Ebrahim Firouzi

Update October 28, 2019

Ebrahim Firouzi was released from Rajaei Shahr prison on Oct. 26, 2019. He will now serve two years’ internal exile in the city of Sarbaz, on the border with Pakistan.

The prison warden wanted to send Ebrahim directly to exile, but he was allowed temporary release to sort out personal affairs, including retrieving personal documents still held by Iranian intelligence.

Ebrahim says he is in good health and has been very happy to receive calls from friends. He requests prayer for a friend in prison with urgent needs. He also requests prayer for himself, especially for patience.

Prisoner Details

Christian convert from Islam Ebrahim Firouzi has been in and out of prison in Iran since 2011, and though he was due to be released in January 2015, authorities instead retried him and extended his sentence by five years.

Ebrahim was first arrested on January 11, 2011. At that time, he was interrogated and held in jail for 154 days before being conditionally released. In Iran, this conditional release means authorities can re-arrest you at any time to complete your sentence. In March 2013, he was arrested again and held for 53 days. On July 13, 2013, a court sentenced him to one year in prison following two years of exile for the crimes of:

• propagating against the Islamic regime of Iran

• organizing evangelistic activities

• contact with foreigners and anti-Islamic revolutionary networks outside the county

• administering a Christian website

On Aug. 21, 2013, Ebrahim was arrested again, along with two friends. He was accused of spying. While his friends were later released on bail, he was held in Evin Prison in Tehran, until October 2014 when he was transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison near Karaj.

He was due for release on Jan. 13, 2015, but instead, he was kept in detention, retried in March 2015 and charged with “acting against national security, gathering, and collusion.” He was sentenced to five years in prison.

In October 2019, Ebrahim was released to internal exile and sent more than 1,000 miles away. He was required to check in weekly with police. His initial two-year term of exile was then extended by 11 months after an "unauthorized" leave of absence.

After he received an unexpected package of Bibles in the mail, Ebrahim was summoned to a court hearing in early February 2021 , after which he was rearrested. He could be returned to prison for another three years. Before his court appearance, Ebrahim said, “I ask Christian to pray not for my acquittal, but for the great name of God to be glorified.”