HRANA News Agency – Abraham Firuzi, a newly converted to Christianity, was sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of evangelism and held in Karaj prison. In the absence of transparency and official information, HRANA publishes the images of the verdict which the Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court issued unlawfully.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Abraham Firuzi has been sentenced to 5 years in prison reportedly because of the peaceful activities of conscience, by virtue of Article 498 of the Penal Code.
One of the HRANA’s legal advisers stated about the sentence and Article 498: “Article 498 considers forming a group as a crime with the aim of disrupting national security and the most important thing is that the judge should prove it in the case but we see that the judge put the aim of disruption of security by default and did not address the issue in judgments and also there is no confession of the accused.”
Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code says that anyone with any ideology, category, group or branch forms or organises a population of more than two people inside or outside the country under any name or title that aims to disturb the national security which is not considered as Muharebeh would be sentenced to imprisonment from two to ten years.
On March 17, 2014, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court put Firuzi on trial by judge Moghiseh and he met his lawyer for the first time in court.
The newly converted Christian who was arrested on September 25, 2013, has a record of number of arrests and earlier by the Revolutionary Court of Robat Karim was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of exile to Sarbaz city, but although his sentence ended on January 15, 2015, he remained in prison until finalizing the verdict of the new case.
Abraham Firuzi is being kept in ward 10 of Rajai Shahr prison now despite the principle of separation of offenses.