New age spiritualist Mohammad Ali Taheri, after being accused of blasphemy and "spreading corruption in the Earth," was sentenced to death (later overturned) and held in solitary confinement for over six years.
founding a new age spiritual movement (Erfan-e Halgheh or "Interuniversalism")
Ziba Mohamadian (wife), Ezzatolmolook Taheri (mother), Azardokht Taheri (sister)
Mohammad Ali Taheri is an Iranian cognitive researcher and founder of a new age spiritual movement. Because he professes beliefs that reinterpret Islamic doctrine, he has attracted sustained negative attention from Iranian authorities.
His first brush with the law came in 2010, when he was arrested and held in solitary confinement for three months on vague charges of threatening national security. The following year, he was arrested again and this time sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on blasphemy charges, also receiving the additional penalties of lashings and a fine for offenses such as “touching the wrists of female patients.”
On two separate occasions as he served his sentence, he was additionally sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned both times. However, in 2018, he was served with another five-year prison sentence. On more than one occasion while detained, he went on hunger strike.
He did not have to serve this last sentence in its entirety; in April 2019, he was released, but under strict supervision and a provision that he could not speak publicly about his religious beliefs.
Mohammad was eventually granted asylum in Canada, where he arrived in March 2020.
Selected Blasphemy Cases - United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Iran: Situation and treatment of practitionners of Interuniversalism - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Mohammad Ali Taheri - United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Mohammad Ali Taheri - Deutsche Welle [in Persian]
Iran is a theocratic Islamic republic that derives its legal principles from Islamic religious law. As such, blasphemy and apostasy can be and are punished with death. Although there is no codified apostasy law in the penal code, this does not prevent its punishment in accordance with Islamic legal principles, and blasphemy is codified as a capital offense within the penal code. Iran has a poor track record on human rights, and if these “offenses” do not result in death, they may result in imprisonment or torture. Those who stand accused of either must also fear reprisal from non-state actors, though documented incidents of such reprisals are not as prominent as in some other countries.