Your prayers are needed following the rearrest of two Christians in Iran and the detention of several other believers in the capital, Tehran.
On 6 February, security agents raided the homes of Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian (both in their 60s) and transferred them to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison under no specific charges.
Nasser, a Christian convert, was previously sentenced in 2017 to ten years in prison for ‘acting against national security through the formation and establishment of illegal house churches’. He was released in October 2022 after serving nearly five years. Following his rearrest, Nasser is said to be on hunger strike to protest the illegality of his detention.
You might recall praying for Joseph Shahbazian, an Iranian-Armenian believer. In 2023, we reported his release after he served over a year of a two-year sentence, also for involvement in house churches (it had been ten years but was reduced on appeal).
Extreme hostility
According to Article18, the other Christians in Tehran arrested around the same time as Nasser and Joseph remain in custody. The exact reasons for these arrests are unclear.
This latest crackdown appears to be yet another contravention of a ruling made by the Iranian Supreme Court in 2021 that involvement in house churches, or even the propagation of what was referred to as the ‘Evangelical Zionist sect’, should not be considered an ‘action against national security’. The different backgrounds of Nasser and Joseph show that it’s not just converts who are being targeted by the authorities.
The continued and often extreme hostility facing many Christians in Iran is why the country is number nine on the latest World Watch List. Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in the country, and those forced to flee to other countries because of persecution.
Sources: Mohabat News and Article18
please pray
- Give thanks for this sentence reduction, and pray that Joseph will be freed
- For Iran’s constitutional freedom of religion or belief to be a reality in the lives of Christians and other religious minorities
- For all Christians in Iranian prisons to know God’s loving comfort and closeness.
please give
Your gift will go to believers from North Korea and other countries in the World Watch List top 10.
- Every HK$200 could get Bibles to two adults in a country where God’s Word is not easy to access.
- Every HK$390 could help provide six months of safe housing and relief aid to a family of North Korean refugees who have fled extreme persecution.
- Every HK$450 could help give North Korean women like Joo Min biblical leadership training.
*Any excess funds from this appeal will be used to strengthen other persecuted Christians where urgent help is needed.
give today: WWL Top 10
