Name: Saeede (Kathrin) Sajadpour Country/Area of Origin: Rasht, Iran Background: Sajadpour is a Christian convert Reason for Arrest: In February 2020, Saeede (Kathrin) Sajadpour, her husband Ramin Hassanpour, and two other Iranian Christian converts – Sakine (Mehri) Behjati, and Hadi (Moselm) Rahimi – were arrested for their membership in the local Rasht division of the Church …
Name: Ramin Hassanpour Country/Area of Origin: Rasht, Iran Background: Hassanpour is a Christian convert Reason for Arrest: In February 2020, Ramin Hassanpour, his wife Saeede (Kathrin) Sajadpour, and two other Iranian Christian converts – Sakine (Mehri) Behjati, and Hadi (Moselm) Rahimi – were arrested for their membership in the local Rasht division of the Church of …
Name: Keshav Acharya Country/Area of Origin: Nepal Background: Keshav Acharya is the pastor of Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal. Pastor Keshav is 33 years old. Reason for Arrest: In late March 2020, Kaski District Police entered the home of and arbitrarily arrested Pastor Keshav in front of his family; authorities did not provide any …
Name: Sajjad Masih Gill Country/Area of Origin: Pakistan Background: Sajjad Masih Gill is a 35-year-old Seventh-Day Adventist from Pakpatan, Punjab, Pakistan. Reason for Arrest: In December 2011, Sajjad Masih Gill was accused of sending blasphemous SMS messages disrespected Prophet Muhammad, and he was swiftly arrested. Authorities were unable to find any evidence on his cell …
Names: Mariyum Lal (also Mariam Lal) and Newsh Arooj (also Navish Arooj) Country/Area of Origin: Pakistan Background: Mariyum Lal and Newsh Arooj are two Roman Catholic nurses who worked at Civil Hospital in Faisalabad, Pakistan prior to their arrest. Reason for Arrest: On 9 April 2021, Lal was instructed by a senior nurse, Rukhsana, to …
Name: Hamid Soudad Country/Area of Origin: Algeria Background: Soudad is an Algerian Christian Reason for Arrest: In January 2021, Algerian authorities arrested Hamid Soudad for sharing a Facebook post in 2018 depicting a cartoon of Muhammad. Officers immediately interrogated Soudad and then permitted him to briefly return home, however, he was re-summoned to the local …
Name: Stephen Masih Country/Area of Origin: Pakistan Background: Stephen Masih is a 40-year-old Pakistani Christian convert Imran Pura Badiana village, Sialkot District, Pakistan. Reason for Arrest: On 10 March 2019, Stephen Masih was engaging in an argument with his mother, sister, brother-in-law, and a few neighbors regarding a pigeon. During the dispute, Masih allegedly became …
Name: Hossein Kadivar Country/Area of Origin: Iran Background: Kadivar is one of the group of nine Iranian Christian converts that were arrested throughout January an February 2019. Reason for Arrest: On 29 January 2019, Hossein Kadivar was arrested with Khalil Dehghanpour while attending a house church. Their arrests coincided with the detention of their Iranian Christian …
Name: Khalil Dehghanpour Country/Area of Origin: Iran Background: Dehghanpour is one of the group of nine Iranian Christian converts that were arrested throughout January an February 2019. Reason for Arrest: On 29 January 2019, Khalil Dehghanpour was arrested with Hossein Kadivar while attending a house church. Their arrests coincided with the detention of their Iranian …
Name: Kamal Naamanian Country/Area of Origin: Iran Background: Naamanian is one of the group of nine Iranian Christian converts that were arrested throughout January and February 2019. Reason for Arrest: On 15 February 2019, Kamal Naamanian was arrested with Mohammed Vafadar and Shahrooz Eslamdoust during a house church raid. Their arrests coincided with the detention of …
