Friends of detained Christian converts Jahangir Alikhani, Hamed Malamiri and Gholam Eshagh, recently re-arrested by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), request prayer. The three were among 20 Christians initially arrested in Nowshahr and Chalus in a coordinated raid over Christmas 2023 and later released.
According to Iranian Christian rights defender Article 18, 14 of the Christians arrested at that time, including Jahangir, Hamed and Gholam, were summoned to the 1st Branch of the Prosecutor’s Office of the General and Revolutionary Court of Nowshahr on 27 August 2024 to answer charges of “collaborating with hostile foreign countries against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran and insulting to the religion of Islam and its sanctities through the press.”
On 23 and 24 September, Jahangir, Hamed and Gholam were re-arrested at their homes by intelligence agents of the IRGC. They are believed to have been taken to Sari, the provincial capital, but their families have not heard from them since their arrest, and they have been denied access to a lawyer.
Prayer Points
Please pray that:
- God will strengthen and encourage the converts and their families,
- The men will be able to call to reassure their loved ones,
- These and the other Christians arrested last Christmas will be acquitted and that the Iranian authorities will stop persecuting religious communities for the peaceful expression of their faith.
