Gender: Female
Perpetrator: Iran
Religion or Belief: Christian – Unspecified/Other
Appeal: Rejected
Sentence: 16 Years' Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: November/1/2024
Date of Sentencing: March/1/2025
Current Status: Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Online Activity Possession of Religious Materials Practicing Religion as a Convert
Nature of Charges: Banned Organization Spreading Propaganda & False or Misleading Ideas, Information, or Materials
Narges Nasri
Extra Bio Info:
Narges Nasri was detained for her religious conversion.
In November 2024, Iranian intelligence authorities detained Nasri after raiding her Tehran home, during which they confiscated personal belongings and worship materials. She was briefly held in Ward 209 of Evin Prison and eventually released on bail after a series of interrogations.
In March 2025, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehrain sentenced her in absentia to 16 years' imprisonment for purported violations of Iran's penal code, including 10 years for "propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law" (Article 500), five years for membership of an opposition group for her house-church activity (Article 499), and one year for "propaganda against the state" (Article 500) for social media posts in support of protests against the government's religiously grounded mandatory hijab law.
In April 2025, Branch 36 of the Tehran appeal court upheld Nasri's prison sentence. Pregnant with her first child, Nasri had fled Iran by the time the decision was announced.
Publicly Available Information:
- "Tehran court rejects appeals of converts sentenced to a combined 40 years in prison" Article 18
- "Narges Nasri, Abbas Soori and Mehran Shamloui were informed on 7 May that their appeal was rejected and they had five days to turn themselves in to Evin Prison to start serving their combined prison sentences of more than 40 years." Middle East Concern
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Turkmenistan
Religion or Belief: Christian – Jehovah's Witness
Appeal: Reduced to Two Years' Corrective Labor
Sentence: 1 Year, 6 Months' Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: November/13/2024
Date of Sentencing: December/18/2024
Current Status: Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Conscientious Objection
Nature of Charges: Refusing & Absconding Military Service
Arslan Wepayew
Extra Bio Info:
Arslan Wepayew was detained for his conscientious objection.
In November 2024, authorities arrested Wepayew and placed him in pretrial detention for refusing to perform military service according to his religious beliefs.
In December 2024, the Bayramaly City Court sentenced Wepayew to two years of imprisonment.
On January 8, 2025, the Mary Regional Court heard Wepayew's appeal and released him, changing his sentence to two years of correctional labor. The Court also ruled that Wepayew relinquish 20 percent of his salary to the State for two years.
Publicly Available Information:
Aug 29, 2025
Religious freedom concerns are increasing in Sudan’s current brutal civil war. There are increasing reports of attacks on places of worship and other incidents that violate freedom of religion or belief. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have entrenched Sudan in the war since April 2023. The subsequent four years of instability and violence have created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, placing civilians across religious, ethnic, and tribal distinctions under intense threat. Both sides have committed atrocities that the previous U.S. administration determined to be war crimes in December 2023 and as genocide in January 2025.
On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Sudanese human rights lawyer and CSW Sudan Specialist, Mohaned Elnour to discuss his experience working in human rights, specifically religious freedom and belief, in the country. The audience will hear firsthand the complex dynamics communities currently face in Sudan.
Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Other Global Developments and USCIRF’s most recent Sudan Issue Update.