Ex-Muslim freed after spending 3 years in jail for getting baptized

Authors:

oge okonkwo

August 7, 2015 3:22 PM

38-yr-old Alireza Seyyedian who became a Christian in 2006, was originally arrested in 2010 after his baptism in Turkey

Evin House of Detention in northwest Tehran, Iran.

A Christian persecution advocacy group has revealed that a member of the Church of Iran who was arrested in 2010 for being baptized in Turkey has been released after spending three years in jail.

The Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) announced Tuesday that 38-yr-old Alireza Seyyedian was granted an early exit from the Evin Prison in northwest Tehran.

Christian Post reports that Seyyedin, who became a Christian in 2006, was originally arrested in 2010 after his baptism in Turkey and was let out on a $50,000 bail.

In December of 2011, Seyyedian was sentenced to serve six years in prison for committing crimes against national security. The judge deemed that by choosing to be baptized in Turkey, Sayyedian was trying to proclaim that he had lack of religious freedoms in Iran, thus he was charged of "propagating against the regime."

"We have enough priests in Iran to baptize him," the judge stated.

According to the monitoring website Prisoner Alert, Seyyedian was also accused of holding meetings with Muslims to distribute Bibles among children. Additionally, he was accused of communicating with and sharing hymns with pro-Israel media outlets. He was also accused of being a member of a Jesus Only cult.

After being charged in 2011, Seyyedian tried to flee to Turkey but was caught and arrested again in March 2012 and transported to Tehran to be thrown in Ward 350 of Evin Prison, a block of where political prisoners are held.

Authors:

oge okonkwo