An Assyrian pastor accused by the Iranian government of "converting Muslims" is being tortured in prison and threatened with execution, sources close to the case have said.
National Security Service agents arrested 65-year-old Pastor Wilson Issavi on February 2, shortly after he finished a house meeting at a friend's home in Isfahan, some 300 km south of Tehran. His church, the Evangelical Church of Kermanshah in Isfahan, is a 50-year-old denomination affiliated with the Assemblies of God (a community of Pentecostals) that serves the local Assyrian population.
According to the Farsi-language Christian news network FCNN, Issavi's wife, Medline Nazanin, recently visited her husband in prison where she saw that he had obvious signs of torture and that his general condition was poor. Iranian intelligence officials told Nazanin that her husband might be executed for his alleged activities.
During the raid, the National Security Police detained everyone in the house, but later released everyone except Issavi and the owner of the house. Security officers also seized personal belongings from the house. During Christian arrests in Iran, security officers typically confiscate all documents, media materials, computers and personal documentation.
Issavi is being held in an unknown prison, according to FCNN.
Source: Assyrian International News Agency
