Convert flogged for second time, now faces exile
A house-church leader who has already spent nearly five years in prison, and was once flogged for drinking Communion wine, has been flogged a second time and now faces two years in exile.
Zaman Fadaie, who is known as Saheb, was flogged again on Sunday, 25 June, having travelled from his home in Rasht, northern Iran, to Tehran in the hope of securing the release of a property deed submitted long ago for his bail.
But instead of receiving the property deed back, Saheb was told that despite his recent “pardoning”, two punishments remained on his case file that had yet to be enforced: 50 lashes for not returning to prison on time following a furlough, and two years’ exile in the city of Nehbandan, 1,000 miles from home, as part of a separate conviction for “spreading propaganda against the regime”.
Saheb, who is part of the “Church of Iran”, was served his 50 lashes on the spot, and then told he must submit himself to the authorities in Nehbandan, which is close to the Afghan border, within the “next few days”.