USCIRF officials said the last known execution of a Christian in Iran for apostasy was 20 years ago this month.
Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 12/10/2010 12:29:18 PM PST by NYer
(CNN) -- A Christan pastor in Iran has been sentenced to death for allegedly renouncing his Muslim religion and another faces a possible indictment on the same charge of apostasy, according to a prominent activist group working for human rights in Iran.
Youcef Nadarkhani, a 32-year-old member of the Church of Iran ministry and pastor of an approximately 400-person congregation in the northern city of Rasht, faces death, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
In the southern city of Shiraz, another Christian pastor, Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, 35, is facing a possible indictment for apostasy.
"This is part of a greater trend of persecution against Christians," said Firouz Sadegh-Khanjani, brother of Behrouz and member of the Church of Iran's Executive Council.
Christians are feeling the heat in other parts of the Muslim world as well.
In Iraq, Christians have been attacked and many have fled their homes for other lands. In Pakistan, a Christian woman faces a death sentence for blasphemy for allegedly defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed.
On September 22, Iran's 11th Circuit Criminal Court of Appeals for the Gilan Province upheld the death sentence and conviction of Nadarkhani for apostasy. >
Apostasy is the "act of renouncing one's religion," the human rights group said Tuesday, but it "is not a crime under Iran's Islamic Penal Code. Instead, the presiding judge in Nadarkhani's case rested his opinion on texts by Iranian religious scholars."
"It is the low point of any judicial system to sentence a person to death outside of its own legal framework," said Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the campaign.
"To execute someone based on the religion they choose to practice or not practice is the ultimate form of religious discrimination and disregard for the freedom of conscience and belief."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
USCIRF officials said the last known execution of a Christian in Iran for apostasy was 20 years ago this month.
Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
It would be a death sentence to remain a Muslim after they have seen the light!
The end is near!
What a bizarre opening sentence.
Only here. Christianity is still tolerated in Iran, but as a Christian you are second-class or worse (think dhimmi). And Do Not Think about proselytizing, you'll be swinging from a gibbet faster than you know.
I thought it was bizarre because the writer of the headline it seemed to assume that there is a chance the Christian Pastor has NOT “renounced his Muslim religion” (i.e. the use of “allegedly”).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.