A Tehran appeals court upheld prison terms totaling 41 years and 10 months for five Christian converts convicted on formal charges of violating Islamic law and spreading deviant propaganda.
An Islamic Revolutionary Court had originally sentenced Morteza (Calvin) Faghanpour Sassi, Abolfazl (Benjamin) Ahmadzadeh Khajani, Hossam al-Din (Yahya) Mohammad Joneydi, and two others whose names were not disclosed.
The defendants have chosen Christian names for themselves.
Each was given seven years and six months for “deviant educational and propaganda activities contrary to and disruptive of Islamic Sharia, involving foreign connections,” plus an additional seven months for “propaganda against the system,” according to the Christian outlet Mohabbat News.
Faghanpour Sassi received an extra 17 months for “insulting the leadership.”
The court cited reports from the Intelligence Ministry, defendants’ statements and evidence of house churches, Christian promotion, enrollment in foreign online universities, training trips to Turkey and efforts to recruit others as grounds for upholding the convictions.
The defendants were pressured to sign statements renouncing their faith in exchange for reduced sentences, while “at least one of them, Morteza Faghanpour Sassi was subjected to physical torture,” according to the advocacy group Article 18.
Iran has shut down Persian-language churches and frequently raids homes and house-churches. Converts often face accusations such as promoting “Zionist Christianity,” membership in groups opposed to the Islamic Republic or attempting to convert Muslims - charges that can lead to lengthy imprisonment often without substantial evidence.
Under Iranian law, only ethnic Armenians and Assyrians born into Christianity are recognized as Christians. Conversion from Islam is prohibited.
