Iranian court upholds prison sentences of two Christian converts by Staff writer for Christian Today
GNN Note – I wonder how many Christians were in Iran before the radical islamic terrorist moved in and began killing them and implementing sharia law? We just reported, yesterday, that approximately 2.5 million Christians have been slaughtered in Syria and Iraq since 2003. With Iran being a neighbor to both of these nations it would make sense there is or was a substantial Christian community. We will never know.
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A court in Iran has upheld the prison sentences of two Christian converts involved in house churches.
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Saheb Fadaie was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Fatemeh Bakhteri to 12 months last September after being found guilty of “spreading propaganda against the regime”. In delivering the sentence, the court equated discussions of Christian doctrine in house churches to an attack on Islam, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
In addition to a prison sentence, Mr Fadaie was also given two years in internal exile in Nehbandan, a remote area close to the border with Afghanistan.
The pair, who were both active in house churches, lodged an appeal against the decision and at a hearing in January were asked to renounce their faith. Both refused, CSW reports.
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said the decision to uphold their sentences was a “grave violation” of Iran’s constitutional and international legal obligations, and “illustrative of the heightened campaign of repression that has seen Christians receiving excessive charges and sentences merely for manifesting their religion in private and in community with others”.
“Many more are being punished for adopting a religion of their choice, which is protected under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is party,” he said.
“Moreover, the effective designation of Christian doctrine as an attack on Islam amounts to the criminalisation of the Christian faith.”
