Published: 11:20 GMT Daylight Time - Friday 15 August 2014
Iranian pastor charged with "waging war against God"
Country/Region: Middle East and North Africa, Iran
Iranian pastor Matthias Haghnejad has been charged with enmity against God, a crime that can be punishable by death, while the fate of two other Christians arrested with him remains unknown.
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Pastor Matthias was arrested when intelligence agents stormed his home in Bandar-e-Anzali, northern Iran, on the morning of 5 July. The officers arrested the church leader, a convert from Islam, along with Mohammad (Vahid) Roghangir and Suroush Saraie, two other converts who were staying with him. The agents also seized Bibles, Christian booklets and the pastor’s personal computer.
On 3 August, the pastor was charged with “Moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, after being interrogated for two hours. Moharebeh is a capital offence in Iran, although under the 2013 Islamic Penal Code the death penalty is prohibited for charges not involving the use of a weapon.
Since he has been incarcerated in Karaj prison, Pastor Matthias has been deliberately separated from other Christian prisoners, who are being held in separate cells. No news has emerged of Suroush or Mohammad since their arrest.
All three converts have been targeted by the authorities in the past. Pastor Matthias has been arrested three times since 2006 and 2011. Suroush and Mohammad were arrested, along with six other Christians, at a prayer meeting in Shiraz in October 2012.
Suroush and Mohammad were detained for five months and faced a court only in March 2013. The charges against the group included “actions against national security”, “evangelising” and “disturbing public order”. Mohammad, the leader of the group, received a six-year jail sentence, while Suroush was given two and a half years. However the two Christians, along with fellow prisoner Massoud Rezaie, were released on bail, pending an appeal, in March 2014. Their rearrest is thought to be related to their original sentences.
Judge Mohammad Yari, who dealt with Pastor Matthius’ case, has also been involved in the case of Pastor Behnam Irani, who was sentenced to serve six years in prison in 2011. When Pastor Behnam refused to answer an irregular summons from the judge on 7 June 2014, the church leader was beaten and transferred to an unknown location.
Although Iran is a signatory to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it fails to guarantee religious and other rights to some minorities. The authorities systematically target Christians, especially Protestants and converts from Islam; the charges against them are often presented as political or criminal. Long prison sentences are not unusual; Pastor Saeed Abedini and Farshid Fathi are serving eight- and six-year sentences respectively.
The charge of Moharebeh, however, is a disturbing new development. In the past it has been reserved only for cases of criminal activity, armed protests, oppositional political activism and separatism.
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