Amid and Sanaz’s son Danial was just four years old when Ministry of Intelligence agents came to arrest his parents. Amid and Sanaz had converted to Christianity a few years earlier, and after the Persian-speaking church they had been attending was told it could no longer welcome converts, they had started hosting church services in their home.

Amid and Sanaz were detained separately in unknown locations – in conditions Amid describes as “excruciating”, and “like hell” – for 18 and seven days, respectively, during which time they were repeatedly interrogated about their Christian activities, threatened, and told to “repent and return to Islam”.

Even after he was released, Amid says they felt they were under constant supervision. For the first few days, he says they “didn’t even dare to pray at home”.

Less than two months after Amid’s release, the couple fled to Turkey.

They were later sentenced, in absentia, to a year each in prison for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime in favour of hostile groups”.

It’s now more than seven years since Amid and Sanaz arrived in Turkey and claimed asylum, but they are still waiting to be interviewed about their case. They now have another son, Benjamin, who was born in 2019.

For more about Amid and Sanaz, read their Witness Statement or our feature article.