Rumors of Imminent Execution of Iranian Pastor Unconfirmed

Lawyers await written confirmation that court issued execution order.

ISTANBUL, February 24 (CDN) — Lawyers for an Iranian pastor awaiting a final decision on his death sentence have not received communication from authorities that their client will be executed, despite reports that his death is imminent.


Rumors of an imminent execution of Yousef Nadarkhani were leaked this week after a source close to one of his lawyers contacted international media, informing them that a lower court had signed Nadarkhani’s execution papers and that his death sentence would be carried out soon, sources told Compass.


“The lawyer is waiting for confirmation, but he understood from a source that the execution was issued,” said Firouz Khandjani, a member of the council of the Church of Iran, Nadarkhani’s denomination. “Now we are trying to understand exactly what is happening. Because the information came from someone close to the lawyer, he took it seriously.”


Nadarkhani’s case had been sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for a decision on his death sentence, but legally the lower court still has the authority to issue an execution order, Khandjani said. Khamenei may or may not make a decision, and if the court were to issue an execution order, Khameni would have the authority to block it, Khandjani said.


Though Nadarkhani’s lawyers have not received written confirmation of an execution order, Khandjani said he found it “worrying” that the government has repeatedly disregarded its own law and legal process in its treatment of Christians.


The Iranian government has executed prisoners without prior notice, sources told Compass, though it is not common.


“We are concerned for the safety of Christians in Iran, because the government is not respecting the law or the legal procedures,” Khandjani said. “We are waiting for a confirmation, but we have to take action, because we know of people who were executed without notification.”


Nadarkhani spoke to his wife as recently as Wednesday (Feb. 22), according to sources, and Jubilee Campaign reported that the American Center for Law and Justice had confirmed that he was still alive earlier today.


Some sources told Compass they are skeptical of the credibility of information that Nadarkhani’s lawyers received and the certainty with which international press have been reporting his “imminent death.” They say this may be a governmental ploy to gauge international reaction to such a rumor.


Christians in Iran are routinely arrested and interrogated. Most of them belong to networks of house churches meeting in small groups in secret.


In December the head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, reportedly ordered the presiding judge over the trial in Rasht to make no moves on Nadarkhani’s case for one year.


In September 2010 Nadarkhani was sentenced to death after a court of appeals in Rasht, 243 kilometers (151 miles) northwest of Tehran, found him guilty of leaving Islam. He has been in prison since October 2009.

The court in Rasht was expected to pronounce a verdict on Nadarkhani’s appeal in October 2011 but instead sent the Christian’s case to the nation’s Islamic authority, Khamenei.


At an appeal hearing in June, the Supreme Court of Iran upheld Nadarkhani’s sentence but asked the court in Rasht to determine if he was a practicing Muslim before his conversion. The court declared that Nadarkhani was not a practicing Muslim before his conversion, but that he was still guilty of apostasy due to his Muslim ancestry.

The Supreme Court had also determined that his death sentence could be annulled if he recanted his faith. The Rasht court gave Nadarkhani three chances to recant Christianity in accordance with sharia(Islamic law), but Nadarkhani refused to do so. The Supreme Court in essence ruled that Nadarkhani could be executed if he did not recant.


“You have to consider that Nadarkhani has been condemned twice,” Khandjani said. “One time by a local court, and then the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence.”


Authorities arrested Nadarkhani in his home city of Rasht in October 2009 on charges that he questioned obligatory religion classes in Iranian schools. After finding him guilty of apostasy, the court of appeals in Rasht in November 2010 issued a written confirmation of his charges and death sentence.

One of Nadarkhani’s lawyers, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, also faces charges for “actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime,” due to his human rights activities.


Iranian authorities view Iranian Christians as pawns of the West trying to bring down the regime, sources said. As Christians in Iran are held hostage to the government’s political whims, some Iranian Christians say the key to their freedom is continued pressure from the international community.

“We have to keep praying and sharing information about Christians in Iran, because this is a difficult moment for the people of Iran,” Khandjani said. “The minorities are particularly affected, but Iranians in general are under pressure from the government. Their freedoms are very restricted.”



END

ChinaAid President Bob Fu and Wife of Imprisoned Chinese Dissident to Testify Feb. 14 on Chinese Government Persecution of Human Rights Activists and Political Dissidents

Bob Fu (Photo: ChinAid)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, "Bob" Xiqiu Fu, founder and president of China Aid Association, and the wife of imprisoned Chinese political dissident Guo Quan will testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China at a hearing entitled "The Case and Treatment of Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng."

 

When: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 2:30-4:30 pm

 

Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2118, Washington, DC

 

The following is an excerpt from Fu's testimony, entitled "The Chinese Government Should be Held Accountable for the Persecution of Gao Zhisheng and his Family":

 

Gao is a pioneer in China's rights defense movement. Like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of the United States, Gao's Christian faith and his ethical values have been the great spiritual motivator spurring him to defend the legal rights of the persecuted and the marginalized, and that faith and those values have given him the courage to make great sacrifices, even to the point of giving up his life, for this civil rights movement. The emergence in China of a group of human rights lawyers—men of integrity and courage, who are fighting on the frontlines for human rights, rule of law, and religious freedom in China--is due entirely to the power of the example set by Martin Luther King Jr. and Gao Zhisheng.

 

An excerpt from Li Jing, wife of Guo Quan's testimony:

 

It is very important for the world community to raise the case of my husband, of Gao Zhisheng, of Chen Guangcheng and Liu Xiaobo--China must know that the world is united against the imprisonment of peaceful dissidents and rights defenders. But without U.S. leadership on human rights, few in Beijing will be listening.

 

ChinaAid was founded in 2002 to draw international attention to China's gross human rights violations against house church Christians and monitors and reports on religious freedom violations in China. Drawing on a wide network of sources throughout the country, ChinaAid issues frequent news releases on cases of religious persecution in China. The Midland, Texas-based organization also assists victims of religious persecution to assert their rights and works to promote the rule of law in China.

 

 

Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ in Pakistan Denied Bail

Young man accused after argument with his landlord.

LAHORE, Pakistan, January 30 (CDN) — A judge has denied bail to a young Christian man charged with desecrating the Quran under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws despite the lack of evidence against him, sources said.

Police in Shahdara, near Lahore, had arrested 23-year-old Khuram Masih on Dec. 5 and charged him with desecrating the Quran after his landlord, Zulfiqar Ali, alleged that he had burned pages of the book in order to prepare tea. Section 295-B makes willful desecration of the Quran or use of an extract in a derogatory manner punishable with life imprisonment.

Masih’s previous lawyers, Muhammad Farhad Tirmizi and Liaqat John, on Jan. 3 petitioned for his bail. In their petition, they stated to Additional Sessions Judge Anjum Raza Syed that police had registered a false case against Masih based on hearsay, and that police had not found any incriminating evidence.

Judge Syed, however, refused to grant bail to Masih on grounds that the case was “very sensitive, and bail to the accused would fan religious sentiments and cause a great mishap.”

Asif Aqeel, executive director of the Community Development Initiative (CDI), an affiliate of the European Centre for Law and Justice, told Compass that the lawyers hired by Masih’s relatives should not have petitioned the trial court for Masih’s bail so soon.

“There’s no use moving for bail in the trial court, because the lower courts cannot sustain pressure in such cases,” Aqeel said. “The judges in trial court are under extreme pressure from religious quarters and simply cannot set a blasphemy accused free on bail after just a month of the incident.”

He added that, similarly, trial courts in blasphemy cases tend to deliver guilty verdicts due to the same pressures from Muslims.

CDI lawyer Niaz Amer, who has now acquired Masih’s power of attorney, would make efforts for his bail in the Lahore High Court once the proceedings begin, Aqeel added.

“It is very unfortunate for those accused of blasphemy, but this is how the legal system of Pakistan operates,” he said. ‘The accused have to spend several months, even years, in jail without bail, just because the judges are unwilling to put their own lives at risk from religious extremists.”

In their petition for bail, Masih’s lawyers stated that in First Information Report (FIR) No. 1211/2011, complainant Ali had claimed that Masih’s neighbors had tried to stop him from burning the pages of the Quran and had ignored their requests, and that the Christian ran away when Ali arrived at his home.

“It is further alleged in the FIR that the petitioner [Masih] was arrested later from the same spot when the police arrived,” the bail application states, adding that the charges against Masih were concocted and baseless because the complainant had not witnessed the alleged incident. No other person is mentioned in the FIR to substantiate the allegations.

At the same time, Napoleon Qayyum, a Christian rights advocate and field officer of CDI, denied reports that Masih has been tortured or mistreated by prison authorities.

“Someone has misreported that Masih has been tortured at the District Camp Jail, where he is currently being held,” Qayyum said. ‘I am in regular contact with Masih and his family, and he has not been harmed by anyone in jail.”

Masih has said that he was falsely accused in the case because he had had an argument with his landlord, Ali, earlier in the day over the rent of the house in which he and his wife, Bano, a convert from Hinduism, lived along with five other families.

A Christian rights activist in Shahdara, Khalid Shahzad, had earlier told Compass that police had shown unnecessary haste in registering the case (see “Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ after Argument,” Dec. 26, 2011).


END

Send an email -- and encourage imprisoned Asia Bibi

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

SOUTH AFRICA (ANS) -- South African Christians are rallying behind a Pakistani Christian mother of five who is in prison awaiting her appeal against a death sentence for blasphemy.

So far, 100 encouraging emails were sent from South Africans to Asia Bibi, as part of a campaign to send 1,000 emails.

Asia Bibi

Asia Bibi is reportedly in “good spirits” -- even after spending her third Christmas in prison separated from her family since her arrest in June 2009. She was imprisoned after she was falsely accused of insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Andre Viljoen,writing for http://gatewaynews.co.za  , the South African News Portal, says the email campaign organizers, In Context Ministries (incontextwebs.com) , have now issued an appeal to more South African Christians to urgently support the letter-writing effort.

The emails are being sent in batches of 100 to one of the legal assistants of Asia Bibi.

On receipt of the first batch, which was sent on Monday (January 9), the legal assistant said: “I am really touched.. this is amazing… I am printing this. I will personally take these emails to the family and one copy to Asia Bibi and will read these emails to her. This will be a great encouragement. “

In Context Ministries urges local Christians to “use three minutes of your freedom for our sister in Pakistan” and provides the following guidelines on how to participate in the email project:

Step 1 – write a short email where you express your prayer on paper. Add a word of encouragement, a Scripture, your name and country of residence (no street address). Get your children to write messages as well, especially to the children of Asia
Step 2 – Email the message to mike@incontextministries.org 
Step 3 – Forward this request to as many friends as possible. Make this your project!

In Context ministries summarized Bibi’s plight on its website as follows: In June 2009, Asia Noreen, better known as Asia Bibi, a farm hand from the village of Ittan Wali in Sheikhupura District, was asked to fetch water; she complied, but some of her Muslim fellow workers refused to drink the water as they considered Christians to be “unclean.” Some arguments ensued and some co-workers falsely accused her to a cleric of making derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad. A mob came to her house, beating her and members of her family before she was rescued by the police. However, the police initiated an investigation about her remarks, resulting in her arrest and prosecution under Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code. She spent more than a year in jail and in November 2010 Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, judge at the court of Sheikhupura, Punjab, sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine of an equivalent of $1,100 was imposed. Noreen’s husband, Aashiq Fauji Masih, 51 years old, plans to appeal the verdict, which has to be upheld by the Lahore High Court.

A team from the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), an interdenominational organization working for Christians who are being persecuted because of their faith in Pakistan,visited Bibi along with her husband on Christmas Eve. In a report after their visit they said that despite being in prison for so long and the remaining uncertainty about whether her death sentence for blasphemy will be overturned, Asia’s faith remains strong.

“The grace of God is with me and I am happy in God and always will be happy in God,” she said.

“I am daily praying for my country and praying to God that the Lord may protect Pakistan from all harm. I am especially praying for those who are giving a bad image of Pakistan in the world and am also praying for those who falsely implicate me, that the Lord gives them wisdom so that they may not implicate the innocents in such cases.”

Bibi said she was saddened by the murders of Governor Salman Taseer and Minority Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who spoke out on the misuse of the blasphemy law and tried to protect her. She also pleaded with the international media to report accurately on her imprisonment as false reports about her health and other aspects of her imprisonment have “hurt” her. At the same time, she encouraged people to continue praying for her.

“I am thankful for those who are praying for me and my family,” she said. “Please continue your prayers because I need your prayers. By the grace of Almighty God I am alright and praying for my safe exit from the false blasphemy charges.”

She added: “I want to wish a merry Christmas and very happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year to my fellow citizens as well as brothers and sisters internationally.

“I am satisfied with the security arrangements provided me by the jail authority and am also praying for them.”

CLAAS UK Coordinator Nasir Saeed said: “Asia Bibi continues to demonstrate remarkable strength of spirit despite the challenges she faces in overturning the death sentence handed to her for blasphemy. We see in her plight the very real suffering that the unjust application of the law is causing for Pakistan’s Christians. What 2012 holds for Asia is difficult to say at this point.

“We continue to pray for a miracle for her and all other blasphemy prisoners. In the long-term, however, the only way to secure real and lasting change for Christians is reform of the blasphemy law and we will be campaigning hard for this throughout the year.”

More information about the 3 minutes of freedom email project and Bibi’s case history and circumstances is available on the In Context Ministries website -- incontext.webs.com, which will publish a daily update on the number of emails received.

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Imprisoned Pastor's Apostasy Case to be Re-examined

By Michael Ireland
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
RASHT, IRAN (ANS) -- An Iranian pastor who faces the death sentence for apostasy will have his case reexamined by a lower court.

Youcef Nadarkhani and his wife. (Courtesy Present Truth Ministries).

According to Jason DeMars of Present Truth Ministries (www.presemttruthmn.com ) , Youcef Nadarkhani remains imprisoned in Rasht under the death sentence for apostasy while his case is being reexamined.
DeMars told ANS: “We have learned that the re-examination will take place on September 25, 2011. The local court was ordered by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court to examine specifically whether he was a practicing Muslim between the age of accountability, 15, until he became a Christian at age 19. After they review the case, it will be referred back to the Supreme Court for a final decision.”
DeMars also told ANS that Behnam Irani remains in prison in Karaj, and recently five other Christians were ordered to report to prison to serve a one year sentence in Shiraz.
“This is part of a larger campaign by the Iranian government to purge the nation of Christians. Many government-paid mullahs have issued statements during sermons encouraging the police to do more to put an end to the Christian movement in Iran,” DeMars said.
DeMars is calling on concerned believers to join him on September 24th for a day of fasting and prayer for Youcef and his case.
“Let’s join forces in this spiritual battle and keep our brother continuously covered in prayer,” he said.

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** Michael Ireland is Senior Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Eritrea imprisons more Christians

Screen grab from Google Maps
(Adi-Nefase military camp, Eritrea)

Eritrea (MNN) ― Open Doors says Eritrean military officials have rounded up another group of evangelical Christians this week.

Authorities arrested 35 believers on July 3 on suspicion of gathering for worship in Assab, a port city. The group, which included 17 women, was taken to the Adi-Nefase military camp near Assab, a notoriously harsh detention center. 

  

Open Doors also reports that 25 Christian students from Mai-Nefhi Educational Institution (roughly 12 miles southwest of Asmara) have been released on bail in order to sit for their final exams. They may have been part of a group of students arrested at the beginning of June for "unpatriotic behavior." Sources in the country expect the students to be taken back into custody as soon as their exams have been completed.

Meanwhile, government pressures continue on the sanctioned Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and Islamic groups to enroll their religious workers under the age of 30 for compulsory military training. All but the Catholic Church have complied, protesting that in the past, church workers were exempted from military service because of their religious duties.

Despite these stories and others about open persecution, the government continues to support its statement issued in May 2003 that "no groups or persons are persecuted in Eritrea for their beliefs or religion."

Eritrea ranks 12^th on the Open Doors 2011 World Watch List, a compilation of the top 50 countries where persecution of Christians is the worst.

That said, believers in Eritrea ask for prayer for their country, where at least 1,000 religious prisoners endure harrowing incarceration conditions country-wide. According to Voice of the Martyrs Canada,of the Christians in detention, "not one has yet been charged with a crime or faced trial."

Pray that the government will stop the campaign against evangelicals and will allow freedom of religion for all.