Prison Sentences Issued for Five Christian Converts by Ahvaz Revolutionary Court

According to human rights sources, the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court has sentenced five Christian converts to a total of more than 25 years in prison. The Hengaw Human Rights Organization has listed the names of these Christian converts as Nasrollah Mousavi, Bijan Gholizadeh, Hamid Afzali, Iman Salehi, and Zohreh Shahbazi. According to this report, Hamid Afzali has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, Nasrollah Mousavi, Bijan Gholizadeh, and Iman Salehi each to 5 years, and Zohreh Shahbazi to 9 months. The organization 'Article 18', which focuses on the rights of Christians residing in Iran, reported that these five individuals, who are citizens from Izeh in Khuzestan province, have been accused of 'engaging in activities and teaching or promoting deviant teachings contrary to or disrupting Islamic law.' Recently, another Christian convert from Izeh, named Yasin Mousavi, was sentenced by the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court to 15 years in prison on charges including 'membership in groups aimed at undermining national security and promoting against the regime through the propagation of Zionist Christianity' and 'propaganda against the regime through the promotion of Christianity.' The 'Article 18' organization has also reported heavy sentences against Christians in Iran, including foreign citizens. According to Article 18, Hakop Gochumian, an Armenian citizen, and Anushavan Odian, also an Armenian citizen, were among Christians arrested last summer, each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Hakop Gochumian was charged with 'deviant educational and promotional activities contrary to the sacred Islamic law through membership and directing a missionary Christianity network in the country,' while Anushavan Odian was charged with 'forming and managing an illegal group to act against national security.' The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its latest report recommended that the U.S. government classify the Iranian government as a 'country of particular concern' due to its 'systematic, ongoing, and egregious' violations of religious freedoms.