Amnesty International (AI) has launched an Urgent Action calling for the release of four Iranians sentenced to a combined total of 45 years in prison “solely for practising their Christian faith”.

Its report calls for urgent action from the Iranian government to “quash the convictions and sentences of Victor Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi, and Hadi Asgari, as they have been targeted solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedoms of religion and belief, expression, and association, through their Christian faith.”

All four are currently free on bail, awaiting the outcome of their appeals.

Amnesty urges supporters to write to the government asking it to “stop harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and imprisonment of Christians, including converts, in Iran”.

It also includes a call to “respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt or change a religion or belief of one’s choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest one’s religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching, as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party”.

Full story here.

Photo: From left: Victor Bet-Tamraz, Amin Afshar-Naderi, another fellow prisoner Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, and Hadi Asgari (World Watch Monitor)