Iranian Authorities Free Christian after Year in Prison

Religion Today | Updated: Sep 08, 2011

Iranian Authorities Free Christian after Year in Prison

According to Compass Direct News, Iranian authorities on Aug. 29 released a Christian after 359 days of detainment on charges of spreading Christianity among Farsi-speaking Iranians and having ties with foreign Christian organizations. Authorities arrested Vahik Abrahamian, 45, a dual Iranian and Dutch citizen who belongs to Iran’s Armenian community, and his wife on Sept. 4, 2010 in Hamadan, along with another Iranian Christian couple, Arash Kermanjani and Arezou Teimouri. On April 30 authorities released Abrahamian’s wife, Sonia, along with Kermanjani and Teimouri, and Abrahamian was ultimately held in the Hamadan general prison ward. The couple worked with drug addicts and other marginalized Iranians. Abrahamian had become a Christian in the Netherlands, where he visited an Iranian church. At that time he found freedom from his own drug addiction, and in 2006 he returned to Iran to work with drug users. Authorities were incensed that Abrahamian worked with marginalized Farsi-speaking Muslims, and even more that he had connections with foreign Christians. An Iranian Christian pastor said, “The reason he was in prison for so long wasn’t about his [faith and activities], but because he was connected with foreign Christians."

 

Iranian Authorities Free Christian after Year in Prison