Speaking about his time in prison, Mr Alijani said: “The mental anguish affects you physically, even if you are not mistreated physically. When my family came to visit me they said they could see the anguish written on my face.... Each time I was sick, I would go to the prison pharmacy which was run by inmates and only really provided painkillers.... The guards regularly tried to get me to reconvert.”
Davoud Alijani, a leader in the Assemblies of God (AoG) church in Ahwaz, was released from Karoon Prison on 13 January 2014, 20 days before his sentence was due to be completed.
Speaking about his time in prison, Mr Alijani said: “The mental anguish affects you physically, even if you are not mistreated physically. When my family came to visit me they said they could see the anguish written on my face.... Each time I was sick, I would go to the prison pharmacy which was run by inmates and only really provided painkillers.... The guards regularly tried to get me to reconvert.”
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Iranian Christian Mostafa Bordbar was released from prison on 3 November, following a successful appeal against the 10 year prison sentence he received on 31 July 2013. His release comes almost three months after he was imprisoned in Evin Prison on charges of being a member of an “anti-security organization” and “gathering with intent to commit crimes against Iranian national security.” An appeal court cleared him of all of charges on 30 October. Four Iranian Christians jailed for attending a house church have lost their judicial appeals. Mojtaba Seyyed Alaedin Hossein, Mohammad-Reza Partoei, Vahid Hakkani and Homayoun Shokouhi were each sentenced in June to three years and eight months in prison. Shokouhi’s wife Fariba and son Nima both received suspended sentences of two years’ imprisonment at the appeals-court hearing, which took place on Oct. 12 in Shira A court in the Iranian city of Rasht has sentenced four members of the Church of Iran denomination to 80 lashes each for drinking wine during a communion service. The verdict, dated 6 October, charges Behzad Taalipasand, Mehdi Reza Omidi (Youhan), Mehdi Dadkhah (Danial) and Amir Hatemi (Youhanna) with drinking alcohol and possession of a receiver and satellite antenna. They received the verdict on 20 October and have ten days to appeal the sentence. The wife of the American pastor imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith says her husband remains bold for Jesus Christ in prison. Saeed Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, recently spoke to students at Liberty University about her family's plight. She said in spite of being tortured and asked to deny his faith in Christ and return to Islam, Pastor Saeed is a light for Jesus in Evin Prison, one of the worst in the world. Iranian Christians Maryam Jalili and Mitra Rahmati were released from Evin Prison yesterday, six weeks before their two and half year sentences were due to be completed. The women were amongst eleven prisoners of conscience to be released; others included prominent human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh and the reformist politician, Mohsen Aminzadeh. Maryam and Mitra, both converts from Islam, were arrested on Christmas Eve in 2009, along with 13 others, after a raid by government officials on a house church in Pakdasht, south-east of Tehran. While most of the others were released shortly after being arrested, the two women were detained until 17 March 2010, when they were released temporarily. They were re-arrested in April 2011 and imprisoned after being convicted of ‘membership of an illegal group’. Mostafa Bordbar, a Christian convert, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for being part of an “anti-security organization” and “gathering with intent to commit crimes against Iranian national security”. The verdict was delivered to his lawyer on 31 July by a Judge from Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, following his trial on 9 June. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has been informed that Mr Bordbar is currently being held in Evin prison. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has learned that eight members of the Church of Iran in Shiraz were sentenced to jail on 16 July after being found guilty of “action against the national security” and “propaganda against the order of the system”. Mohammad Roghangir was sentenced to six years, Massoud Rezaie to five years, Mehdi Ameruni and Bijan Farokhpour Haghighi to three years, Shahin Lahooti and Suroush Saraie to two and half years each, while Eskandar Rezaie and Roxana Forughi were both sentenced to one year in prison. The pastor of Iran's largest Persian speaking Pentecostal church has been "conditionally released" from prison but his congregation in the capital Tehran remains closed, Iranian Christians told Worthy News. Robert Asserian, a key leader at the Central Assemblies of God Church, was taken into custody during a worship service on May 21 as part of a wider crackdown on growing evangelical churches in the country that authorities deem dangerous for the strict Islamic nation, Christians said. Mohabat News, an agency of Iranian Christians and activists, told Worthy News that there is "no clear information on how Pastor Asserian was released." However, "it appears that he was temporarily released on bail on July 2," they said, though the amount was not immediately revealed. The United Nations Human Rights Council heard directly from the wife of imprisoned Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini June 4 as she asked the international community to "do more" to ensure that Iran upholds its human rights obligations. "I hope that my presence here today will put a face to those who suffer when a government does not uphold its obligation to protect these freedoms," Naghmeh Abedini said, referring to the rights of religious freedom, expression and peaceful assembly. |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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