Four Iranian Christians were sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking wine during a communion service.
According to Fox News, the four men were sentenced Oct. 6 after they were arrested in a house church in December 2012 and charged with consuming alcohol.
Behzad Taalipasand, Mehdi Reza Omidi, Mehdi Dadkakh and Amir Hatemi have been given until early November to appeal their sentence.
The sentence comes as the United Nations released a new report condemning Iran’s record of persecution of non-Muslims.
In the report, Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, notes “at least 20 Christians were in custody in July 2013.”
“In addition, violations of the rights of Christians, particularly those belonging to evangelical Protestant groups, many of whom are converts, who proselytize to and serve Iranian Christians of Muslim background, continue to be reported,” Shaheed said.
(TAB)
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