Four Christian Converts Arrested in Karaj

According to reports, on the eve of the new Gregorian year, four Christian converts were arrested in Karaj County, Alborz Province. Kiarash Alipour, spokesperson for the 'Article 18 Organization for the Defense of the Rights of Christians in Iran,' told Radio Farda that these four Christian converts were arrested just before Christmas in Alborz Province. The detainees are Milad Goudarzi, Amin Khaki, Alireza Nourmohammadi, and Shahabeddin Shahi. Meanwhile, the 'Mohabat News' website, which covers news about Christians in Iran, reported that these individuals were arrested last Tuesday in Karaj. According to this report, security forces visited six homes and arrested the four in two houses that were 'holding meetings as home churches.' The security forces also visited the shops of two of these individuals, seizing 'bags and shoes' from one of the shops and sealing them. The reason for sealing these shops was cited as 'occupational interference and price gouging,' and in one of them, a Bible and a laptop were also confiscated. One of these shops in Fardis Karaj belongs to Milad Goudarzi, one of the detainees. The state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday, December 13, citing 'an informed source,' that 'elements of a deviant Christian sect who were engaged in promoting this sect and disrupting the economic system and market were arrested.' While this news agency raised accusations of 'disruption of the economic system and market' against these individuals, it did not specify the details of their actions, and the reason for these accusations remains unclear. Amin Khaki, one of the four detainees, had also been arrested in 2013 along with six of his associates and was recently released after serving his sentence in Ahvaz prison. In previous years, reports of the arrest of Christians and converts have been published around Christmas and the celebrations related to the birth of Christ. Meanwhile, in the spring and summer, 11 Christian converts and one Assyrian priest in Iran were sentenced to a total of 125 years in prison. Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, head of Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, had sentenced Youssef Naderkhani, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Mohammad Ali Mosibzadeh, and Zaman Fadaei to 10 years in prison on July 24. In June, Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, Hadi Asgari, and Fallah Mohammadi were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Amin Afshar Naderi, another Christian convert, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Nasser Nord Gol-Tappeh, another Christian convert, along with three Azerbaijani Christian citizens, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on similar charges. In this context, two imprisoned Christian converts were forced to sign blank papers, and another Christian convert was arrested in Dezful. There were also reports of a refusal to enroll the child of an imprisoned pastor in school, and a total of 125 years in prison was issued for 12 Christians in Iran in the past month.