{"id":29714,"date":"2023-02-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/wife-of-imprisoned-church-leader-released-on-bail-5927\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:09:06","slug":"wife-of-imprisoned-church-leader-released-on-bail-5927","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/wife-of-imprisoned-church-leader-released-on-bail-5927\/","title":{"rendered":"Wife of imprisoned church leader released on bail"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9c3cda55cfdc27552b0f4097d396b3ee.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>The wife of a leader from the Church of Iran denomination was released on bail on 28 January after spending over three weeks in Lakan prison in Rasht, the provincial capital of Gilan Province.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Middle East Concern, Anahita Khademi was released on a bail of 180 million tomans (approximately USD $4,000), but faces charges of \u2018propaganda against the system\u2019 and \u2018disturbing public opinion\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ms Khademi was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2023\/01\/04\/%e6%8c%89\/5901\/article.htm\/\">arrested<\/a> on 3 January 2023, days after her husband, Pastor Matthias (Abdulreza Ali) Haghnejad, was arrested along with two other Christians in Anzali city in Gilan Province on 26 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pastor Haghnejad remains in prison on charges of \u2018acting against the security of the country by forming a group and propagating Christianity outside the church and in the house church, and giving information to the enemies of Islam\u2019. The pastor had been acquitted of these same charges in 2014, yet they were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2022\/01\/19\/%e6%8c%89\/5551\/article.htm\/\">reinstated<\/a> in January 2022, shortly after he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2022\/03\/04\/%e6%8c%89\/5604\/article.htm\/\">acquitted<\/a> of \u2018endangering state security\u2019 and \u2018promoting Zionist Christianity,\u2019 for which he spent nearly three years in prison from February 2019 to December 2021. The reinstated charges carry a six-year sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CSW\u2019s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said:<b><i> \u2018While CSW welcomes the release on bail of Anahita Khademi, we maintain that the charges against her are completely unfounded and should be dismissed immediately and without pre-condition. The same is true of her husband, Matthias Haghnejad, who faces charges which were dismissed on appeal in 2014, in a clear violation of article 14:7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory. We continue to call for the pastor\u2019s immediate and unconditional release, as well as that of all others currently imprisoned in relation to their religion or belief. We also urge Iran to end its effective criminalisation of Christianity, and to respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of religion or belief for every citizen regardless of their religious affiliation and belief.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wife of a leader from the Church of Iran denomination was released on bail on 28 January after spending over three weeks in Lakan prison in Rasht, the provincial capital of Gilan Province.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43850,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[148,145],"class_list":["post-29714","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-iran","regions-middle-east-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40298,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29714\/revisions\/40298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29714"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}