Christian lawyer arrested in Iran for acts ‘against national security’
The charges against Bahar Saharaian reportedly include ‘propaganda activities’ against the Islamic Republic and ‘spreading false news’. In 2022, she had already been imprisoned for joining her colleagues’ protest against the crackdown on demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini. Hotel closed for failing to comply with hijab rules and record number of executions in 2025.
Tehran (AsiaNews) - A Christian lawyer who has on several occasions defended political prisoners in the past, including members of the Iranian Christian community persecuted for their faith, has been arrested again in her home city of Shiraz, in the south of the country.
According to reports from Article18 – a website specialising in documenting abuses and restrictions on worship in Iran, which has relayed a report from the website Emtedad – Bahar Saharaian was reportedly arrested on 16 May, whilst she was following several cases being heard at the city’s Revolutionary Court.
The incident confirms once again the pattern of constant internal repression by the leadership of the Islamic Republic against activists and religious minorities; the crackdown has intensified further in recent months, in the wake of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.
Some accounts state that on the very morning of her arrest, she was taken to the public prosecutor’s office and charged with “criminal association aimed at acts against national security”. This initial charge was followed by two further charges relating to “propaganda activities against the Islamic system” and “spreading false news”, a spurious charge often used to silence activists and critical voices. She was subsequently transferred to Adel Abad prison.
In 2022, Bahar was one of over 30 lawyers arrested in the wake of the protests following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the morality police after they stopped her as she exited a metro station in Tehran for not wearing her hijab, the Islamic headscarf, correctly. At that time, as today, thousands of protesters were awaiting trial but had no access to legal representation, whilst the public prosecutor was seeking the death penalty.
Bahar has defended clients including Sam Khosravi and Maryam Falahi, whose adopted daughter, Lydia, was removed from their care by court order because they had converted to Christianity and Lydia was considered to have been born Muslim. And then there were Sara Ahmadi and Homayoun Zhaveh, who were sentenced to a total of 10 years in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, even though Homayoun, already in his sixties, was suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease.
In the case of Sam and Maryam, Bahar managed to obtain two fatwas from the Grand Ayatollahs – the highest Shia Islamic authority in Iran – which paved the way for the adoption. The text of the statement read that, given the ‘critical nature’ of the case, the child’s precarious health and her indisputable emotional bond with her parents, the adoption of Lydia by converts to Christianity was ‘permissible’.
The Christian lawyer was also one of 120 lawyers who signed an open letter addressed to the then head of the judiciary and future president Ebrahim Raisi, who died during his term of office in a mysterious helicopter crash, urging him to revoke the decision. However, despite the appeals and opinions of authoritative Islamic experts, Raisi never issued a ruling to return the adopted daughter to her adoptive parents.
Another lawyer who has defended several Christians, Shima Ghosheh, was arrested in January this year and released on bail in March, after paying a sum of nearly ,000. Shima has represented Christians, including the Iranian-Assyrian Bet-Tamraz family and converts accused of “apostasy”, a crime that has in the past led to death sentences.
The lawyer’s arrest is part of a wider policy of repression against the Christian minority, as evidenced by the recent annual report from activist groups documenting the escalation of trials and imprisonment for faith, possession of religious material or conversion.
In 2025, almost twice as many Christians were arrested on charges relating to religious beliefs or activities compared to the previous year (254 versus 139). Furthermore, more than twice as many were sentenced to imprisonment, exile or forced labour in 2025 (57) compared to 2024 (25). Forty-three Christians were still serving sentences at the end of 2025, with at least another 16 in pre-trial detention. At least 11 Christians received 10-year sentences, others a total of nine years’ exile and 249 years of social deprivation, being denied basic rights such as healthcare, work or education.
It is not just arrests; there is also widespread use of the death penalty, as confirmed by the report published in recent days by Amnesty International, which holds the Islamic Republic “largely responsible” for the record rise in executions recorded last year.
In 2025, at least 2,707 people were executed in 17 different countries, the highest figure recorded since monitoring began in 1981. The Iranian authorities carried out at least 2,159 executions, more than double the figure recorded the previous year and by far the largest contributor to the global increase. “A brazen minority is wielding the death penalty to instil fear, crush dissent and punish marginalised communities,” said AI Secretary General Agnès Callamard.
Finally, the restrictive measures and punishments linked to the controversial Islamic headscarf law show no sign of abating: in recent days, the authorities have sealed off the Ameri House Hotel in Kashan, one of the largest traditional hospitality complexes in the historic city, for “failure to comply with the hijab”.
The tourist complex directly employs around 90 people and indirectly supports almost another 150, making it one of the most important traditional hotels in the region. This decision confirms the Islamic Republic’s crackdown, which has intensified, on the enforcement of laws on dress and morality, including restrictions on women’s clothing, following the war with Israel and the US.
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