Mina Khajavi, a Christian convert in her sixties, is serving her sentence in Evin Prison, Tehran, and began her six-year term on 8 January 2024.
She was arrested in 2020 while attending a worship service at the home of a fellow convert in Yaft-Abad, Tehran, along with a group of other Christian citizens. She was subjected to intense interrogations for several weeks.
A large number of the converts present were tried in the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “acting against national security” through “membership” or “managing and establishing a house church”. They were sentenced to heavy penalties by Judge Afshari, who is known for human rights violations and suppressing citizens with cruel sentences. Among the dozens of converts named in this case, Mina Khajavi and Maliheh Nazari were sentenced to six years in prison, and Joseph Shahbazian to 10 years.
While Yousef and Maliheh were summoned to prison a few months later to serve their sentences, Mina was deemed unable to endure her punishment, confirmed by a legal medical opinion, due to a car accident that resulted in a broken ankle. In the incident, Mina’s foot was severely broken, and surgeons had to insert a metal plate in her ankle.
While facing great difficulty in walking normally for months, Mina also developed arthritis. Nevertheless, on January 8, 2024, she was informed that she must report to Evin Prison within five days.
This decision was made by judicial authorities while Joseph and Maliheh, who were convicted on the same charge, had been released from prison early after their retrial request was accepted.
The appeal court judge, after determining that there was “insufficient evidence to impose the maximum penalty” for organising groups that “threaten national security” in this case, initially reduced Joseph Shahbazian’s sentence to two years and then, in September 2023, he was deemed fully eligible for a “pardon” and was released.
Maliheh Nazari was also released earlier, in May 2023, due to the deteriorating health of her son, who was hospitalised with leukaemia.
Mina has a husband and a daughter. She still requires ongoing medical treatment and access to medication, which prison has deprived her of.
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