Iran ‘Annuls’ Death Sentence for Youcef Nadarkhani

This follows huge prayer campaign for the pastor

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) – Following a huge prayer campaign on behalf of an Iranian pastor, the ASSIST News Service has learned that Iran’s supreme court has overturned the death sentence handed down to Yousef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor accused of apostasy for having converted from Islam.

Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, his lawyer told AFP today (Sunday July 3, 2011), “The Supreme Court has annulled the death sentence and sent the case back to the court in Rasht (his hometown), asking the accused to repent,”

Nadarkhani, now 33, converted from Islam to Christianity at the age of 19 and became a pastor of a small evangelical community called the Church of Iran.

AFP says that he was arrested in October 2009 and condemned to death for apostasy under Iran’s Islamic Sharia laws, which however allow for such verdicts to be overturned if the convicted person “repents” and renounces his conversion.

Pastor Youcef  and his wife 

After his conviction was upheld by an appeal court in Gilan province in September 2010, Nadarkhani turned to the Supreme Court. His wife, who was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, was released on appeal.

The lawyer said the verdict had been read out to him on the telephone and that he needed to travel to Rasht, where Nadarkhani is being held, to see the ruling for himself.

Dadkhah said he himself was sentenced on Sunday by a Tehran court to nine years in jail and a 10-year ban on practicing law or teaching at university for “actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime.”

The lawyer said he had been criticized for having cooperated with the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights, an organization founded by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, as well as for giving interviews to foreign radio stations.

“I have 20 days to lodge an appeal,” he said.

For the past ten years Nadarkhani has been a pastor in a network of house churches. He was previously imprisoned in December of 2006, the charges being apostasy (leaving Islam for Christianity) and evangelism (spreading the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ), but was released two weeks later.

Youcef is married and has two sons, ages 8 and 6. They were attending a local school when the government decided that all children should be taught about Islam, including those from Christian families.

Youcef went to the school and protested this based on the Iranian Constitution, which allows for freedom to practice religion. As a result, the secret police called him before the political tribunal in Rasht, Iran on October 12, 2009. At that time he was arrested, charged for protesting, and has been in prison in Lakan (which is seven miles south of Rasht) ever since. Later the charges were changed to apostasy and evangelism to Muslims.

Since the news was previously released by ANS (and many other news sources), millions of Christians from around the world have been praying for the death sentence on Pastor Youcef to be overturned for and now they can take comfort that God has answered their prayers.

Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.