Belonging to a house church in Iran does not make Christians ‘enemies of the state,’ the country’s Supreme Court has ruled.
According to Open Doors UK & Ireland, the court held that nine Christian converts serving five-year prison sentences for going to house-churches should not have been charged with ‘acting against national security’.
The nine men – members of a house church in Iran’s northern city of Rasht – were arrested in January and February 2019.
They were charged with ‘acting against national security through promoting Christian Zionism,’ and were handed a five-year prison sentence nine months later. They also lost the bid to appeal their sentences.
But the apex court stated that their involvement in house-churches, and even the propagation of what is referred to as the “Evangelical Zionist sect” should not be deemed as 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 apex court’s ruling stated.
“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. The promotion of Christianity and the formation of a house-church is not criminalised in law.”
Right To Worship
This decision was delivered on November 3, but it was only communicated to the Christians’ lawyers three weeks later. Articles 498 and 499 were used in the convictions of each one of Iran’s Christian prisoners of conscience.
“We welcome this ruling from the highest court in the land,” said Open Doors’ partner and Article18’s advocacy director, Mansour Borji, who believes it has the potential to become a landmark ruling.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling should now pave the way for the release of the nine Christians following a retrial at a Revolutionary Court. Even more importantly, it will give the Christians – and thousands of others across Iran – hope that they may now be able to worship together in their homes without fear of imprisonment.”
Although the legal system in Iran does not allow for a court precedent to be set, the judgement could influence cases against Persian-speaking Christians as more than 20 Christians are currently serving various jail terms for their involvement in house-churches.
In all cases, the charges against those held amounted to ‘actions against national security’.
Despite the ruling, Open Doors and Article18 have reiterated call for clarification from Iranian authorities of where Persian-speaking Christians can worship without fear of arrest and imprisonment.
“We further call for Persian-speaking Christians to be provided with a specific place of worship, as is their right under both Iran’s constitution and the international covenants to which Iran is a signatory, without reservation,” Mansour said.