Article 18

An Iranian pastor who has been in and out of prison since his first arrest in 2006 was released from his latest long incarceration on account of his religious beliefs and practices on Saturday.

Abdolreza Ali-Haghnejad, who is known as Matthias and will celebrate his 51st birthday later this week, had been serving a six-year sentence for “propagating Christianity” since January 2022, when his 2014 acquittal was overturned just two weeks after he had been released from a separate five-year sentence on similar charges.

Matthias had been serving his latest sentence 1,000 miles from his wife and daughter in Anzali, north Iran, having been transferred to Minab Prison in the far south in the summer of 2023.

In January, Matthias was told he would be permitted to visit his family monthly for the remainder of his sentence, but in April, after only a few days of his latest home visit, Matthias was called unexpectedly and ordered to return to the prison, whereupon he was informed that his so-called “open sentence” would no longer apply to him.

Matthias’ case shows how the pressure on Iranian Christians can continue for years after their first arrest and even, in his case, after two acquittals.

In 2021, Matthias was part of a historic case involving nine converts to Christianity, whose convictions were overturned by a branch of Iran’s Supreme Court, which ruled that involvement in house-churches should not be considered an “action against national security”.

“Merely preaching Christianity, and promoting the ‘Evangelical Zionist sect’, both of which apparently means propagating Christianity through family gatherings [house-churches] is not a manifestation of gathering and collusion to disrupt the security of the country, whether internally or externally,” the ruling stated.

It added that the “formation of these societies and groups [house-churches] is not [a breach of] Articles 498 and 499 of the Islamic Penal Code [relating to membership or organisation of “anti-state groups”], or other criminal laws”.

However, Matthias’ re-arrest and imprisonment just two weeks after his release showed clearly that the fears of those he had been imprisoned alongside, whose brave videos inspired the Place2Worship campaign, were valid.

A month before their acquittal, two of the nine, Behnam Akhlaghi and Babak Hosseinzadeh, had recorded videos and written an open letter to the Iranian authorities asking, “Where can we, as Persian-speaking Christians, worship once we have finished serving our prison sentences?”

“The churches in our city have been closed down, the doors are shut, so we can’t worship in a church building,” Babak said in his video.

“The churches that remain open are accessible for only certain people – those born into Christian families – and not to us [converts]. Because of this, and the closure of the other churches, we have no church building in which to worship. So I want you to answer my question: ‘Where am I to worship after these five years?’

“When I am released, will you put me back in prison again because I continue to believe in Christ? Will I be separated from my family again? Will I still be threatened with exile?”

And even as Matthias celebrates his latest release, another court case hangs over him – as well as his wife and daughter, and nine other church members – following their arrest at a Christmas celebration in December 2022, when Matthias was on a short furlough from prison.