Christian convert Nireh Arjaneh arrested to serve five-year sentence

Hengaw – Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Iranian government forces have arrested Nireh Arjaneh, a Christian convert residing in Garmsar, Semnan Province, and transferred her to Semnan Prison to enforce a prison sentence.

Information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights indicates that the arrest took place on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, when Arjaneh was taken into custody and transferred to Semnan Prison to begin serving her sentence.

Arjaneh had previously been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court of Garmsar, presided over by Farshid Safdari, to five years of discretionary imprisonment on charges of “disruptive propaganda and education contrary to Islamic law.” She also received an additional five-year sentence on charges of “financial support for groups affiliated with Zionist Christianity.”

Under Iran’s sentence aggregation law, only the maximum applicable sentence of five years’ imprisonment is enforceable in her case.

In addition to the prison sentence, Arjaneh was sentenced to two fines of 165 million tomans and 60 million tomans, two years of compulsory residence in Kuhbanan, and a two-year ban on leaving the country.

Arjaneh was first arrested at her home on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, along with her husband, Qasem Esmaili. She was later released on bail but was rearrested for three days after the bail amount was increased to 2 billion tomans, before being released again on a temporary basis.