Source: www.persecution.org
Date: May 3, 2024
Iran (International Christian Concern) — On March 11, Iranian authorities charged house church member Shabeddin “Shahab” Shahi with “propaganda against the Islamic regime.” Shahi recently appeared at a Revolutionary Court in Karaj and is awaiting a second and final hearing at the sixth branch of the court.
Shahi served four months in prison in 2019 on the same charge. Authorities re-arrested him in December 2023, along with fellow house church members Milad Goodarzi and Alireza Nourmohammadi. Goodarzi and Nourmohammadi, as well as Nourmohammadi’s brother, Amir Nourmohammadi, have previously served time in prison for their Christian faith.
The Nourmohammadi brothers, as well as another house church member, Hossein Sha’bani, have also been charged with engaging in propaganda against Islam as part of Article 500, a controversial amendment to Iran’s penal code.
Multiple other families associated with the house church have been interrogated for their Christian activities since Shahi’s in December.
ICC has spent years documenting similar cases in Iran, where Christianity is spreading rapidly.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for all unjust charges against Shahi to be dropped. Pray for the ability for Iranians to practice their faith more freely. Pray for the gospel to spread throughout Iran.