Draft:Marziyeh Amirizadeh

Marziyeh Amirizadeh (born 1979) is an Iranian American public speaker, author and activist. She was born in the southern province of Kerman, Iran in November 1978. As a young adult, Marziyeh became a Christian and subsequently began distributing Bibles – a capital crime under Iranian law. On 5 March 2009, she and her co-religionist, Maryam Rostampour-Keller were arrested on charges of apostasy, blasphemy, anti-government activities, promoting Christianity, acting against state security and taking part in illegal gatherings. The next 259 days were spent mostly in the infamous Evin prison in Tehran where they were tortured and interrogated. and they were finally released after intense pressure was applied on the Iranian regime through various bodies including the pope, the US State Department and the United Nations.

Marziyeh became a U.S. citizen in 2016 and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta with a Master of Science in International Affairs in 2019. In 2022, she ran for election in the Georgia House of Representatives as a Republican.

Marziyeh has written two books to date, Captive in Iran, which was co-authored with her friend, Maryam Rostamour-Keller, and A Love Journey with God which was completed in 2022.

Arrest and imprisonment
Over a four-year period, Marziyeh worked in partnership with her friend, Maryam Rostampour-Keller in running house churches, distributing New Testament Bibles and evangelising publicly. And it was these actions that would eventually lead to their arrest on 5 March 2009 and subsequent death sentence. Marziyeh was initially detained for 14 days in Vozara Detention centre in an underground basement where she was subjected to threats of torture, sleeping on the bare floor with only urine-soaked blankets for warmth, starvation and unsanitary conditions. She was then moved to Evin prison and charged with apostasy, blasphemy, anti-government activity promoting Christianity, acting against state security and taking part in illegal gatherings. The difficulties experienced there were many such as lack of food and medicine, discrimination from staff and prisoners due to her faith, solitary confinement and interrogations to renounce Christianity. The most difficult trial to endure, however, was the execution of cell-mates. Finally, after much pressure was applied on the government from various international bodies such as the United Nations, Amnesty International and the Vatican she was released at 3:30pm on 18 November 2009.

Emigrating to America
Marziyeh moved to Turkey to apply for emigration to the U.S. as an asylum seeker. Her application was granted in 2011 after a delay of almost a year. Her life now consisted of much touring and public speaking on behalf of the people of Iran who face oppression and injustice. There were many obstacles to overcome despite moving to a land of promise and opportunity as she lacked resources and had to fight to keep control of her story and ministry direction. During the year-long wait in Turkey, she noted down her experiences of imprisonment as a way of healing and also to prevent any details from being forgotten. This was finally translated to English and published in 2013 as Captive in Iran.

Marziyeh became a U.S. citizen in 2016 and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta with a Master of Science in International Affairs in 2019. Her second book, A Love Journey With God, was published in 2022 which details her difficult upbringing and journey to Christianity as well as further details of her imprisonment in Iran.