Ministry: Execution of Iranian Church Leader Delayed
ICC Note:
The execution of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, originally scheduled for Oct 24, has been delayed. He currently faces the death sentence for apostasy – conversion from Islam to Christianity – and is waiting for the court to deliver the verdict. Please pray.
By Aaron J. Leichman
10/25/2010 Iran (Christian Post) – The execution of a pastor in Iran who was sentenced to death for apostasy has been delayed, according to a ministry that assists the persecuted Church.
The Rev. Youcef Nadarkhani, the leader of a church network in Rasht, Iran, was arrested on Oct. 13, 2009, after objecting to the practice of forcing Christian school students – including his own children – to read the Quran. After being tried in recent weeks in the 11th Chamber of the Gilan Province’s Assize Court, Nadarkhani was sentenced to die on Oct. 24.
Notably, however, a formal verdict has not yet been delivered by the court and Jason DeMars of Present Truth Ministries said Saturday that security officials have informed the courts to temporarily delay the pastor’s execution until further notice.
“He is currently under a sentence of death, but they are delaying the delivery of the verdict in order to put more pressure on him to turn away from Christ,” reported DeMars, who has been closely following Nadarkhani’s case.
“Once the written verdict is delivered, there will be 20 days to appeal to the Supreme Court,” DeMars added in his ministry’s website.
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