New sentences for Christian converts

Source: Asia News

A court has upheld decades of prison sentences for five defendants. Their ‘crime’ was participating in house church services, taking online courses on faith and attending training courses abroad (Turkey). On 7 October, another trial for blasphemy. In August, state television broadcast a propaganda documentary featuring forced confessions by converts.

Tehran (AsiaNews) – Confessions extracted by force through extensive use of torture, prison sentences in the first instance and others confirmed on appeal with sentences of up to 10 years in prison, with the sole ‘crime’ of professing their faith or converting from Islam.

Christians in Iran are once again in the crosshairs of the judiciary and the authorities, with a crackdown targeting mainly adult converts on trumped-up charges such as undermining the integrity of the state and being in the pay of foreign powers. This form of religious persecution has been going on for some time and has made the Islamic Republic one of the countries most at risk in terms of religious freedom.

On 17 September, Section 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal upheld the sentences of a total of more than 41 years’ imprisonment for five Iranians who converted to Christianity. Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that Hessamuddin Mohammad Junaidi, Abolfazl Ahmadzadeh-Khajani and two other defendants who requested anonymity will each serve eight years and one month in prison.

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