Constitution, a judge may refer to Islamic law to rule on crimes not explicitly defined in the law. As apostasy is considered as a hadd offence (a crime for which a fixed punishment is derived from the Qur’an or the Hadith33), a judge may still invoke Articles 220 of the Penal Code and Article 167 of the Constitution to convict and sentence individuals accused of apostasy on this basis. Commonly, however, the Iranian judiciary resorts to national security charges instead of apostasy. Because Christian converts are considered as apostates by Iranian authorities,34 they are barred from accessing officially recognized Christian churches and churches holding services for Farsi-speaking Christians have been forced to close by the Iranian government.35 As a result Christian converts resort to gather in informal meetings, commonly called “house churches”.36 State authorities regularly conduct raids, arrest organizers and sentence to prison the organizers of such meetings.37 Attendees are arrested and imprisoned on charges of “acting against national security by organizing and conducting house-churches” “propaganda against the state and insulting the sacred Iranian establishment”38 “propagation of Zionist evangelical Christianity” or “administering and managing the home churches”.39 Christian converts are reportedly arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned on national security charges, in connection with a range of peaceful activities, including simply participating in religious or cultural activities, resulting in long prison and flogging sentences.40 The end of 2018 and 2019 saw an unprecedented wave of raids on private house gatherings related to religion or belief, leading to a large number of arrests.41 Charges notably included “Christianity mission” and “disturbing public opinion”.42 While it is technically possible to file discrimination complaints with the Administration of Justice Court, the Article 90 Commission in the parliament, and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in the country’s provincial courts, there is no evidence 33 Amnesty International <https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF> Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 35 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/F3430b2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 36 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 37 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf> 38 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/F3430b2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 39 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 40 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documenttion Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf> 41 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/F3430b2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 42 Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) https://www.en-hrana.org/a-christian-citizen-was-arrested-and-another-waswent-into-exile 34 5