Please remember the following Christians in your prayers as they start serving prison sentences for supposed crimes related to their religious activities.
Morteza Faghanpour-Saasi (38) reported to Evin Prison to start serving a nine-and-a-half-year sentence. He was among a group of Christian converts arrested in Varamin and environs in June 2024. Five Christians, including Morteza, were each sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by Varamin Revolutionary Court on charges of “propaganda activity contrary to Islamic law due to overseas connections” and an additional seven months for “propaganda against the system.” Morteza was given an additional seventeen-month sentence for allegedly insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader on social media.
Zahra (Hannah) Gholami (35) and Hossein (Daniel) Mohammadi (66) responded to a summons to serve two-year prison sentences, turning themselves in to security offices last week. They were arrested on 11 December 2024 when Iranian security raided a gathering in Shahriar planning a Christmas celebration. Following a trial at Branch 2 of the Shahriar Revolutionary Court in July, Hannah, Daniel, and an Afghan convert Teymur Hosseini (45) known as “Kourosh,” were convicted on charges of “forming” and “membership” of a “group or association with the aim of disrupting national security” and each given a two-year prison sentence. Another convert was given a one-year sentence for “aiding and abetting” others in their “crimes.” It is not yet known if Kourosh and the other convert have also started to serve their sentences.
Pray that God will encourage these Christians and their families; that they will adjust to prison life and relate well to fellow prisoners, having opportunity to witness; and that they will be in good health, physically and emotionally.
Pray also for the Iranian authorities that they will stop the criminalisation of normal Christian activities and that these and other Christians in prison will be allowed early release.
Sources: https://articleeighteen.com/news/16413/ and https://articleeighteen.com/news/16434/
