Release of ‘Mattias Alihnežad’ from Long-Term Imprisonment

“Mattias Alihnežad,” a Christian citizen, was released on Saturday from his latest period of long-term imprisonment.

“Abdolreza Alihnežad,” known as Mattias, a leader of a house church who had been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned over the past year and a half due to peaceful religious activities, was released on Saturday from his latest long-term imprisonment.

In November 2014, Mattias Alihnežad, along with “Behnam Irani” and “Reza Rabani,” other leaders of a house church known as the “Church of Iran,” were each sentenced to six years in prison with internal exile on charges of “acting against national security,” “propagating Christianity outside the church,” and “informing enemies of the Islamic Republic.” This verdict was later overturned by the appeals court and all three were acquitted of the charges.

In 2021, the head of the judiciary of Alborz Province wrote a letter to the Supreme Court objecting to the acquittal of these three church leaders. As a result of this objection, the second branch of the Supreme Court upheld the original six-year prison sentence. On December 16, 2021, just two weeks after his release from Evin Prison, Mattias was summoned to the Anzali prosecutor’s office and transferred from there to Anzali Prison.

His case demonstrated that the pressure on Christian citizens in Iran can continue for years after their initial arrest and does not end even after they are acquitted. In 2021, Mr. Alihnežad was one of the defendants among nine Christian citizens residing in Rasht and Anzali who were serving five years of punitive imprisonment on charges of religious activities in a house church.

Following a request for retrial of their case, the Supreme Court overturned the sentences of these individuals and, according to a ruling it issued, declared that activities in house churches should not be considered as acting against national security. The reviewing board in branch 28 of the Supreme Court, on November 3, 2021, in an unprecedented ruling regarding nine imprisoned Christian citizens in Evin Prison, declared that the propagation of Christianity and the establishment of house churches is neither a crime nor a conspiracy to undermine the country’s security.

In the Supreme Court’s ruling, it was stated that “merely home propagation of Christianity and promotion of the Zionist missionary sect, which apparently both mean the propagation and promotion of Christianity through holding home meetings, has no manifestation in society and conspiracy to undermine the country’s security, whether domestic or foreign, and through the formation of associations and organizational branches does not fall under the scope of articles 498 and 499 of the Islamic Penal Code of 1996 and other criminal laws, and the propagation of Christianity and the establishment of house churches have not been criminalized in the laws.”

Despite all these issues and the ruling that was issued, the arrest and re-imprisonment of Mattias just two weeks after his release showed that the concerns of his cellmates, whose courageous videos inspired the “A Place to Worship” campaign, were not unfounded, as the campaign had been widely welcomed by Christians. Christian citizens imprisoned in Evin Prison wrote a letter to the authorities of the Islamic Republic asking: “Where can we Persian-speaking Christians worship after our imprisonment ends so that our actions do not lead us back to prison?”

After his re-arrest and re-imprisonment, Mattias Alihnežad was located very far from his hometown and family. He was not even given the opportunity to say goodbye to his wife and daughter and was exiled without prior notice to Minab Prison, which is 1,600 kilometers away from his city of Anzali.

Mattias spent approximately five months in Minab under open prison conditions, but the judicial authorities, without providing clear reasons, ended this situation and transferred him again to the general ward of Minab Prison. He was finally released on Saturday from his latest period of long-term imprisonment.

He is now celebrating his fifty-first birthday with his family while another legal case is pending against him, his wife Anahita, their daughter, and nine other members of their house church, which threatens their freedom. The new charges against them relate to their arrest during Christmas celebrations in 2022, when Mattias was on temporary leave from prison for a short period.