Joseph Shahbazian's arrest continues without official indictment
The detention of Joseph Shahbazian continues without providing an official indictment or access to a lawyer.
Joseph Shahbazian, who has been re-arrested and is being held in Evin Prison, has been denied the right to choose a lawyer and no charges have been filed against him yet, but he remains in detention indefinitely.
He was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents at his residence in Tehran on February 8, 1403. Published reports indicate that dozens of other Christians who were arrested with him in the summer of 2020 have also been summoned or interrogated again.
According to Article 35 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, a prisoner has the right to access a lawyer, but unfortunately, Joseph Shahbazian has been denied access to a lawyer until now. The Islamic Republic not only does not allow access to lawyers for political and religious prisoners, but also conducts inquisitions and forced confessions.
Joseph Shahbazian was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison, but after the Supreme Court overturned the verdict in Esfand 1401, Branch 21 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals reduced the verdict of the lower court from 10 years to 2 years on June 2, 1402, and he was released from prison in Shahrivar 1402 after serving one year in prison.
His re-arrest in February of this year came despite the fact that the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal had reduced his sentence to two years, stating that there was insufficient evidence to determine the maximum sentence mentioned in Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code. Prison authorities had also informed him before his release that he had been pardoned.
The Islamic Republic has imprisoned many Christian citizens, civil society activists, and anti-regime protesters on false charges, without providing any credible evidence. Joseph Shahbazian, who was later pardoned, was charged with “acting against national security through membership, management, and formation of a Christian evangelical house church and creating a group with the aim of disrupting the security of the country.” But now, without any credible evidence or charges against him, he has been re-arrested and is in limbo.
