John McCarthy was held hostage for five years in Lebanon; it would test not only of his mental resolve but also his faith. In this three-part season for Heart and Soul, John meets three people of three different religions held against their will. John talks to them about how their faith sustained them in their darkest hours of captivity, including physical and psychological torture. John shares his own experiences of being held in Beirut and how for him, the Bible was a crucial source of information, entertainment and comfort.

In the second part of Faith in Freedom John meets Dr Sina Hakiman, imprisoned three times by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, accused of heresy. In total he spent more than seven years in jail in the years after the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Tehran. He now lives in exile in the UK. Sina explains to John his belief that all religions are valid and that Baha’u’llah is the latest prophet of God following Moses, Muhammed and Jesus. Sustained by a philosophy of ‘constructive resilience’ he worked inside the prison as a doctor, while his wife Sholeh continued her husband’s fight for his human rights by setting up a medical clinic.

Thanks to the Baha’i Blog (http://bahaiblog.net/site/ ) for kind permission to use their recording of Behzad Khoshmashrab chanting “Aye Jan Feshan” (https://soundcloud.com/bahai-blog/aye-jan-feshan-behzad-khoshmashrab ).

Excerpts from the footage of the trial of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai’s in Iran, ‘An Assembly Executed’, were used with kind permission of the Taslimi Foundation (https://www.taslimifoundation.org )

Produced by Lissa Cook