Two Christians who had been launched from jail in Iran in 2022 and 2023 respectively had been re-arrested final Thursday, advocacy group Article 18 reported.
Intelligence brokers arrested Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian from their houses in Tehran province and took them again to Tehran’s infamous Evin Jail, amongst different Christians arrested for his or her religion across the identical time, the group experiences.
Gol-Tapeh, 63, a convert from Islam, had been “pardoned” and launched in October 2022 after serving practically 5 years of a 10-year sentence on costs deemed “actions towards nationwide safety” because of involvement in a home church.
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“Nasser is seemingly refusing to eat in protest at his illegal re-arrest, whereas Article 18’s sources report that plenty of different Tehran Christians had been additionally arrested on the identical time and stay in custody,” Article 18 reported.
Shahbazian, a 60-year-old Iranian-Armenian, had spent simply over a yr at Evin Jail on related costs earlier than he was “pardoned” and freed in September 2023. Armenian church buildings are authorized in Iran, and his arrest and re-arrest confirmed that no Christian is protected within the nation, Article 18 acknowledged.
“Each teams stay potential targets of the Iranian authorities,” the group reported. “Certainly, as Article 18’s new annual report reveals, any Christians thought of ‘unaligned’ with the targets of the Islamic Republic can face arrest and imprisonment on ‘safety’ costs.”
The annual report, introduced on the United Nations in Geneva final month, referred to as on Iranian authorities to “finish the criminalization of house-church group and membership,” and requested for readability on “the place Persian-speaking Christians could worship freely of their mom tongue, with out worry of arrest and prosecution.”
A 3rd suggestion referred to as on Iranian authorities to drop all costs towards Christians associated to church actions that the Iranian Supreme Courtroom had dominated had been lawful, a reference to a 2021 ruling in Tehran clarifying that involvement in home church buildings and even the propagation of what was labeled “evangelical Zionist sects” shouldn’t be thought of an “motion towards nationwide safety.”
Causes for the re-arrests of Gol-Tapeh and Shabazian had been unclear. Throughout his 5 years in jail, Gol-Tapeh had filed a number of requests for a retrial or parole and wrote quite a few open letters asking how membership in a home church constituted an “motion towards nationwide safety,” in accordance with Article 18.
His launch got here two days after a hearth unfold chaos on the jail, claiming the lives of a minimum of 4 prisoners, triggering gunfire and projectiles that had been hurled into the ability from the surface. It was not clear whether or not the hearth was linked to launch of Gol-Tapeh, who suffered a number of well being issues throughout incarceration.
“Nasser was arbitrarily arrested and detained, falsely charged, unjustly imprisoned for nearly 5 years, and inhumanely refused an opportunity for retrial, furlough and medical consideration,” Article18 Director Mansour Borji mentioned after his launch in 2022.
Shahbazian had initially acquired a 10-year-sentence for holding church providers in his residence, which was lowered to 2 years in Might 2023. He was denied medical therapy for an sickness for a number of months, and even after receiving a analysis was not knowledgeable of it, in accordance with Article 18.
He had determined to not apply for a conditional launch as doing so would contain pledging to not interact within the actions for which he was first arrested — organizing and internet hosting house-church conferences with Christian converts, Article 18 acknowledged.
“Iranians from Armenian and Assyrian households are permitted a level of freedom to worship — in their very own languages — however church buildings that supplied providers within the Persian language have been systematically closed over the previous 15 years,” Article 18 reported. “In consequence, Iranians who want to worship within the nationwide language of Persian — whether or not converts, Armenians, or Assyrians – don’t have any place to worship.”
The church closures led to the rise of the personal worship conferences in houses resembling Shabazian’s, the group acknowledged.
“However these have been outlawed by the Iranian authorities and known as ‘enemy teams,’ and members systematically arrested and imprisoned on costs of ‘appearing towards nationwide safety,’” Article 18 reported.
Iran ranked ninth on Christian help group Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Listing (WWL) of the 50 nations the place it’s most tough to be a Christian. The report famous that regardless of persecution, “the church in Iran is rising steadily.”
This text was initially revealed by Christian Day by day Worldwide.
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