Lida Aleksani, a Christian resident of Tehran, has been summoned to serve an eight-year prison sentence. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a notice she received on Thursday, 8 October 2026, requires her to report within three days to the sentence enforcement branch of the Tehran General and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office so that her sentence can begin.
Ms Aleksani is the wife of Joseph Shahbazian, another defendant in the same case. Intelligence Ministry agents arrested her at home on 13 April 2025, and after a month, on 13 May of that year, she was released from Evin prison on bail. According to the same report, her sentence was upheld unchanged by the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals in the second half of June this year.
The case of five Christian citizens at the Tehran Revolutionary Court
In November–December 2025, the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Lida Aleksani and four other Christian citizens to a combined 55 years in prison. According to HRANA, Aida Najaflou was sentenced to a total of 17 years, of which 10 years are enforceable under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code. Naser Nourdolgoltepeh and Joseph Shahbazian were each sentenced to 10 years. According to human rights organisations' reports, the charges in this case relate to forming and running a house church and holding Christian rites such as baptism and communion.
The Islamic Republic does not recognise the conversion of Muslims to Christianity, and the Revolutionary Courts punish group prayer in house churches with security-related charges. Human rights organisations have repeatedly reported that Christian converts in Iran face arrest, interrogation and heavy prison sentences.
Lida Aleksani's eight-year prison sentence was issued solely because of her participation in Christian religious activities.
Ms Aleksani's summons comes amid a fresh wave of summonses and arrests of critics and civil activists to carry out prison sentences, including the arrest of Mostafa Mehraeen, a sociologist critical of Khamenei, to serve a five-year prison sentence.
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