Four Iranian Christian converts who were arrested in February have been sent to Lakan Prison after they were unable to afford the bail established by Branch 10 of the Revolutionary Courts. Each individual was set a bail of 500 million tomans ($30,000) after they appeared before the court on May 14th. The exact nature of their charges are unknown and each of the arrested Christians are members of the city of Rasht’s Church of Iran. Their names are Ramin Hassanpour, his wife Kathrin Sajadpour, Moslem Rahimi, and one other who wishes to remain unidentified.
Iran has a long history of using the judicial system to financially exploit Christians while also condemning them to long sentences in some of the country’s harshest jails. Christians from the Church of Iran have frequently been singled out by the authorities. Because of COVID-19, there has been much uncertainty regarding the fate of those entangled in the judicial process. Many prisoners had been released, including a small number of Christians, some of whom had their prison sentences cancelled. How the judiciary will proceed with open cases has yet to be determined. However, it is expected that beyond COVID-19, Iran will continue to be one of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world.