Three Christians in Iran have been found guilty of propagating the Gospel and “cooperation with anti-government movements”.

Seyed Allaedin Hussein, Homayoon Shokouhi, and Seyed Amir Hussein Bob-Annari had their verdict issued on 10 March, after being in and out of court since May last year.

The three were arrested at Shiraz airport on their way to a Christian conference in Dubai. Their families managed to escape charges by posting a bond with the government, according to the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN).

The judge of the Shiraz revolutionary court sentenced the three men to eight months suspended prison sentence and five years on probation.

One of the charges brought against the men was “cooperating with anti-government movements”. According to FCNN, these “movements” were the Christian TV stations Love Television and Salvation TV.

Passing their sentence, the judge warned that if any of the men were discovered spreading the Gospel again their suspended sentence would be enforced and they would be arrested and tried for apostasy.