11 Iranian Christians walk free from court!

11 Iranian Christians are
free today!

At the end of April, we told you that 11 members of an evangelical denomination in Iran were to stand trial for “activities against the order.” The charges referred to their involvement in a house-church meeting and to taking communion wine.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has learned that these 11 individuals have been acquitted by the court and released. Praise the Lord!

Following their arrests in April, the 11 individuals were brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal in Bandar-Anzali on May 1 for a rushed hearing where their lawyer, Mr. Seyyed Mohammed-Ali Dadkhah, hastily drafted a statement in their defence.

In a written verdict issued in mid-May, the court ruled that since the 11 claimed to be conducting a Christian ceremony, their activities were covered by Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution, which allows Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians to “perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.”

The judge added that the case involved a religious ceremony, thus there was no evidence to sustain the charge that they had been acting against the national security or the order of the country. The local authorities have 20 days in which to appeal the acquittal.

Please continue to pray for believers who remain imprisoned in Iran, including Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who is awaiting a date for his appeal against a death sentence for apostasy, and house-church pastor Vahik Abrahamian, who remains behind bars in Hamadan despite the release of his three co-accused, including his wife.