An Iranian Islamic Law Graduate Found Jesus and Got 9 Years in Prison: Ghazal Marzban

Tehran Revolutionary Court Judge Iman Afshari Hands Down Sentence for "Propaganda Against the State" After Marzban Was Barred From Her Bar Exam, Pressured to Leave Iran, and Already Held in Evin Prison Once

Ghazal Marzban, an Iranian Islamic law graduate and Catholic convert, has been sentenced to 9 years and 8 months in prison by an Iranian Revolutionary Court on 25 May 2026. Judge Iman Afshari ruled she was guilty of propaganda against the state and gathering and collusion against national security.

Her real crime, according to advocacy group Article18, was leaving Islam for Christianity.

How an Iranian Lawyer's Conversion to Catholicism Triggered a Decade of Persecution

Marzban converted from Islam to Catholicism roughly seven years ago. The Iranian regime barred her from taking her bar examination. She was pressured to leave Iran. She did not.

In November 2024, she was arrested for the first time after protesting state harassment of converts. She spent two months in the notorious Evin Prison. In January 2026, she was rearrested at her Tehran home. Her Bible and Christian books were confiscated. Four months later, the Revolutionary Court delivered its sentence.

Article18's executive director noted that the sentence is effectively a punishment of her husband as well: "Marzban's sentence was in reality a sentence imposed on both spouses" because her husband has medical needs and she will be unable to provide care while imprisoned. Article18 has documented that at least 22 Christians were killed during the broader 2022 to 2024 anti government protests that the Iranian regime crushed.

The Crusader's Opinion

Iran is one of the most actively anti Christian states on earth. Apostasy from Islam carries the death penalty in principle. In practice, the regime prefers slow strangulation: arrest, harassment, prison sentences just short of execution. Ghazal Marzban is the latest face of that policy. She is an educated Iranian woman who chose Jesus Christ and lost her career, her freedom, and now her marriage as a price. President Trump must raise her name directly in any future Iran negotiations. American Christians must keep her name in front of their representatives. The blood of Iranian Christian martyrs cries from Evin Prison.

Take Action

• Donate: Article18
• Pray: For Ghazal Marzban, her husband, and Iranian Christians in Evin Prison
• Contact: Your senator demanding Marzban's name in Iran negotiations
• Read: Article18's annual report on Iranian Christian persecution
• Share: Marzban's name and her 9 year sentence