When a convert from Islam in Iran was sentenced to two years in exile in Sarbaz in 2019, the judge warned him that religious extremists in the remote desert town would treat him harshly (en December 2019).
However, when Ebrahim Firoozi arrived in southwest Iran near the border with Pakistan, he discovered local Muslims were helpful, open and hospitable. This discovery was all the more welcome as in March his term of exile was extended by another 11 months.
He was invited to stay at one person’s home on his first night and was quickly found a place to live. When the people learned he was exiled for his Christian faith rather than for a crime, their kindness increased.
