Christians in Isfahan province have been subjected to arbitrary arrests and heavy prison sentences in the week since Hassan Rouhani came into office.
On August 1, security forces terrified worshippers when they raided and searched a house church in the city of Isfahan, arresting the owners Sediqeh Amirkhani, Mahnaz Rafii and Mohammad Reza Paymani and transferring them to an unknown location.
On June 9, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran also sentenced newly converted Christian Mostafa Bordbar, who was arrested in December 2012, to 10 years imprisonment with physical torture.
Mr Bordbar was sentenced to five years on charges of membership in an association and another five years for provoking public unrest causing ‘national insecurity.’
The Revolutionary Court in the city of Yazd also sentenced a Baha’i, Shamim Etehadi, to seven years and three months imprisonment with physical punishment, 75 lashes and 40 million Rials fine.
Mr Etehadi received two years for filming a desecrated grave and sending the footage a TV channel. He was handed another five years and 75 lashes.