Two Iranian women, one of whom recently got married, have started prison sentences because of activities relating to their Christian faith. Both Fariba Dalir and Sakine (Mehri) Behjati started their sentences on Easter Saturday, April 16th. Dalir will spend two years in Evin Prison in Iran’s capital Tehran, while Behjati is serving a two-year sentence in Lakan Prison in the northern city of Rasht.
‘Establishing and leading a church’
Fariba Dalir was arrested alongside her (then) fiancé, Soroush, and four other Christian converts in Tehran in July last year. She, Soroush and two others were sentenced in December. While a 17-year-old girl was released “after spending ten days in solitary confinement and being subjected to intense interrogations in a detention centre of the Revolutionary Guard Corps”. The sixth person was not mentioned in the verdict and their situation was unknown at time of publication.
In the end, only Dalir ended up in prison, serving a two-year sentence, for “acting against national security by establishing and leading an Evangelical Christian church”. The other three were given 10-months-sentences for membership of a house church but because they had already served time in detention, they were given the option to pay a fine of 5 million tomans (approx. US$ 250) each and not go to jail.
Among them is Dalir’s husband. She and Soroush got married when they were awaiting their sentencing and will now be separated for two years.
Unpredictability of justice
Mehri Behjati was among a different group of four Christian converts who were arrested in February 2020 in connection with accusations that they belonged to a house-church in Rasht. They were formally charged in May and were sentenced three months later, receiving between two and five years in prison for “acting against national security” and “spreading Zionist Christianity”. Behjati was handed a two-year sentence. Her appeal was rejected by Iran’s Supreme Court.
While one of those convicted started their prison sentence earlier this year, Behjati was allowed to spend Iranian new year with her family before she reported to prison on Easter Saturday. The two others are still out of prison, waiting to start their sentences.
The cases against both women and the other Christians highlight how unpredictable justice in Iran is. In February an appeals court acquitted nine Christian converts and members of a house church who had been imprisoned on similar charges, saying they found “insufficient evidence” to support the charges.
In a report to the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, said he was concerned about the “continued repression of religious minorities”, including at least 53 Christians who had been arrested between 1 January and 1 December 2021 for practicing their faith.
please pray
Pray for your sisters as they face the next two years in prison. Pray also for their family as they will go the next two years without loved ones. Let them be filled with the strength and endurance to overcome this persecution and continue to find rest and comfort in Jesus.