country, the security apparatus nevertheless deals with Muslims who change their religion and adopt the Christian guise.
Source: HRANA
