Tehran: Christmas in prison for five Christians sentenced to over 50 years
Among the charges are practising worship and promoting religious activities such as baptisms, communions and Christmas celebrations. At least four of them will have to serve sentences of at least 10 years. Article18 director: ‘Clear signs’ of ‘lack of due process’ in a context of ‘growing repression’.
Tehran (AsiaNews) - Christmas in prison for a group of Iranian Christians: in recent days, a court in the Islamic Republic sentenced five believers to a total of over 50 years in prison.
According to activists from Article18, a website specialising in documenting abuses, the charges include worship and ordinary religious activities such as prayer, administration of sacraments including baptism, communion and celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Among those who ended up in prison are two former prisoners of conscience - Iranian-Armenian pastor Joseph Shahbazian and Christian convert Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh - who were re-arrested in February after having already spent a total of six years behind bars on charges related to their involvement in so-called “house churches”.
The other three Christians convicted are women: Lida, Joseph's wife, Aida Najaflou, a Christian convert who recently fractured her spine after falling from a bunk bed in Evin Prison, and a third whose name has not been made public.
The details of the sentence have not yet been published, but the activist website has been able to confirm that at least four of the Christians - except Lida - have been sentenced to 10 years under the infamous amended Article 500 of the Iranian Penal Code.
At least two of them received an additional five years for the second charge of ‘gathering and collusion’. Aida also received an additional two-year sentence for “propaganda” in relation to social media posts, while Lida was sentenced to eight years.
Aida, who is 44 and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, was recently hospitalised for the second time after a wound caused by spinal surgery became infected in prison. In recent days, her lawyer posted on X expressing concern for her client's long-term health, fearing damage to her spinal cord if her condition was not properly managed.
The sentences were handed down by Judge Abolqasem Salavati - known for his numerous convictions - after a second hearing held on 21 October at the 15th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, but were only communicated verbally in the last two weeks.
The Christians have 20 days to appeal and are reportedly planning to do so. In addition to their prison sentences, their personal belongings, including Bibles and other Christian literature, have been confiscated by the state for “research” purposes by the Ministry of Intelligence.
This case is similar to that of two other Christians who were sentenced to 12 years in prison in early 2025 for “smuggling” Bibles into Iran. Mansour Borji, director of Article 18, reports ‘clear signs’ of a ‘lack of due process’. In this regard, he cites the long detention of Christians - Joseph, Aida and Nasser were imprisoned for seven months before being brought before a court - and the extremely high bail demands.
In Joseph's case, despite misleading communications to his family, no bail was ever officially set, while Aida and Nasser's families could not afford to pay the sums: 0,000 for Aida and nearly 0,000 for Nasser, which is by far the highest ever requested for the temporary release of an Iranian Christian from prison.
Nasser's first imprisonment, which ended with his “pardon” in October 2022 after nearly five years in Evin Prison, attracted international attention, including his “adoption” by British MPs and the “#FreeNasserNavard” campaign, which was also relaunched in a lengthy BBC report.
In March, Nasser suffered a stroke after going on hunger strike to protest against his re-arrest, while Joseph has already suffered from health problems.
Furthermore, the June indictment began with a quote from the infamous speech delivered in October 2010 by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in which he identified the spread of house churches in Iran as one of the ‘critical threats’ facing the Islamic Republic.
‘In my view, Khamenei's hate speech in 2010 can therefore be considered directly responsible for the violence suffered by these and many other Christians,’ Borji said. ‘The prosecutor,’ he explains, ‘goes on to suggest that Protestantism and “Zionist Christianity” are one and the same, demonstrating how Iranian intelligence agencies distort reality to secure convictions.’
Finally, the activist recalls how Tehran mistakenly considers Iranian Christian expatriate organisations abroad and their members to be agents of foreign intelligence agencies, without providing any evidence. All this, he warns, is to ‘justify and rationalise judicial violence’.
‘These examples,’ Borji concludes, ‘clearly demonstrate how Iranian Christians, including Joseph, Nasser, Aida, Lida and the fifth Christian, were convicted for no other reason than their normal religious activities, including their desire to share their beliefs with others and offer them the opportunity to read the sacred texts.’ A growing spiral of repression, while officially the Islamic Republic of Iran ‘claims to guarantee its citizens religious freedom, when it is clear that such freedom of choice does not exist.’
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23/12/2023 15:30
