Six members of a group of eight Christians from Shiraz who were sentenced to various prison terms last year had their prison sentences upheld on March 29, following an appeal.
In July 2013, the Christians were charged with ‘action against the national security’ and ‘propaganda against the order of the system’. Mohammad Roghangir was sentenced to six years in prison, Massoud Rezai to five years; Mehdi Ameruni and Bijan Farokhpour Haghighi received three year sentences, Shahin Lahouti and Suroush Saraie received two and half years, and Eskandar Rezai and Roxana Forghi each received a one-year sentence. However, charges against Roxana Forghi were dropped at the appeal and Shahin Lahouti was released from prison in December 2013.
Seven of these Christians were initially arrested in October 2012 when security forces raided a prayer meeting, while the eighth, Massoud Rezai, was detained a day later.
In another story, a Christian prisoner was released on bail on March 2 after spending more than six months behind bars.
Sevada Aghasar, an Armenian-Iranian, was released from the notorious Evin prison. He had been arrested in Karaj in August 2013, along with two other Christians, at one of their offices. Plain-clothes security officers raided the building and detained the Christians without presenting a warrant.
Never charged
Sevada was never officially charged, but it appears that his arrest was related to his online contact with a number of Farsi-speaking Christians.
His home had previously been searched and some of his belongings confiscated in relation to the case of Mostafa Bordbar, who was jailed for ten years for his Christian activities, a sentence that was subsequently overturned.
