As you may know from previous updates we’ve given, Iran is a country that regularly detains Christians for acting out their faith. At Jubilee Campaign, we’ve recently received many reports on the status of various Christian prisoners.
Firstly, we’d like to praise God for the release of the following prisoners:
Yasser Mossayebzadeh
Saheb Fadaie
Mohammad Reza Omidi
Amin Khaki
Leila Abdi Nejad.
Secondly, these brothers need your help. At the end of June, three Christian Azerbaijani men were arrested. Their families are desperate for their release and gave this appeal, “On 22nd June 2016 our husbands and fathers – Eldar Gurbanov, Yusif Farhadov and Bahram Nasibov – travelled to Tehran in the Islamic Republic of Iran.They were invited as guests in Iran to participate in an engagement ceremony and meet with their Iranian friends. As we discovered later, they were arrested on 24th June by security agents during an engagement ceremony and they have not been charged with any crime. Eldar (48), Yusif (51) and Bahram (37) are all married and have children. Yusif has a young son with Down’s Syndrome under his care. They have not been charged with any crime and their future is unknown to all of us. We ask all who are concerned to help our husbands and fathers to return safely to their homes!” Attached is a letter that the families have requested be sent to Iranian authorities demanding these men’s release. The more people who send these letters, the more pressure the Iranian government will feel to release these prisoners! Access the letter and suggested mailing addresses here.
Maryam Naghash Zargaran is a prisoner who was arrested for “acting against national security” through her Christian activities. She has serious health issues that require medical attention but while in prison she has not been given the adequate treatment that she needs. She’s gone on multiple hunger strikes to call for better treatment. However, her hunger strikes have been detrimental to her health, and family and friends are relieved to report that she has stopped her most recent hunger strike, in which she was demanding her immediate release.
Ebrahim Firoozi, who has been detained since 2013, was summoned for an appeal hearing. He refused to go on the notion that he thought it was sufficient for just his lawyer to attend. He was consequently apprehended, beaten and forced into court. Once he got there, his appeal was postponed to November because one of the judges was absent.
Youcef Nadarkhani, once given a death sentence for his conversion from Islam to Christianity, has now been charged with acting against national security. Our latest update is that he was released with the condition that he raise 100 million Touman bail (US$ 33,000) within a week, or face re-arrest. Friends posted this bond by deeding their homes.
Hossein Barounzadeh, Mohammad Bahrami and Rahman Bahmani were originally arrested in 2014 along with Amin Khaki, who was recently released. They were not released with Khaki and have four months remaining in their prison sentence.
Please keep all of these prisoners in your prayers as they desperately need the strength of God. Through their imprisonment, may God be glorified, and though humans seek to bind them, may they rest in the true freedom they have in Christ.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9