Christian convert sentenced to nearly nine years in Varamin prison

Hengaw – Monday, September 29, 2025

The Revolutionary Court of Varamin has sentenced Christian convert Morteza (Kalvin) Faghanpour-Sasi to eight years and eleven months in prison.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Branch 1 of the court, presided over by Judge Ashkan Ramesh, imposed seven years and six months for “propaganda activities against Islamic law due to connections abroad” and an additional seventeen months for “insulting the Supreme Leader.” The trial was held on July 16, 2025.

Charges against him included distributing Christian literature without authorization, attending online universities abroad to study theology and methods of evangelism, and posting a caricature of the Supreme Leader on social media.

Mohabbat News reported that security forces arrested Faghanpour-Sasi on June 13, 2025, while he was at work. Agents later searched his home, seizing Bibles, evangelical booklets, his mobile phone, and images of Jesus Christ and a cross displayed on the wall.

He was held under repeated interrogation for one month in Ward 240 of Evin Prison and for twenty days in Ward 209. Unable to post bail, he spent another four months in Ward 8 before being temporarily released after submitting two salary slips as collateral pending further judicial proceedings.