Islamic cult's Apostasy laws: 5 Iranian Christian converts sentenced to stiff prison terms

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From left: Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Joseph and Lida Shahbazian, and Aida Najaflou, file photo via Article 18 rights group


A seriously ill Iranian Christian convert who broke her spine in Evin Prison is among five Christians handed combined prison terms totaling more than 50 years, a rights group said.

The national security offenses for which they were convicted involve house-church worship and Christian activity online, according to UK-based rights groups Article 18.

House-church leader Joseph Shahbazian, his wife Lida, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, another woman whose name has not been disclosed and Aida Najaflou were sentenced, it added.

All except Lida Shahbazian, who received 8 years, were sentenced to 10 years; at least two, including Najaflou, received an additional 5 years for “gathering and collusion.”

Aida Najaflou, 44, fell from her top bunk in the early hours of October 31, fracturing her T12 vertebra. She was taken to Taleghani Hospital for an X-ray but returned to prison the same day on a stretcher, still in severe pain and without the surgery doctors recommended.

Najaflou, who also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, has required hospital treatment twice since her injury, most recently for an infected surgical wound while remaining in custody, according to rights group Article18.

The sentences were issued on 21 October by Judge Abolghasem Salavati at Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court but were only communicated verbally to the Christians in late November and early December, the group said.

Judge Salavati was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for his role in human rights abuses.

The Christians are expected to appeal, but advocates say the case reflects a broader pattern of punishing converts for peaceful activities such as worship, Bible distribution, and house-church meetings.


“The trial bore many hallmarks of a lack of due process: lengthy pre-trial detention, heavy bail demands, and the use of vague security-related articles to criminalize religious practice,” Article18 director Mansour Borji told Christian Daily International.

“Case files describe the distribution of Bibles and Christian texts, and efforts to share theology with others, as evidence justifying the sentences,” he added.

Under Iranian law, only ethnic Armenians and Assyrians born into Christianity are recognized as Christians; conversion from Islam is prohibited.