The Iranian government targets converts to Christianity because it considers them to be apostate and threats to the state.
The U.S. State Department has classified Iran as a “country of particular concern” for “having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of Iran, see here.
“Christian converts told to return to prison,” Article 18, November 9, 2021:
Christian converts Sasan Khosravi and Habib Heydari have been summoned back to prison to serve the remainder of their one-year sentences for “propagating against the Islamic Republic by promoting Christianity”.
The two Christians have been on furlough since March, having only begun their sentences in February, but have now been told they must return to Bushehr Central Prison by Thursday, 11 November, to complete their sentences.
They were among seven Christians to have been sentenced in June 2020 – all on the same charges.
Of the seven, Sasan, Habib, and Sasan’s brother Sam were given one-year sentences; Pooriya Peyma received a 91-day sentence; and Sam, Sasan and Pooriya’s wives were fined.
Sam and Sasan were also sentenced to two-year’s exile from their home city of Bushehr following their release, including a ban on any work within their specialist profession – the hospitality sector – while Sam’s wife, Maryam, was banned from working for any national institution, including the hospital she’d worked at for 20 years.
Only Sam, Sasan and Habib appealed – unsuccessfully – against the sentences.
The others chose to pay their fines or, in Pooriya’s case, to serve his sentence….
