An appeals court has acquitted Mostafa Bordbar from all charges relating to belonging to a house church, and he was released from Evin prison in Tehran on November 3.
He had been arrested on December 27 2012 during a Christmas celebration in Tehran together with about 50 other Farsi-speaking Christians. These Christian believers had gathered in a house in northern Tehran to worship the Lord and celebrate Christmas.
As a result of the initial court ruling, Bordbar had been sentenced to five years in prison for being a member of a dissident group and an additional five years for forming gatherings (house churches) intended to undermine national security.