Iranian Christian Released After Nearly Five Years Imprisonment for Starting Evangelical Group

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – An Iranian Christian man has been released from Iran’s notoriously harsh Evin prison after serving nearly half of the ten-year sentence he received for starting an illegal evangelical group, Church in Chains (CIC) reports. Ruled by an authoritarian extremist Islamic regime, Iran ranks 9 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

A convert to Christ from Islam, Mehdi Akbari was released from Evin prison in Tehran on September 29, having served four years and nine months of his sentence, CIC reports. The reduction of Akbari’s sentence by Branch 21 of Tehran’s Appeals Court followed repeated court applications.

Akbari was arrested in January 2019 during a raid on his home in Tehran in January 2019. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for “acting against national security by forming an illegal evangelical Christian group,” CIC reports.

In a website statement about the situation facing Christian converts from Islam in Iran, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization reports: “For Christians who convert from Islam, not even the veneer of tolerance is present. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is illegal in Iran, and anyone caught as a convert can be arrested and imprisoned.”

“The government views conversion as an attempt by the West to undermine Islam and the Islamic government of Iran. This means that anyone who is discovered to be a member of a house church can be charged with a crime against national security, which can lead to long prison sentences. Anyone arrested or detained can be tortured and abused while in jail. Some Christians are released and monitored—and know a second arrest would mean a long prison sentence,” Open Doors said.

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