Iranian Christian convert Mina Khajavi was detained in a raid on a house church in June 2020 and two years later she was sentenced to six years in prison for “acting against national security” through leadership of a house church. Following an unsuccessful appeal she began serving her sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison in January 2024, after a delay caused by a badly broken ankle. She is not expected to be released until December 2029 and is struggling with pain in prison.
Christian convert Mina Khajavi (61) was detained in a raid carried out by ten intelligence agents from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a house church meeting in the home of a recent convert in western Tehran’s Yaftabad district on the evening of 30 June 2020. The eight male and two female agents, who were armed and masked, were initially respectful as they filmed the raid and separated men from women, but reportedly became abusive when the cameras were switched off.
The agents took all thirty Christians present down to the car park of the building, where several cars and a van with blacked-out windows were waiting. Local residents’ cars had apparently been moved to make space for the agents’ vehicles and to enable the space to be used as an interrogation room. The agents read out a list of names on an arrest warrant, and those whose names were on the list (Mina, her sister Maryam, three other converts and Iranian-Armenian Christian Joseph Shahbazian) were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away.
The agents confiscated mobile phones belonging to all the other Christians, took their contact details, told them not to follow up on the confiscation of their phones for at least 72 hours and ordered them to write down that none of their property had been confiscated. They then drove the six arrested Christians and some of those whose names were not on the list to their homes in Tehran and nearby Karaj and searched for Bibles, other Christian literature and communications devices. Witnesses reported that some of the Christians and some of their non-Christian family members were beaten. The agents later went to the homes of the three Christian converts whose names had been read out but were not present and arrested them.
The Yaftabad raid was the first of several coordinated raids on house churches in Tehran, Karaj and Malayer, 400 km southwest of Tehran, on 30 June and 1 July 2020. It is believed that an informant had infiltrated the Christians’ network and tipped off the authorities, and this informant reportedly accompanied intelligence agents on their raid on a Tehran house church and later stood next to the judge as he read out bail demands.
Revolutionary Guard agents detained at least 13 Christians in the coordinated raids and interrogated dozens more. Most were released in the following days, either without charge or on bail on charges including “propaganda against the regime” and “acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity” and security agents reportedly threatened their families to stop them disclosing any details. All detainees were released within a few weeks except for Joseph Shahbazian and a convert named Malihe Nazari, the leader of a Christian women’s fellowship, who had been arrested at her home in Tehran’s Sadeghiyeh district on 30 June.
Mina was detained for twenty days and was released on bail on 20 July. She had been blindfolded the whole time to prevent her from knowing where she was and when released she was driven to an unfamiliar Tehran street where she was dropped off without phone or money. She had to borrow a phone from a passerby to contact her family and ask them to find her and bring her home.
“You must write what we want you to write”
On 16 October 2021 Mina, Joseph, Malihe and four other converts who had been arrested during the coordinated raids were summoned to give their final defence at the prosecutor’s office at Evin Prison. Their lawyer Iman Soleimani reported that the charges read out to them included “promoting Zionist Christianity”, “weakening faith in Muslim clerics”, “membership in opposition groups to disrupt national security”, “weakening the foundation of the family” and “attracting Muslims to house churches”. They denied all the charges and were told that their cases would be passed on to the Revolutionary Court of Tehran.
Mina told the prosecutor that the interrogators had thrown away her testimony and had told her, “You must write what we want you to write!” Her lawyer said the accusations against all the Christians were based only on the allegations of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents and not on any evidence. Mr Soleimani added that the prosecutor asked Mina about the history of Protestantism and how it is connected with Zionism, to which she responded that she had no knowledge about such things.
She was also accused of converting her husband and child to Christianity but she refuted the accusation and said her family members had decided to convert after seeing the profound change her new faith had made to her life. She was then told that a member of her house church had brought charges against her.
Trial
On 29 May 2022 Mina was tried at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran alongside Joseph, Malihe and the four other converts who were part of the same case. The seven Christians were all tried on charges of “acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity” through either leadership or membership of a house church, and all denied the charges.
At the hearing, Judge Iman Afshari offered the Christians a reduction in their sentences if they agreed to recant their faith and blame Joseph for their conversions. When they refused, he reportedly threatened to increase their sentences. Judge Afshari has gained a reputation for severe sentencing of Christians and he reportedly threatened, intimidated and ridiculed the defendants. When their lawyer objected, the judge replied that he was “only joking”. He reportedly failed to act impartially, speaking in defence of the charges and failing to ask the prosecutor’s representative any questions about the legality of the case against the defendants and their activities, despite repeated objections from the Christians’ lawyer.
On 7 June 2022 Mina was sentenced to six years in prison for “acting against national security” through leadership of a house church and fined 800 million tomans (around €38,000). Joseph received a ten-year sentence and Malihe a six-year sentence, both for leadership, while the four other Christians were sentenced to between one and four years’ imprisonment for membership but were permitted to pay fines instead of going to prison.
Mina, Joseph and Malihe appealed, but on 17 August 2022 Judges Abasali Hozavan and Khosrow Khalili Mehdiyarji of the 36th Branch of the Appeal Court of Tehran announced that the defence had failed to meet the necessary criteria for the appeal to be considered. Mr Soleimani told Article18 that the judgment had been reached “without an actual hearing, and with a complete disregard of the extensive and well-reasoned defence offered”.
Summoned to prison
On 29 August 2022 Mina was summoned to Evin Prison to begin serving her sentence within 24 hours, but the following day prison authorities told her she could return home for up to six weeks to recover from a badly broken ankle – she had been run over by a car and had her ankle broken in three places. Metal plates had to be inserted and Mina continues to walk with a limp and has developed arthritis. Joseph and Malihe were also summoned and began serving their sentences on 30 August.
On 3 January 2024 Mina, deemed to be fully recovered, was ordered to submit herself to Evin Prison within five days. She began her prison term on 8 January 2024 and reportedly spent time in solitary confinement in Ward 209, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence, undergoing interrogation.
Commenting on Mina’s summons, Article 18’s advocacy director Mansour Borji said, “Article18 is shocked by the unjust sentence that was initially handed down to Mrs Khajavi for exercising her right to freedom of religion or belief. We are further appalled by the absurdity of the summons to serve that sentence, despite the serious physical harm that prison conditions can potentially cause her. We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional acquittal of Mrs Khajavi, who is sentenced to prison on account of her Christian faith. We also urge Iran to end the harassment of the Christian community and to respect the November 2021 Supreme Court ruling that ‘the promotion of Christianity and formation of a house church is not criminalised in law’ and should not be deemed a threat to national security.”
In April 2024 Mina was reported to be struggling with pain and unable to access the medical care she needs. A source close to the family said she had not been provided with adequate care, only occasional painkillers. Mina was due to have surgery before her imprisonment but was not able to attend. She finds it particularly difficult to climb up to the second-level bunk-bed in her cell at night.
Mina is in the process of applying for a retrial, while Joseph and Malihe were granted early release in 2023. Malihe was released in April after the Supreme Court pardoned her because her son was in hospital with leukaemia, while Joseph’s sentence was reduced to two years following a retrial in May and he was pardoned and released in September.
Family
Mina is married and in October 2021, when she was summoned to give her final defence at the prosecutor’s office at Evin Prison, she was accused of converting her husband and child to Christianity. Mina said she had not forced anyone to convert but that they had decided to become Christians after seeing the profound change her new faith had made to her life. Mina’s sister Maryam, also a Christian convert, was detained in the same raid but was later released.
TIMELINE
30 June 2020 Christian convert Mina Khajavi was detained in a raid on a house church in Tehran, one of several coordinated raids over two days in three cities. She was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away, along with her sister Maryam, three other converts and Iranian-Armenian Christian Joseph Shahbazian.
20 July 2020 Mina was released on bail. She was driven to an unfamiliar Tehran street, dropped off without phone or money and had to borrow a phone from a passerby to contact her family.
16 October 2021 Mina and six other Christians who had been arrested in the coordinated raids were summoned to give their final defence at the prosecutor’s office at Evin Prison.
29 May 2022 Mina was tried at the Revolutionary Court of Tehran along with the six other Christians who were part of the same case. They were all tried on charges of “acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity” through either leadership or membership of a house church, and all denied the charges.
7 June 2022 Mina was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 800 million tomans (around €38,000), her fellow-convert Malihe Nazari received a six-year sentence and Joseph Shahbazian received a ten-year sentence. The four other Christians were sentenced to between one and four years’ imprisonment but were permitted to pay fines instead of going to prison. Mina, Malihe and Joseph appealed.
17 August 2022 The Appeal Court of Tehran announced that the defence had failed to meet the necessary criteria for the appeal to be considered. The decision not to hear their appeals was reached without a hearing and with no regard for the defence that had been prepared.
29 August 2022 Mina was summoned to Evin Prison to begin her sentence within 24 hours, but the following day prison authorities told her she could return home for up to six weeks to recover from a badly broken ankle.
3 January 2024 Mina was ordered to submit herself to Evin Prison within five days.
8 January 2024 Mina began serving her prison sentence.
April 2024 Mina was reported to be struggling with pain but had not been provided with adequate care, only occasional painkillers, and was finding it difficult to climb up to her second-level bunk-bed at night.
Read more about the persecution of Christians in Iran.
(Article 18, Church in Chains Prisoner Profiles, Human Rights Activists News Agency, Middle East Concern, Voice of the Martyrs Prisoners of Faith)
Photo: Article 18