Equality of Christian prisoners with other prisoners from the perspective of "Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei"
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of the judiciary, considered Christian prisoners to be on the same level as other prisoners.
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of the Iranian judiciary, claimed in a speech to Armenian and Assyrian parliamentarians and some other religious officials that the conditions of Christian and Muslim citizens in prison are equal. He made his remarks at a time when the revolutionary courts have been oppressing Christians for years, imprisoning them for their beliefs and peaceful activities.
In his speech, he stated: "We have issued an order granting 5-day leave to eligible Christian convicts." Eligible Christians, from the perspective of the head of the judiciary, do not include believers who have been imprisoned in home churches or for possessing a Persian Bible. Rather, he means by eligible Christians, financial criminals from the Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities.
Gholamhossein Ejei made this claim while many imprisoned Christians have been sent to prison on charges of acting against national security and are in the thieves and smugglers' ward, generally criminals and criminals with serious charges. Among the prisoners who have been sentenced to prison because of their faith, we can mention "Hakob Gochomian" who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of "educational and missionary activity contrary to the holy law of Islam through membership and direction of the missionary Christian network in the country."
We can also mention "Lale Saati", "Mina Khajovi", "Ebrahim Firouzi" and "Yaser Akbari". Lale Saati was sent to prison on charges of "acting against national security" and Mina Khajovi on charges of "managing illegal groups with the aim of disrupting the country's security". Both of them were deprived of medical facilities for a long time due to their health conditions.
"Ebrahim Firoozi" also spent more than 7 years in prison and exile, so much so that he was even deprived of visiting his sick mother. Yaser Akbari was also imprisoned for 5 years and was deprived of taking care of his son Amir Ali, who was seriously ill. These people are only a small number of Christians who have been imprisoned and have spent long periods of time in prison because of their faith.
"Hossein Ahmadiniaz, a lawyer living in the Netherlands, told Article 18 about the main factor in the repression of Christians in Iran: "The reality is that the Iranian judicial system has been the main factor in the repression, torture, and imprisonment of Christian converts in Iran for the past 45 years, in such a way that the judges of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, who are responsible for handling these cases, have deprived the accused Christian converts of the minimum legal rights stipulated in Iranian law and have given security institutions permission to illegally detain, illegally search, torture, mistreat, confiscate property, and deny access to an independent lawyer, issue unlawful sentences, illegally deprive them of legal immunities, etc. Therefore, an institution that is itself the cause of all the suffering and torment of Christian converts in Iran cannot be so honorable, and this is mostly for propaganda and deceiving human rights organizations and Western governments."
Ejei's claim about equal rights for Christians and other citizens came at a time when Christian citizens have been repeatedly labeled apostates and even given harsh sentences because of their beliefs. Many have also been called "impure" during interrogations because of their beliefs.
