Prayer Request: Farshid Fathi - Iran

Prisoner Profile

Prisoner Name: Farshid Fathi

Farshid Fathi, Iran

Location: Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Arrested: December 2010

Revised: 20 August 2013

Farshid Fathi was arrested on Dec. 26, 2010 in a wave of arrests of believers in Tehran and other areas. Of the 22 believers arrested by security forces in Tehran, 10 were released after intense questioning and after they signed agreements to refrain from Christian activities. Eleven others were also later released. By the end of April, 2011, only Farshid remained in prison, though his family had paid an enormous bail sum. He spent nearly a year in solitary confinement.

Farshid, a Christian convert from Islam, was charged with "acting against national security through membership of a Christian organization, collection of funds, propaganda against the Islamic Regime by helping spread Christianity in the country," and sentenced to six years of imprisonment on March 5, 2012. Though the charge is for his Christian work, authorities tried to cast his activities as political offenses

.
Farshid's appeal against the charges was rejected in June 2012. He is due to serve the rest of his sentence in Evin Prison.

According to Elam Ministries, Farshid is a shining beacon for Christ in Evin, so much so that the son of an Iranian ayatollah commented on Farshid's sweet nature in a YouTube video. The two shared a cell. The man remarked on how beloved Farshid is among the inmates. Elam described Farshid as "a man after God's own heart."

Farshid Fathi & his family, Iran.

Farshid, born in 1979, is married to Leila, and has two children, Rosana and Bardia.

€My Lord Has Never Left Me - November 2012

Farshid wrote a letter to his father in November 2012, which describes the condition of his heart during a very lonely time.

€Often I have been sorrowful because of certain things, but I have never been a slave of sadness. Often I have been insulted, humiliated and accused, but I have never doubted my identity in Christ. Some have deserted me, some have fled from me; in no way do I pass judgment on them. My Lord has never left me. €‚What really matters is I am my Belovedƒs and my Beloved is mine. This possibly is the sweetest truth of my life that I am His and He is mine.

Letter from Farshid to Newtown

The following is excerpted from a letter Farshid wrote to the parents of the children killed in Newtown, CT.
I am so sorry and you are in my prayers. I am sure these high walls cannot stop my prayers for you. Before this tragedy happened, I was thinking about my suffering that I'm going through because of my Lord Jesus Christ, especially being far from my lovely kids.. But when I imagine how hard your pain is I forget my sufferings. Because I know by God's grace I will see my kids at the latest in 2017 when I come out from prison. But unfortunately you have to wait a bit longer.

Farshid Under Mental Torture - August 2013

In a letter written from prison, Farshid Fathi described how his interrogators have used emotional manipulation to break him. He wrote, €I was told falsely that my wife had been arrested as well, and that I needed to give my [two] childrenƒs custody to someone temporarily. I was also informed, falsely, that my dad had a heart attack and was hospitalized. Then they wouldn'ƒt give me any follow-up news on whether he was dead or alive. It was all intended to put me under mental pressure.

In reality, his father is fine, and his wife and two children fled Iran in 2011. They are now in Canada.

Evin Prison, Iran

Farshid Fathi wrote a letter in November 2012, which was published just recently. The letter is addressed to Farshid's father and in it he pours out his heart to his father.