Christian convert conditionally released before Persian new year

Mojtaba Seyyed-Alaedin Hossein, a Christian convert from Iran, has been conditionally released from Adel-Abad prison just a couple of days before the Iranian New Year, according to a report from Human Rights without Frontiers. He endured more than three years in prison.

His conditional release was granted after receiving three months of pardon for his "artistic activities in prison". His imprisonment comes as a direct consequence of him being a Christian actively evangelizing among Farsi-speaking Iranians. Individuals such as Mojtaba have been subject to arrests and severe punishments by the Iranian authorities throughout recent years.

Esmaeil (Homayoun) Shokouhi, another Christian prisoner was also granted a ten-day leave permit. Earlier, on the 10^th of November 2014, Mr. Shokouhi was conditionally released after serving two years and eight months in prison. However, a few days after his release, a Revolutionary Court judge announced that this conditional release should not have been granted and requested that Mr. Shokouhi be taken back to prison.

A group of Christians, including Mojtaba Seyyed-Alaedin Hossein, Esmaeil (Homayoun) Shokouhi, Vahid Hakkani, and Mohammad-Reza (Kourosh) Partoei, were arrested on 8 February 2012 during a raid by security authorities on their houses. One of the houses that were raided was being used as a meeting place for Christian believers.

The Revolutionary Court of Shiraz sentenced each of these men to three years and eight months in prison for "attending house churches, evangelism, contact with foreign Christian ministries, propaganda against the Islamic regime through evangelism and disrupting national security". They also faced charges of indulging in subversive internet activity, despite having been arrested at a prayer gathering.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston had previously stated about these convictions: "Once again Iranian Christians face charges couched in political terms that in reality stem from their choice of faith and desire to exercise the right to worship in community with others, as guaranteed in article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is party.”

Mansour Borji, spokesman of the Article 18 committee, believes that raising security accusations against Iranian Christians is used as a cover to justify a crack down on religious activities of Christians in the country. Mr. Borji said: "In order to avoid international controversy, the Iranian regime accuses prisoners of conscience of security charges and restricts their religious freedom through ambiguous and irrational interpretations of law."

In his latest report, Ahmad Shaheed, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, expressed his deep concerns over the violation of religious freedom in Iran and pointed out that currently there are 92 Christian prisoners in Iranian prisons.

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