Court hearing held to hear charges against 7 Christian citizens
HRANA News Agency - The court session to investigate the charges against 7 Christian citizens, namely Joseph Shahbazian, Salar Eshraghi Moghadam, Farhad Khazaei, Somayeh Sadegh, Masoumeh Ghasemi, Mina Khajoo Qomi, and Maliheh Nazari, was held by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
According to HRANA news agency, citing Mohabat News, a court hearing was held to hear the charges against 7 Christian citizens. According to HRANA news agency, citing Mohabat News, a court hearing was held to hear the charges against 7 Christian citizens.
According to this report, on Sunday, June 26, 1402, the court session of Joseph Shahbazian, Salar Eshraghi Moghadam, Farhad Khazaei, Somayeh Sadegh, Masoumeh Ghasemi, Mina Khajoo Qomi, and Maliheh Nazari was held by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
HRANA had previously announced in a report on May 12, 2022, that a date had been set for the hearing of the cases of Joseph Shahbazian, Somayeh (Sonia) Sadegh, and Mina Khajoo Qomi.
An indictment was issued for these three Christian citizens some time ago and their case was referred to Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. The charges against these individuals were “forming a gang with the aim of disrupting the country’s security, acting against national security by preaching missionary Christianity, and forming a house church.”
Among them, Joseph Shahbazian, a 57-year-old citizen of Armenian descent, was arrested in July 2020 along with a number of Christian believers at a religious ceremony in the Yaftabad area of Tehran. Shahbazian was temporarily released on bail of two billion tomans in August 2020. Somayeh Sadeq and Mina Khajou Qomi were also among the detainees and were temporarily released on bail.
Earlier, Iman Soleimani, the lawyer defending these three Christian citizens, said that "despite repeated requests and orders from the investigator of Branch 3 of the Evin Security Court, the bailiffs are refusing to implement the order of the case's prosecutor, refusing to hand over the personal belongings and even the belongings of his clients' families, such as phones, laptops, and other items. Joseph Shahbazian's passport has also been confiscated by the bailiffs."
Also, Masoumeh Ghasemi, a Christian citizen and mother of Somayeh (Sonia) Sadegh, was previously arrested by officers on July 2, 2020, while she had gone to the Evin Prison Prosecutor's Office to inquire about her child's status, a day after his arrest, and was transferred to the prison's detention center. The two Christians were temporarily released on bail on July 9.
In addition, Maliheh Nazari, a Christian citizen, was previously arrested by security forces at her home in Tehran on July 3, 2020, and transferred from Evin Prison to Qarchak Prison in Varamin on August 2, following her inability to provide the high amount of bail set.
He was finally released from Qarchak Prison in Varamin in early September 2020 after posting bail temporarily until the end of the trial.
Source: HRANA
