Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Iran
Religion or Belief: Christian – Unspecified/Other
Date of Detainment: December//2023
Current Status: Not Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Amir-Ali Minaei
Extra Bio Info:
Amir-Ali Minaei is imprisoned for his religious activity.
In December 2023, Iranian officials arrested Minaei for his involvement with a Christian house church.
In March 2024, Judge Iman Afshari of the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced him to 3 years, 7 months' imprisonment and deprivation of social rights for "Propaganda activities against the regime through establishing a house-church" (Art. 500 IPC). Authorities confined him in Evin Prison.
During detention, prison authorities intensely interrogated Minaei, leading to the development of a heart condition. Authorities denied him access to a cardiologist, beat him, fractured his foot, and held him incommunicado.
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Saudi Arabia
Religion or Belief: Muslim – Sunni
Date of Detainment: September//2017
Current Status: Not Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Awad al-Qarni
Extra Bio Info:
Awad al-Qarni is imprisoned and sentenced to death for his religious belief and leadership role.
In September 2017, authorities arrested Qarni, a renowned Sunni preacher and scholar, amid a wave of arrests of religious leaders and intellectuals. Authorities confined him at Dhahban Central Prison, Jeddah, and charged him with inciting insults to the heads of State, supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, and joining a terrorist entity.
In September 2018, judicial authorities sentenced him to death. During detention, authorities kept al-Qarni in solitary confinement.
Apr 3, 2026
North Korea remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for individuals from all religious backgrounds, particularly for Christians. Organized religion in North Korea has reportedly been almost entirely eliminated. North Korean escapee testimony is the primary and the most important source of information on the Kim regime’s violations of freedom of religion or belief in North Korea, yet fewer North Koreans than ever have been able to escape North Korea since the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, China has become increasingly complicit in the North Korean government’s persecution of religious adherents and practitioners while repatriating North Korean escapees back to North Korea.
On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Commissioner Rachel Laser speaks with Peter Oh, a journalist with Radio Free Asia, and Illyong Ju, Chair of Tong-il Majoong, a nonprofit faith-based organization dedicated to North Korean human rights.