Biography:

Maryam Naghash Zargaran, a Christian convert from Islam and former children's music teacher, was arrested on January 6, 2013. On March 9, 2013, Judge Mohammad Moghisseh of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Courts sentenced her to four years in prison for “propagating against the Islamic regime and collusion intended to harm national security” in connection with her work at an orphanage with Iranian-American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini (Pastor Abedini was released from prison in January 2016. He had been serving an eight-year prison sentence for “threatening the national security of Iran” due to his activity in the Iranian house church movement).

Ms. Zargaran started her sentence on July 15, 2013. On September 29, 2013, she was transferred from Evin prison to Modares hospital for treatment after an apparent heart attack, and then sent back to prison at an unkown date. On May 26, 2016, she launched a hunger strike to protest the authorities’ lack of attention to her medical needs and refusal to grant her conditional release or medical leave. On June 6, 2016, she was granted temporary medical leave following her hunger strike. She was forced to pay a deposit bond of 350 million toman (approximately $100,000) in order to be able to leave prison. On June 19, the court ordered Ms. Zargaran to return to prison. Since Ms. Zargaran was still sick, her family applied for an extension. However, the Office of the Prosecutor refused to extend her medical leave and threatened to keep the bond money. On June 27, members of her family escorted Ms. Zargaran back to Evin Prison.  

On July 15, 2016, Ms. Zargaran launched an indefinite hunger strike to demand her immediate and unconditional release from prison because of the insufficient treatment of her medical issues. Prison officials examined her five days later and issued a report confirming the seriousness of her condition. Although she again demanded to be released for medical treatment, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence denied her request and she ended her hunger strike at the beginning of August 2016.

Prison officials allowed Ms. Zargaran to return home at the end of August to receive medical treatment. However, because Ms. Zargaran reportedly objected to the conditions of her furlough, she was sent to Evin prison. After another five-day medical leave in December 2016, officials informed Ms. Zargaran that her four-year sentence was extended for 42 days to reflect the time she spent outside of prison for medical care during the summer of 2016.

Ms. Zargaran suffered from a severe heart condition, ASD (atrial septal defect), which required surgery prior to her arrest. Her condition required ongoing monitoring and follow-up with a cardiologist, but since during her detention, she did not have regular access to such care. Ms. Zargaran also suffered from diabetes, high cholesterol and arthritis.

Ms. Zargaran was released from prison on August 1, 2017, having served more than her full four year sentence. Immediately before her release, she was unexpectedly taken to a courtroom, where the prison’s medical staff accused her of insulting them, although it is unclear whether any new charges were filed against her. After her release, she reported that she had been given unnecessary anti-psychotic medication in prison and that the government also banned her from leaving Iran for six months.

Biography:

On May 4, 2011, Taheri was again arrested and tried under charges of “touching the wrists of female patients,” “blasphemy,” “producing and distributing audio-visual material,” “interfering in medical science,”  “earning illegitimate funds,” and “distribution of audio-visual products and use of academic titles.” On October 30, 2011, he was sentenced to 74 lashes, a fine, and imprisonment.

In August 2015, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Taheri to death for “corruption on earth.” This sentence was overturned by the Iranian Supreme Court in December 2015.

On July 14, 2016, Taheri was temporarily released to attend his daughter’s wedding ceremony for three hours.

In August 2017, an Iranian court again sentenced Taheri to death.

In a retrial on March 3, 2018, Taheri’s death sentence was overturned once more and he was given an additional 5-year sentence.

On April 23, 2019, after nearly eight years imprisonment, Taheri was released. However, he was not permitted to leave his house and was under constant surveillance. He was also forbidden to speak about his religious beliefs.

Mr. Taheri has been granted asylum in Canada. He arrived in Toronto on March 8, 2020.

Biography:

Abdul Shakoor was born February 2, 1937 in Qadian, India.  He is married and the father of five daughters and two sons.  

Before his arrest, Mr. Shakoor was the manager of an optician’s store and bookshop in the main bazaar of Rabwah (also known as Chenab Nagar), Punjab province, Pakistan. The population of the Ahmadiyya community in Rabwah is about 70,000 about 95 percent of the city’s total population. Many view the city as the de facto headquarters of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community. 

On December 2, 2015, officials from the Counter Terrorism Department of the Punjab Police and Pakistan’s Elite Force raided the bookshop Mr. Shakoor managed. He was arrested along with the shop’s assistant, Mazhar Abbas – a Shia Muslim – accused of selling an Ahmadiyya commentary on the Qur’an, among other publications. The officials confiscated Ahmadiyya publications during that raid and a later raid that took place on December 9. After their arrest, the two men were held in unknown locations and were not permitted to contact their families.

Mr. Shakoor’s trial was held in the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad, Punjab province, with the officers who raided the bookstore as the only witnesses. The prosecution entered into evidence a letter that was ostensibly recovered during the December 9 raid from the Ahmadiyya Director of Public Affairs to Mr. Shakoor notifying him that the Punjab province government had banned some Ahmadiyya literature and that he should neither display nor sell the banned literature. Ahmadiyya leaders assert that the prosecution fabricated the letter to support their story, noting that none of the literature cited in the letter was banned until January 20, 2016, after the trial’s conclusion. Mr. Shakoor contended during the trial and maintains the position that he did not distribute any of the literature listed, although he admits to being in possession of some of them.  However, possession of Ahmadiyya literature is not a crime in Pakistan.  

On January 2, 2016, Mr. Shakoor was given a five-year prison sentence for violating article 11-W of the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) which involves “printing, publishing, or disseminating any material to incite hatred.” He also was given a three-year sentence for violating article 298-C of the Pakistani Penal Code, for a total of eight years. (Section 298 of Pakistan’s Penal Code criminalizes acts and speech that insult a religion or religious beliefs or defile the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, a place of worship, or religious symbols.) Mazhar Abbas, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for violating article 11-W of the ATA. Mr. Shakoor filed a writ petition for bail and appeal against the verdict with the Lahore High Court. On multiple occasions, the Lahore High Court listed Mr. Shakoor’s appeal on the daily docket, but each time the case was postponed. The last postponed hearing date was believed to be June 22, 2017.  

Mr. Shakoor was released on March 18, 2019.