Posted on 02/22/2012 1:20:14 PM PST by Hunton Peck
A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.
Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.
“The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
“This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past.”
It is also feared that Nadarkhani will be executed in retaliation as Iran endures crippling sanctions and international pressure in response to its nuclear agenda and rogue rhetoric. The number of executions in Iran has increased significantly in the last month.
“This is defiance,” Sekulow said. “They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do.”
The order to execute Nadarkhani came only days after lawmakers in Congress supported a resolution sponsored by Pennsylvania Rep. Joseph Pitts denouncing the apostasy charge and calling for his immediate release.
“Iran has become more isolated because of their drive for nuclear weapons, and the fundamentalist government has stepped up persecution of religious minorities to deflect criticism,” Pitts, a Republican, told FoxNews.com. “The persecuted are their own citizens, whose only crime is practicing their faith.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’m sure Obama will send the prosecutor a note of congratulations.
That is the stupidest healine I’ve yet read.
You don’t convict a person to death; a person is convicted of a crime THEN sentenced to death.
Let’s hear again that the Muslim religion is about peace and needs to be “understood” by us? Where’s the US - Obama - on this?
We’re they just rioting because some Korans were burned, yet they want to kill a guy for merely being a Christian?
“The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith,”
But it says to do this in the koran*, it’s a deep religious conviction. You think “the world” is going to ask for an edit of the Muslim holy book because it offends our modern sensibilities?
Interesting that this conviction for one’s convictions comes right after, or during, our own kerfuffle over whether fedgov can override religious teachings about contraception.
And also the FBI tacitly accepting sharia law about not ever criticizing Islam, by taking out all the bad words from their training manuals.
Our own president was born a muslim, studied the koran, and abandoned his Muslim faith to become a Christian. What will the Iranians do to him?
*I think it’s in the koran. Certainly in sharia.
This is the most horrible news. What will happen to the wife and kids when the pastor is executed without prior notice? And just how does that happen anyway? Prayers going up for this man and his family.
If Nadarkhani was a Muslim, and is now a Christian, he is obviously guilty of apostacy.
That's a death sentence in Islam.
This is a straight forward case.
We execute murders who sin against us -the Muslims execute apostates who sin against Allah.
It's a cultural thing. It gives multi-culturalism a bad name. - Tom
A suggestion ~ for the next President. If they execute this man the next Iranian President who visits the UN gets snatched off the plane right after it lands and he gets executed on the runway.
U.S. Catholics don’t want to pay to kill babies and they’re intolerant and guilty of forcing their religion on others.
Muslims sentence a man to death for leaving their religion (of peace, no less) and they’re just misunderstood by the intolerant, Islamophobic Americans.
Got it. Up is down, down is up and Obama is president.
Prayers for my brother, his family and my other brothers and sisters in Christ in Iran.
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