220 of the Islamic Penal Code and Article 167 of the Iranian 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 Hadith 18), 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 or efsad-e fel-arz (corruption on earth) charges instead of apostasy, which can carry the death penalty. Christians converts are among those targeted by these laws. Because Christian converts are considered as apostates by Iranian authorities,19 they are barred from accessing officially recognized Christian churches, and the Iranian government has forced churches holding services for Farsi-speaking Christians to close. 20 As a result, Christian converts gather in informal meetings, commonly called “house churches”. 21 State authorities regularly conduct raids and arrest and sentence organizers of house churches to prison.22 Attendees are arrested and imprisoned on charges of “acting against national security by organizing and conducting housechurches”, “propaganda against the state and insulting the sacred Iranian establishment” 23, “propagation of Zionist evangelical Christianity” or “administering and managing the home churches”.24 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.25 The end of 2018 and 2019 saw an unprecedented number of raids on private house gatherings related to 18 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 20 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 21 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 22 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> 23 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 24 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 25 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> 19 4