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Iran: Nearly 80-year-old Christian gets five years prison for attending church

The U.S. State Department has classified Iran as a “country of particular concern” for “having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

“The case of Alexander B.,” Article 18,  August 29, 2024:

Of all the examples in the leaked Edaalate Ali files pertaining to Christians, one case stands out: that of a dual national by the name of Alexander B, who at nearly 80 years old was sentenced to five years in prison for attending a house-church.

The court documents in the case are replete with examples of how Iran’s judiciary seeks to distinguish between the different branches of Christianity, as evidenced below.

Who is Alexander B.?

An Iranian-Armenian Christian, nearly 80 years of age at the time of the court case in 2022, who was born in Rasht, northern Iran, but emigrated to the US.

His lawyers described him as “a dignified and calm man of faith, who aside from political issues loves Iran as his homeland and birthplace, and respects and adheres to the laws and systems of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

What was he accused of?

The long list of accusations against Alex included:
  • “membership in the community under the name of a home church of ‘Zionist Evangelical Christianity’, with the aim of disrupting the security of the country”;
  • “gathering and colluding against the country’s security”;
  • “disturbing the public mind and disrupting social order through Christian publications with the aim of attracting Muslims”;
  • and “insulting Islamic sacred things”….

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