Iran: Three Christian Converts Sentenced To Prison In Karaj
Three Christian converts were sentenced to prison in Karaj near Tehran on August 22.
According to the Article 18 website, they were identified as Milad Goudarzi, Ameen Khaki, and Alireza Nourmohammadi.
The three Christian converts were charged with “spreading propaganda and deviant educational activities opposing Islam” and sentenced to five years of prison each, and a fine of 40 million tomans (about $1,412). It was later reduced to three years of prison each.
The three converts were released on bail for 250 million tomans (about $8,828) but must introduce themselves to the police on a weekly basis for six months.
In November 2020, their houses were raided by security forces, and their personal belongings including their laptops, smartphones, and holy books were confiscated. Their belongings were later returned but their holy books were kept in custody.
According to Iranian law, evangelism, missionary work, and converting to Christianity can be a crime meriting a sentence of more than 10 years imprisonment. The distribution of Christian literature in Persian is currently illegal in Iran.
There is officially no crime known as apostasy in the penal code (although there was a law about it prior to 1994). The last known execution for this crime was in 1990. However, despite there being no official civil law of apostasy, judges may still convict a defendant of that crime if they rule based on religious fatwas.
