SoCal Theologica: Musings from the West Coast

Persecution Blog

Our good friends at Mission Network News have a new article up today about Maryam and Marzieh.  Here are a few highlights.

Iran (MNN) ― Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh stood trial for their faith in an Iranian court on August 8. Imprisoned since March 5, both women have suffered deteriorating health. They have endured interrogation and a lack of medical attention at the infamous Evin prison. Nevertheless, the women witnessed boldly for the Gospel at their trial, said Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs. “They were instructed very clearly to renounce their faith; in fact, they were told that they needed to renounce Christianity verbally, and they also needed to write it out and sign it. They both replied ‘No, we will not deny our faith,’” said Nettleton. “And interestingly, ‘We have no regrets’ is another thing they said in the courtroom, knowing full well that for somebody who was a Muslim and then became a Christian in Iran, that’s apostasy. And the penalty for that can be pretty severe.” The women were arrested because of their work in Iran’s house church movement and because they were raised in Muslim families. In their trial, however, they argued that being raised in Muslim families did not make them Muslim – therefore they are not apostates from Islam.

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“One of the penalties for apostasy within the Iranian court system is the death penalty,” Nettleton said. “Typically that is not given to women, but it is one of the possibilities for an apostate. So what is probably more likely than the death penalty is perhaps a long imprisonment.”

VOM has received reports that the women were suffering from health problems, and an infection was spreading in their prison and in the cell where they live with many other women. If they receive a long prison sentence, VOM hopes the Iranian government will provide them with medical care.

“If you are going to keep them in prison, at least provide adequate medical care for their needs. That seems to be a basic human right, but it’s not something that they’ve been afforded up to now,” Nettleton said.