SW News: There is good news from Iran as the government has released nine Christians from jail pending trial. Among the released prisoners is a Protestant pastor. This has come as a ray of hope for the growing Christian community in the Islamic country. Although Iran’s constitution promises religious freedom, Muslims who abandon their faith and embrace Christianity face oppression and even persecution.

The nine Iranian Christians were released at the turn of the new year and it has been hailed by global human rights organizations and activists. It is Pastor Matthias Abdulreza Ali Haghnejad and eight members of his Church who were released.

The Pastor was thrown into prison after a quick trial in September 2019 and he was charged with endangering the security of the state and promoting Zionist Christianity. The other eight were charged with founding a house church. Although Pastor Haghnejad had appealed to the authorities in 2020 to place him under house arrest as the pandemic was surging across prisons in the country.
The incarceration of the Pastor and fellow believers was closely observed by international NGO Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and it also sent several appeals to secure his release.

Although the prisoners are safe back home, they have not been acquitted. Their trial will continue and they have to prove their innocence in the unjust charges levelled against them.