Iran: Pastor Nadarkhani Released, Acquitted Of Apostasy

He thanks everyone who supported and prayed for him

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

IRAN (ANS) -- ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net) has confirmed that Youcef Nadarkhani, the Church of Iran pastor sentenced to death for apostasy, has been released and is now at home with his family.

According to reliable sources, including Christian Solidarity Worldwide (www.csw.org.uk) and Present Truth Ministries (www.presenttruthmn.com), Pastor Nadarkhani was acquitted of apostasy, but found guilty of evangelizing Muslims during court proceedings that took place today (Saturday, September 8, 2012).

He was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the latter charge, but released because he had already served this time.

Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in his home city of Rasht in 2009 soon after questioning the Muslim monopoly of religious instruction for children, which he felt was unconstitutional. He was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011. Although the Iranian penal code did not specify death for apostasy, a constitutional loophole allowed judges to refer to Sharia law and authoritative fatwas to justify such a sentence. Today the pastor had been expected to face new charges for unspecified crimes, but was instead released.

CSW’s Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas said, “CSW is delighted to learn of Pastor Nadarkhani's release after a long incarceration. We commend the Iranian judiciary for this step, which is a triumph for justice and the rule of law. While we rejoice at this wonderful news, we do not forget hundreds of others who are harassed or unjustly detained on account of their faith, and CSW is committed to continue campaigning until all of Iran's religious minorities are able to enjoy religious freedom as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is party.”

Jason DeMars of Present Truth Ministries, “We give thanks to God for his deliverance and the answer to our prayers. Our sources in Iran have informed us that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been acquitted of apostasy and found guilty of evangelizing Muslims. He has been sentenced to 3 years in prison which he has already served.

“He has been released from prison and has now been reunited with his family and is at home with them.”

DeMars added that Pastor Youcef had said, “Thank you to everyone that has supported me with your prayers.”

“We are filled with joy from this news and are so grateful that God has delivered our brother,” said DeMars.

“Please don’t forget what happened to Pastor Mehdi Dibaj who had his apostasy charges reversed and then was murdered shortly after his release. Pray for him, his family and everyone involved in his case.”

14yr old girl released on bail into protective custody

Islamabad, Pakistan, Sept. 7 (Open Doors News) — A court has ordered that Rimsha Masih, the 14 year old accused of blasphemy, is to be released into protective custody, on bail security of approx. $10,500. It’s rare that bail is granted in a blasphemy case, partly for the defendant’s own safety, but Masih’s lawyers pleaded that she was a juvenile. The girl is expected to be released shortly, after which a further application will be made to drop all charges against her.  Robinson Asghar, aide to the Minister for National Harmony, told Reuters she is expected to re-join her family in a secret location. Asghar said there are no plans to send Masih abroad. Prosecution lawyers said this was a risk, as a result of the prominence the case has received in international media. Asghar’s boss, Minister Paul Bhatti, is closely concerned with the girl’s security after his brother Shahbaz, then himself Minister for Minorities, was shot dead in March 2011 for challenging the blasphemy laws.

Rimsha’s original accuser, her neighbor Malik Ammad, was supported by the local mosque leader, Khalid Jadoon. In Friday’s hearing, Ammad’s lawyers argued that Rimsha should not receive bail, as she had confessed. However, Pakistan’s leading daily ‘Dawn’ reports that, on Wednesday, police interviewed Rimsha again for an hour, during which she is reported to have denied all charges. The mosque leader has now been charged with blasphemy by planting pages of the Quran among burnt papers in Rimsha’s  bags.  He denies the charge, seen as desecration of the Quran, carrying a sentence of life imprisonment. He could also be convicted of falsely accusing a minor.  Jadoon remains in custody until Sep 16^th.

Human Rights Watch and civil society groups welcomed the decision. The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, speaking to Open Doors News, hailed this as a landmark case.  

  

Rimsha, resident in a sector of Islamabad, G12, where many poor Christian families live, was reported to police on Aug. 16 on the testimony of neighboring Muslims who accused her of carrying burned pages of Quranic verses. Her defense has argued she is too young to face blasphemy charges as an adult, and too mentally handicapped to even understand the concept of blasphemy.

Her case has taken several dramatic turns.

On Aug. 28 a medical report determined the girl to be 14 years old. Her attorneys considered the medical opinion to be powerful evidence that would persuade the court to shift Rimsha’s case to the juvenile courts, where potential penalties are less severe.

Instead, the court delayed a decision and agreed to a new medical exam at the insistence of lawyer representing Rimsha's accuser. The lawyer hinted strongly that there would be violence if the girl were released on bail and her case transferred out of the adult court system:

"This girl is guilty,” said Rao Abdu Raheem, a lawyer for the man who has accused the girl of blasphemy against Islam. “If the state overrides the court, then God will get a person to do the job.”

One of the girl’s attorneys, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said Raheem's remarks amounted to "an open threat."

The most dramatic development yet occurred Sept. 2 when police, acting on information provided by members of a local mosque, arrested a Muslim cleric on suspicion of supplying Rimsha with the torn Quranic pages she was later accused of desecrating herself. The new twist forced yet another delay in a determination whether Rimsha would be released on bail.

Rimsha’s attorneys say she and her family never could return to their home, in the Mehrabad sector of Islamabad.

Rimsha’s arrest has prompted widespread international condemnation of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered an investigation, and has said the law must not be used to settle personal scores. Prominent Muslim clerics in Pakistan urged the courts not to rush to judgment under public pressure, though the law is widely popular among many ordinary Pakistanis.

The laws have been especially in the spotlight since a Christian mother-of-five, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death in November 2010 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. She remains in prison.

In Jan 2011, two months before the death of Shahbaz Bhatti, the powerful Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was killed by his own bodyguard forpublicly urging reform of the blasphemy laws. His assassination divided Pakistani opinion, with many hailing the bodyguard as a hero for what he’d done. 

END

Saudi Arabia: Convert flees; helpers to face court

-- Interpol and Swedish authorities aid Saudi Embassy to hunt convert.

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 175 
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Since late July Saudi media have been buzzing with reports that a 28-year-old Saudi woman has embraced Christianity and fled the country, staying initially in a church in Lebanon before moving on to Sweden. According to the Saudi Gazette, the woman, Maryam, appeared on an Arabic TV channel saying she was tired of performing prayers and fasting during Ramadan -- rituals that never brought her any benefit. She also criticised Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. She claimed to have been converted through a dream and said that though she was raised to hate Judaism and Christianity she has come to love those religions since finding peace in Christianity.

The woman's father said his daughter was working in an insurance company in Al-Khobar (in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province) when her boss, a Lebanese Christian man, influenced her and ultimately encouraged her to leave Islam. According to Saudi investigators, a second man, a Saudi national, helped the woman obtain false documents and leave the country. The woman's family have pressed charges against the two men because apostasy (leaving Islam) is an Islamic capital offence and a Saudi woman is not allowed to get a passport without the permission of her male guardian. The men will face court on Saturday 15 September.

Prosecuting lawyer, Humood Al-Khaldi, said that whilst the penalty in Islam of death for apostasy is clear, 'the roles played by the two men, the Saudi and Lebanese, in making the girl become Christian should be taken into consideration'. He said 'the court should make sure first that the girl was coerced into converting to Christianity and fleeing the country'. According to Gulf News, 'Most Saudis reacting to the Khobar woman saga . . . have been calling for stringent action against the Lebanese and Saudi nationals for their alleged roles in the case, claiming that they were "well aware of the consequences of their act".'

Domestically, the totalitarian Wahhabist Saudi regime will be keen to perpetuate its lie that Saudi Arabian citizens are 100 percent Muslim and that the land of the two holy mosques could never produce Saudi Arabian Christians! Consequently it will be imperative that the Saudi woman, Maryam, be deemed to have been emotionally unbalanced and coerced and/or kidnapped -- anything but a convert. Likewise the Saudi man must be deemed to be an opportunistic criminal -- anything but a sympathiser.

Saudi media are sparing no effort to influence public opinion. Whilst initial reports described Maryam as a 28-year-old professional, later reports simply describe her as a 'girl'. (One article stated she is 17.) According to the Saudi Gazet te, Maryam's conversion was nothing more than that of a 'girl' forming an 'emotional attachment to a Christian young man'. In other words, her act was emotional not rational. It also claimed the 'girl' rejected Islamic rituals only because she had not been properly taught to understand and appreciate them -- her action was based on ignorance, not reason. The Saudi Arabic daily Al Youm claimed Maryan had contacted them, denying she had appeared on television, maintaining she is still a Muslim and requesting help to return home. According to Gulf News, Maryam's family has suggested she may be 'a victim of an international organisation trafficking in people'.

On 2 September the Saudi Gazette reported that 'Interpol is co-ordinating with the Saudi Embassy in Stockholm and Swedish authorities to return the girl to her homeland before her "kidnappers" move her to another country.' The embassy reportedly has started a search for the woman, with the aid of Swedish authorities.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD WILL --

• break the chains of fear and darkness that keep the hearts and minds of Saudi Arabs shackled to an Islamic Jesus who cannot save, while the biblical Jesus is waiting to show grace.
  
  '. . . you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' (John 8:32) 
  
  
• work powerfully in and through Henna Sarkees, the Lebanese, and his Saudi colleague when they face the court in Al-Khobar on Saturday 15 September. May this trial be redeemed for the glory of the LORD. (Pray through Matthew 10:16-20 and 26-33.)
  
• protect Maryam from a forced return to Saudi Arabia where, as an apostate, she may well face violent retribution, even death.

To view this RLPB with hyperlinks, visit the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog 

Christian worker murdered in Jordan

Jordan (IMB) ― Jordanian authorities are investigating the death of Southern Baptist worker Cheryll Harvey whose body was discovered in her apartment in Irbid, Jordan, on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Foul play has been confirmed in the death of the 55-year-old single woman from Texas.

Harvey had served the Jordanian people for 24 years, demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ through teaching English and other subjects in connection with the Jordan Baptist Society.

"Cheryll was greatly loved by both our personnel in the Middle East and by her many students," IMB President Tom Elliff said. "We are faced once again with a sobering reminder of the brevity of life and the importance of faithfully serving the Lord to the very end of our time on earth. Cheryll has left for us a great example that we should follow.

"She...will always be remembered for her quiet and unassuming spirit, as well as her passion for sharing the Good News," Elliff said.

Harvey was a member of College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview, Texas, and grew up attending First Baptist Church in Sudan, Texas. Family and colleagues in the United States have been notified and await word about the circumstances surrounding her death. Harvey is survived by two brothers who reside in Texas.

"As with any event such as this, it is imperative that we remember Cheryll's surviving family members and friends," Elliff said, "and that we lift them up in prayer during these days. We best honor her by giving honor to the Lord Whom she so faithfully served."

Robert Roecker, pastor of First Baptist Sudan, said the church is in a "state of shock." Harvey had visited her childhood church several times since Roecker became pastor, offering slideshows of her work in the Middle East.

A friend of Harvey's relayed to him that "Cheryll talked about how when she retired she might just stay in Jordan. She just really loved it there and loved the people."

"The thing that always astounded us was when you heard her speak she was just a meek and mild person with just a soft voice," Roecker recalled. "It's not the picture you have in your mind of someone who is on the front lines in Jordan. To have that courage and faith was amazing to us. The folks who knew her here were always saying how surprised they were at what was God was able to do through her."

LaDelta Vernon, Harvey's third-grade teacher who would often talk to her when Harvey came home on occasional furloughs, said she always imagined that the quiet, well-behaved girl with the distinctive laugh would grow up and raise three daughters. As it turned out, she never married. She was a helper, Vernon said, so her teaching English wasn't a surprise. Her teaching it in the Middle East was, however.

"She was a good student. If she was your friend, she was your best friend. She didn't talk behind people's back. She was just a sweet, sweet girl," Vernon said. "She was doing what she wanted to do, what God called her to do."

Pakistan Christian Cabinet member urges re-think of blasphemy law

Rimsha Masih (Image courtesy Asia News)

Pakistan (MNN) ― What began as a blasphemy accusation has led to scandal and a call to re-evaluate Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Todd Nettleton, spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs USA, says the blasphemy law is often misused by Muslims to settle personal scores with Christians. Even unproven allegations can prompt a violent public response.

"Whatever it is that you wanted to get even with them for, you can take care of that while they're locked away in prison", says Nettleton. "Even if eventually the court says, 'There was no evidence of this. This is a ridiculous charge; let this person go.' They've still lost four to seven years of their lives fighting the charges and waiting for the legal process to go forward."

Nettleton goes on to say, "The level of what it takes to get the charges filed is so small, and it really ruins somebody's life." Gospel work has been negatively impacted, too. He explains that "if you say anything negative about Mohammed, that's blasphemy. Obviously as we share the Gospel, we want to do that out of a sense of love and out of a sense of respect. But at some point, when you compare two religions, you're probably going to say something negative about Islam and about Mohammed and about the Quran. All of those things would fall under the blasphemy laws there in Pakistan."

In other words, the interpretation is loose, and yet the penalties are harsh. Convictions carry the potential of a life sentence for desecrating the Quran and the death penalty for insulting the prophet Muhammad.

The case that started the ball rolling involves a young girl, Rimsha Masih, who is developmentally disabled. She is in custody nearly three weeks after she was accused of burning pages containing verses from the Quran.

In an odd twist to the case, Nettleton says, "The mullah at her local mosque: apparently now there are witnesses who say he put the burned pages in her stuff and then took the stuff to the police and said, 'This is Rimsha's stuff.' She's been burning pages from a Quran'."

Investigating authorities found the motive revealing. "Apparently now, it was all a set up by him to try to get the Christians out of the village or create animosity by the Muslims toward the Christians. So that evidence coming on top of the questions that were already there because of her age, or because of her mental capacity, is really giving some momentum to this idea of 'this is really a black eye for the entire country to have these laws on the books.'" With that evidence, the cleric was arrested for tampering with evidence. Activists hope to use the case to stop the abuse of Pakistan's strict laws on insulting Islam.

As a result of the turn of events, activists hope Masih could be released as early as tomorrow. According to Open Doors News, Rimsha Masih is likely to be cleared of the blasphemy charge against her, but Nettleton says the family's life is changed. "Even if she is released on Friday and is returned to her family, there is still an issue of safety for them that we can pray about and pray for."

Police put the girl in jail both to placate angry demonstrators and to keep Rimsha safe from attack. Her parents likewise were removed to protective custody, while hundreds of Christian neighbors fled to the relative safety of more distant Islamabad sectors.

Paul Bhatti is the Minister for National Harmony, and the only Christian on the cabinet. He is calling for a re-evaluation of how the law is enforced. His brother and predecessor Shahbaz Bhatti was gunned down last year for speaking out against the blasphemy law.

However, Nettleton says the circumstances now are different. "The fact that someone has suggested reforming the blasphemy law is not a new thing. What will be interesting to see--especially in light of this mullah being arrested--is if this gains any traction within the legislative process there and if there is really some practical change for the Christians in Pakistan."

Pray for justice, as it relates to the blasphemy law. This is a unique opening to change laws that are unfair. "Pray for the Christian community there, regardless of what happens with the government or what happens with the blasphemy laws, that they will continue to focus on Christ and be a witness for Him in spite of whatever laws are on the books or whatever persecution comes their way."

Head of Open Doors USA steps down

(Photo courtesy Open Doors)

USA (ODM) ― Dr. Carl Moeller announced Tuesday that he is stepping down as president/CEO of Open Doors USA. Open Doors is an international ministry that supports and strengthens persecuted Christians in the most dangerous countries in the world.

Moeller is leaving Open Doors USA after nine years to accept the position of president and managing partner of Sequoia Global Resources, located in Irvine, California.

"It has been a joy and privilege working with my persecuted brothers and sisters around the world over the past nine years," said Moeller. "They have taught me so much about being faithful in the midst of suffering. My prayer is that more Christians in the West become informed about persecution and unite as one in supporting persecuted believers.

"It also has been my privilege to work with so many dedicated people at Open Doors. Many of them literally risk their lives to bring Bibles, conduct seminars, and bring hope and comfort to marginalized believers."

The Open Doors USA Board announced that board member Steve Ridgway has been appointed interim CEO during the transition period. Ridgway is executive director of Northwest Network Foundation, Puyallup, Washington. Northwest Network Foundation is a non-profit organization that mentors existing and emerging leaders. Ridgway has been an Open Doors USA board member for nine years.

"For the past nine years, Carl Moeller has been a voice for Christ-followers living in the midst of persecution," said Ridgway. "Through the artistry of his vision and voice, he has clearly and vividly painted a picture of what the church looks like where following Jesus is both difficult and deadly. Carl's presence will be missed, but his vision will remain."

Ridgway added: "The future of Open Doors USA will be to move forward in filling the CEO's position during this transition and to continue to support our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world."

Open Doors International CEO Jeff Taylor stated: "Carl's passion for persecuted Christians was evident in his nine years as president of Open Doors USA. He desperately wanted the American church to be more aware of the persecution of Christians, but he also wanted the church to mobilize on behalf of our brothers and sisters suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ. I know Carl will take that same passion and desire to his new ministry role."

An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest, and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers.