Middle East Concern | Oct. 18, 2019
Iranian Christians request prayer for nine men of the “Church of Iran” denomination who have each received a five-year prison sentence due to their Christian faith and activity.
Abdolreza (Matthias) Haghnejad was arrested on 10 February when Iranian security (Revolutionary Guard) raided the house church gathering in Rasht where pastor Matthias Haghnejad was ministering. Bibles and mobile phones were confiscated. Khalil Dehkanpour, Hossein (Elisha) Kadivar, Kamal Naamanian, Mohammed Vafada, Shahrooz Eslamdous, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi Khatibi and Behnam Akhlaghi, who are all members of the same church, were also arrested between 31 January and 23 February.
In March, seven of the accused were released on bail of 150 million Toman (US$12,500), but Matthias and Shahrooz remained detained.