Mehdi Dibaj (1935 – June/July 1994) was an Iranian Christian convert from Shia Islam, pastor and Christian martyr. Background Dibaj became a Christian as a young man and joined the Presbyterian church, but years later, he joined the church of Assembly of God, the Iranian branch of the Jama'at-e Rabbani Church. After the 1979 Iranian revolution he encountered difficulties. In 1983 he was arrested and imprisoned without trial in Sari and systematically tortured. During his imprisonment he was held in solitary confinement in a dark cell a metre in height, width and depth for two years. He was finally tried by an Islamic court in Sari on 3 December 1993 and sentenced to death on charges of apostasy. On 18 January 1994, Bernard Levin reprinted Dibaj's courtroom speech in place of his usual column in The Times as a mark of respect. Following a worldwide outcry initiated by his friend and colleague Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr, Dibaj was finally freed in January 1994, although the death sentence was not lifted. Just three days later Haik Hovsepian Mehr was murdered. The Times article and the murder of Hovsepian Mehr was alluded to in a debate in the House of Lords on Iran, and Viscount Brentford cited Levin's comment, 'how insubstantial must the grasp on a religion be, if it has to be propped up by hangings and woundings and beatings and murderings?' Dibaj was abducted on Friday, 24 June 1994. His body was found in a west Tehran park on Tuesday, 5 July 1994. See also List of kidnappings List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved murders References External links A CRY FROM IRAN. A Documentary on the Religious Persecution in Iran. Haik Hovsepian's story, directed by his sons Farsinet on Mehdi Dibaj Iran Rights Memorial Mehdi Dibaj's court room testimony at Sari, Iran 1993 1935 births 1990s missing person cases 1994 deaths 20th-century Protestant martyrs 20th-century Protestant religious leaders Assemblies of God pastors Assemblies of God people Converts to Pentecostal denominations Formerly missing people Iranian former Shia Muslims Iranian murder victims Iranian Pentecostals Iranian prisoners sentenced to death Kidnapped people Male murder victims Missing person cases in Iran People charged with apostasy in Iran People murdered in Iran Persecution of Christians in Iran Prisoners sentenced to death by Iran Unsolved murders in Iran