CV NEWS FEED // Iranian government officials in the southwestern Khuzestan province have sentenced a Christian convert to 15 years in prison.
According to a June 20 AsiaNews report, an Iranian Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz, the capital city of the province, charged Yasin Mousavi with “membership in groups aiming to disrupt national security,” as well as “propaganda against the Islamic Republic through the promotion of Zionist Christianity.”
The Religious Freedom organization Open Doors stated in its report that Mousavi received 10 years for the charge related to his “involvement in a Christian organization.” The other five years are for his participation in 2021 protests over “deteriorating living conditions.”
“Although Christians are recognised as a religious minority in Iran,” AsiaNews noted, “the authorities treat those who convert from Islam to Christianity harshly.”
IranWire also reported following the incident that this is not the first time authorities have targeted Mousavi.
Mousavi was last arrested on Dec. 24, 2023, as a part of “a crackdown on Christian activities” in the city of Izeh, according to IranWire. He spent 20 days in solitary confinement in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility before he was eventually transferred to Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz.
Mousavi remained incarcerated at Sheiban until April 30 this year.
Prior to the December 2023 arrest, Mousavi also reportedly “faced detentions in October 2017, April 2021, and November 2022.”
Open Doors noted that several other Christian converts arrested last year also received harsh sentencing, including Hamid Afzali, who received a 10-year sentence; Nasrollah Mousavi and Bijan Qolizadeh for five years each, Zohrab Shahbazi for nine months, and Iman Saleh for five years.
“Two other unnamed converts have each been sentenced to two years,” the organization added.
