Christian Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Attempting to Spread Christianity in Iran

ICC Note:

Iran has a history of arresting and imprisoning Christians for attempting to spread Christianity in the Islamic republic. Christian convert Mohammed-Hadi “Mostafa” Bordbar has recently been sentenced to 10 years in prison for proselytizing in Iran. Officially, he has been convicted of “crimes against state security.” According to reports, police raided his home and discovered thousands of copies of the Gospel Mohammed-Hadi had planned on using to witness to others in Iran. Please pray for this persecuted brother.

8/22/2013 Iran (Arutz Sheva) – An Iranian convert from Islam to Christianity has been sentenced to a decade in prison for proselytizing, the Christian news network Agenzia Fides reports.

The man, Mohammed-Hadi “Mostafa” Bordbar, was officially charged with “crimes against state security.”

Bordbar had previously faced criminal charges for converting to Christianity. He was found guilty of “apostasy,” but was not jailed.

His latest arrest took place in December 2012. He was taken into custody following a police raid at his home, which had been used for Christian prayer meetings.

Officers found thousands of copies of the Christian Gospel, which Bordbar had been distributing in an attempt to convince others to join him in following Christianity.

The report also noted a related sentence, that of Ebrahim Firouzi, an Iranian Christian who was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of exile for “evangelization activities and distribution of Bibles… in opposition to the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Iran has a long history of arresting Christians, and targeting converts from Islam in particular. Some “Church of Iran” members have accused the state of treating them as “enemy number one.”

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