Christian man with Parkinson’s disease imprisoned in Iran
Homayoun Zhaveh and his wife, Sara Ahmadi were arrested on the 13th of August after they had returned to the police station to recover confiscated belongings. They were seized and then incarcerated in the Evin jail in Teheran. Iran ranks 9th on the World Watch List for Persecution; in the past few months, many cases have been recorded of Christians being arbitrarily arrested.
The couple was first arrested in July 2019, when they held a meeting with other Christian families in the city of Amol, Northern Iran. All the meeting participants were interrogated, but only Homayoun and Sara were arrested.
In November 2020, both were sentenced to eleven years imprisonment for conspiracy and for leading a house church The couple insisted that they had done nothing that could have threatened national security. Their lawyer pointed out that Houmayoun could not have been involved in any anti-national conspiracy due to his illness.
Request denied
They appealed the sentence, but the Supreme Court rejected their application in June 2021. When they turned up to begin their sentence, the authorities told them to go home. One year later, the authorities decided to arrest them again.
“It is unsettling to think about an elderly and ill man being arrested. The conditions in prison will likely worsen their health. We ask the Iranian authorities to release Homayoun and Sara, who is not only her husband’s wife but also his carer. We also ask the authorities to stop persecuting converted Christians for their faith in Jesus, given that their religious practices and activities are peaceful and do not threaten Iran,” – said the director of advocacy of the organisation – Article 18.
