Three Azeri Christian missionaries detained in Iran

Three Azerbaijani citizens, members of the Word of Life church - Yusif Farhadov, Eldar Qurbanov, and Bahram Nasibov - have been arrested In Iran, Farhadov's brother Ceyhun told the Voice of America.


According to him, the arrested were invited by friends to Tehran. They were detained by employees of the Iranian security services at a ceremony of engagement on 24 June. Only a week later, they were given the opportunity to call home. "Nobody was interested in them and they have not been interrogated," Farhadov said.


He does not know why his brother and his friends were detained, but believes that this may be due to their Christian faith.


All three are kept in solitary confinement, but are not provided with a lawyer and do not even know what they are accused of. "Their friends appealed to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry with a statement. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed our embassy in Tehran. Embassy sent a note to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts. Embassy officials want to meet them, but the security service did not confirm that they kept citizens of Azerbaijan," Farhadov told the Turan agency.


The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has not commented on the situation yet. The State Committee for Working with Religious Organisations said that the Word of Life church has a state registration in Azerbaijan.

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