When the Iranian government summoned a Christian couple to Tehran on August 13, members of the space church assumed the return of their confiscated property.
Instead, Homayoun Zhaveh and his wife, Sara Ahmadi, were detained in Tehran’s Evin prison, known for its harsh treatment of others identified as political enemies of the state, according to human rights groups.
“The friends are concerned for his well-being, especially as Homayoun suffers from complex Parkinson’s disease,” Christian Solidarity International (CSI) said in an Oct. 6 statement, presenting data from Middle East Concern.
The ITUC and other advocacy and aid organisations recently issued calls to prayer for Zhaveh, 63, and Ahmadi, 44. Middle East Concern (MEC) reported that they were first arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of belonging to an “illegal organization,” with Zhaveh spending a month in Evin and Ahmadi being held there for 67 days, part of the time in solitary confinement.
In November 2020, Ahmadi was sentenced to 11 years in prison for her alleged role in running a space church, according to MEC, adding that Zhaveh was sentenced to two years for belonging to a space church. The consequences included a two-year club ban from any social or political group, a two-year travel ban and a six-month network service ban.
The convictions were upheld on appeal in December 2020, but Ahmadi’s criminal sentence was reduced to 8 years, MEC reported. The couple had hoped to begin their criminal sentence on June 15, 2021, but upon arriving at Evin prison amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they were told they could move from home indefinitely.
“On August 13, Homayoun and Sara responded to a summons to prison, hoping that the confiscated assets would be returned,” MEC said. “Instead, they were detained. Prayer is requested that their serious sentences be reviewed, especially because Homayoun is in poor health, and that they be acquitted, and that the Iranian government end the persecution of its citizens for the nonviolent expression of their faith.
Failure to serve a prison sentence
Joseph Shahbazian, a space church leader, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison through Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on June 7 for “founding and directing an organization intended to disrupt national security,” according to the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). ).
Initially arrested on June 30, 2020, following raids on space churches in several cities, Pastor Shahbazian was released on bail on August 22, 2020. An appeals court in Tehran rejected his appeal in August this year and on August 30 he began serving his sentence in Evin. prison, USCIRF reported.
As an Iranian-Armenian, he allowed worship as part of Iran’s historic Armenian Christian community, but he took aim as pastor of a church that included Iranian converts to Islam, according to the Barnabas Fund.
In the Shiite stronghold of Mashad in northeastern Iran, a grandfather with cancer is being held in Vakilabad for converting to Christianity, according to the advocacy organization Article 18. Gholamreza Keyvanmanesh, in his fifties, and 3 other Christians arrested in Neyshabur face charges of “acting against national security through propaganda opposed to the regime” and “insulting the sacred” (blasphemy), Article 18 reports.
“The other 3, two women and one man, aged forty-fifty, whose names cannot be revealed, are being held in Neyshabur prison,” the organization said.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned at least 8 Christians at the meetings of the 4 arrested Christians that they would soon be summoned for further interrogation, pursuant to Article 18.
“They were also forced to sign choir promises to collect with other Christians,” Article 18 reported. “Bibles and mobile phones were among the pieces confiscated from church members. “
Christianity is among the official minority religions in Iran, but converts to Christianity are identified and vilified as “enemy teams of a ‘Zionist’ cult,” the organization said.
Converts are prohibited from attending churches of Armenian and Assyrian Christians, who are only allowed to teach in their own ethnic language and seek new members, Article 18 says.
As a result, converts gather in private homes, but are searched and accused of belonging to “illegal” teams for “anti-security” purposes, “although in truth the meetings are not other than church gatherings in other parts of the world. “Article 18 said. . . « In recent years, dozens of Iranian Christians have been sentenced to criminal sentences of up to 15 years on such trumped-up charges.
Iran ranked ninth on the Christian organization Open Doors’ global watch list of countries where it is very difficult to be a Christian.
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