Court of Appeals: 9 Christian believers acquitted of charges
HRANA News Agency – Branch 34 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals acquitted Abdolreza Ali Haqnejad, Behnam Akhlaqi, Shahroz Eslamdoost, Mehdi Khatibi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Noemanian, and Mohammadreza Vafadar, nine Christian believers, of the charges brought against them. These citizens had previously been sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. The citizens’ request for a retrial was accepted by the Supreme Court and their cases were sent to the same branch for retrial.
According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal acquitted nine Christian believers of the charges.
According to this ruling, which was issued by Branch 34 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals, with the advice of Judge Seyyed Ali Asghar Kamali and Judge Akbar Johari on March 29 and notified to these citizens, Abdolreza Ali Haqnejad, Behnam Akhlaqi, Shahroz Eslamdoost, Mehdi Khatibi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Noemanian, and Mohammadreza Vafadar were acquitted of the charge of "acting against national security by forming a house church and propagating missionary and Zionist Christianity . "
The lawyers defending these citizens argued in their defense that: "Their clients, as Christians, merely followed the principles and precepts of Christianity and did not take any action against national security. In explaining the approach of Christianity, they stated that among the teachings of Christianity and among the duties and obligations of believers in Christ is obedience, submission, and support of the sovereignty and the country in which believers in Christ live." The Court of Appeals accepted the defense and voted to acquit these citizens.
These citizens were previously sentenced to 5 years in prison by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Mohammadi Moghiseh. This sentence was finally confirmed by Branch 36 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal, headed by Judge Seyyed Ahmad Zargar, in June 2019. In November of this year, Branch 28 of the Supreme Court, headed by Seyyed Ali Izpanah Shahri, declared in an unprecedented ruling that preaching Christianity and forming a house church were neither crimes nor collusion to disrupt the security of the country. As a result, the citizens’ request for a retrial was accepted and their case was sent to this branch for retrial as a co-appellant branch.
Abdolreza Ali Haqnejad was arrested on January 15, 2020, after being summoned to the Anzali Prosecutor's Office. It is said that the arrest of this citizen is related to a case in which he was previously acquitted of the charges, and this ruling was recently overturned by the Supreme Court.
Hossein Kadivar and Khalil Dehghanpour were arrested on February 29, 2018, at a house church meeting in the city of Rasht, and Babak Hosseinzadeh, Behnam Akhlaqi, and Mehdi Khatibi were also arrested on February 25 of the same year. Mr. Akhlaqi’s home was searched by officers after his arrest, and they confiscated some of his personal belongings and took them away. According to an informed source, security forces attempted to break or damage symbols related to Christianity during the search of Mr. Akhlaqi’s home. On February 11, Abdolreza (Matias) Ali Haqnejad was also arrested at his home, and on Friday, February 16, three other Christian believers, Mohammad Vafadar, Mohammad (Shahruz) Islam Doost, and Kamal Nomaniyan, were arrested at a house church meeting. It should be noted that all of these citizens were arrested by agents of the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization.
After 12 days in a detention center of a security institution, Babak Hosseinzadeh and Behnam Akhlaqi were transferred to prison and held in this prison for 11 days without observing the principle of separation of crimes. Finally, on March 18, 2018, they were temporarily released on bail of 150 million Tomans, pending the completion of the trial. Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Nomanian, and Mohammad Vafadar were also released on bail in March of the same year. On August 2, 2019, the first court hearing to hear the charges against these citizens was held in Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. During this hearing, the bail amount of Abdolreza Ali Haqnejad, Shahroz Eslamdoost, Behnam Akhlaqi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, and Mehdi Khatibi was increased to one billion and five hundred million Tomans, and they were arrested and transferred to Ward 4 of Evin Prison due to their financial inability to provide bail. Four others were also released on bail.
Behnam Akhlaqi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Abdolreza Ali Haqnejad, Shahroz Eslamdoost, Mehdi Khatibi, Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Nomaniyan, and Mohammad Vafadar are all members of a house church called the "Church of Iran" in the city of Rasht.
It is worth noting that despite the fact that Christians are recognized as a religious minority by law, the security services follow the issue of Muslims converting to Christianity with particular sensitivity and deal with activists in this field with force.
The treatment of Christian believers in Iran is taking place despite the fact that, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion and to change their religion with conviction, as well as the freedom to manifest it, individually or in community with others and in public or in private.
Source: HRANA
