The Iranian Supreme Court rejected the request of Naser Navard Goltapeh, a Christian convert, for retrial. He was arrested, along with fellow church members, in a security forces raid on a house church meeting in Karaj in 2016. He was tried in Revolutionary Court and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment on the charge of “establishing or directing an illegal group” aiming to “disrupt the national security” through organizational communication with a church outside Iran and promoting Zionist Christianity. His sentence was later upheld by Branch 36 of the Court of Appeals, presided by Judge Hassan Babaei. According to some reports, Judge Babaei stated that Goltapeh must obtain the “consent” of the Ministry of Intelligence’s interrogators if he wants commutation of his sentence. Currently, he is serving his sentence in Evin prison.