The 62-year-old Iranian-Armenian house church pastor Anooshavan Avedian was released just after he spent the first year of his 10-year sentence in prison. Anooshavan established a Farsi-speaking house church in Tehran after the previous one was closed by force in 2013. His goal was to ensure a place for the believers who were left without a place to worship and meet. His house church was considered

“an illegal group with the aim of disrupting the security of the country through educational and propaganda activities contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam.”

Authorities arrested Anooshavan in 2020, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September 2023. He appealed many times during his time in prison, but all of his attempts for a retrial were refused. Finally, after a year in prison, his appeal was accepted by Branch 21 of the Appeal Court of Tehran, and he was released from prison.

According to Article 18, at least 21 individuals are serving prison sentences because of their faith. Ten are kept in Evin Prison, the same facility where Anooshavan served his time.

Source: Article 18

Photo: Wikimedia