Source: The Christian Post, May 9, 2022
The Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced an Iranian-Armenian Christian man to ten years in prison for establishing a house church, which the judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam,” according to reports.
[The] Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Anooshavan Avedian, 60, to 10 years of imprisonment, alongside two others who are members of his house church—Abbas Soori, 45, and Maryam Mohammadi, 46—both of whom are converts to Christianity, Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
Article 18 reported that Soori and Mohammadi received a range of non-custodial punishments, including a fine of about US$2,000 and a ten-year ban from membership in social and political groups as well as a two-year exile outside Tehran. In addition, they must regularly report to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence. Avedian was also given ten years of “deprivation of social rights.”
They were first arrested in August 2020 when about 30 intelligence agents raided a private gathering at Avedian’s home in Narmak are in northeastern Tehran, but their case came to light only recently. In Tehran’s Evin Prison, the three were subjected to psychological torture during several intense interrogation sessions.
See also No Place For Converts: Iran’s Persecuted Christians Struggle to Keep The Faith (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) and, from neighboring Afghanistan, read about a Christian schoolteacher who fled the country after a ban on educating girls. She brought her students with her (Open Doors).