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Report of Court Session for Two Christian Girls
By IHRV | August 16, 2009
On August 9, the court hearing for two girls recently converted to Christianity was held in the revolutionary court in Tehran.
Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, are two recent Christian converts who have been detained in Intelligence section 209, and last Sunday they were transferred for a hearing to the office of Tehran’s deputy prosecutor in charge of Intelligence-related charges. The prosecutor charged both girls with heresy.
During the court session, Ghazi Hadad questioned both girls regarding their religious beliefs, and specifically asked both girls to reverse their decisions and reject the notion of religion conversion orally and in written form. The two prisoners rejected the order, and stressed their human rights and their freedom to choose their own religion.
The Prosecutor’s demand, clearly showed that from courts’ perspective, the only crime Mryam and Marzieh have committed was their choice of belief in becoming Christians. The deputy prosecutor told them they have ample time until their court date to think and to admit their error in changing their belief, while they remain in their cells.
At the end of the session, Mr. Hadad said that a judge will issue the ruling, though it is not clear which judge will be assigned to the case or which method will be used in the ruling. For the first time since Maryam and Marzieh’s detention, Mr. Hadad added that both can have a lawyer to represent them.
On March 5, the two girls were detained by a number of plainclothes agents and security guards inside their apartment in Tehran, and since then they have been held in section 209 inside Evin Prison.
The two detainees have been subjected to many mistreatments, including physical illness and solitary confinement, as well as being questioned while their eyes were covered on numerous instances. Maryam and Marzieh are physically ill and they have lost a lot of weight. Marzieh suffers from extreme pain in her spinal column, infection of a tooth and migraine-like headaches.
According to Islamic Republic Constitutional law, freedom of belief is accepted and, based on article 23 in the Constitution, religious prosecution is banned, and no one can be prosecuted simply because of their beliefs.
Source: Human Rights Advocates in Iran
Topics: reports |