Laleh Saati, an Iranian Christian convert from Islam, has been released from prison after serving 15 months of a two-year sentence.
Laleh, 46, was convicted of “acting against national security by connecting with ‘Zionist’ Christian organizations” after being arrested in February 2024. She was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison on May 31.
Her release is conditional on refraining from communicating with media or any contacts outside Iran. She must now serve a two-year ban on traveling abroad, which becomes active following her release.
Laleh Saati’s Christian activities in Malaysia were used as evidence of her “crime” on her return to Iran. [Image credit: Facebook]
Laleh lived for some time in Malaysia, where she was baptized. She returned to Iran in 2017 because of the protracted asylum process and to care for her elderly parents in Iran.
On her return intelligence agents found evidence of her alleged actions against national security, including involvement in “house churches” in Iran and footage of Christian activities in Malaysia, including her baptism, discovered on her cell phone.
Since Farsi (Persian)-speaking Christians are converts from Islam, they are punishable as apostates according to Islamic law. Unlike the historic Armenian- and Assyrian-speaking Christian communities they are not permitted to hold church services or worship freely.
How you can pray
Give thanks for Laleh’s release from this harsh imprisonment. Pray for her spiritual, physical and mental rehabilitation as she adjusts to freedom and the conditions that apply. Ask that her case will remind immigration authorities worldwide that Christians face persecution in their countries of origin when asylum claims are delayed or rejected.
