Iran on Tuesday, September 6, ordered five Iranian Christians, including a heavily pregnant woman, to report to prison on charges linked to their Christian activities, a mission group working in the region said.
Arrested on charges of blasphemy against Islam, Pastor Matthias Haghnejad is now free on bail, according to ASSIST News Service.
According to an unconfirmed report from the Farsi News Network, after almost one year in prison, Pastor Vahik Abrahamian was released Aug. 29 and has rejoined his family.
The whereabouts of an evangelical pastor in Iran remained unknown Saturday, August 27, some 10 days after he was detained by Iranian security forces as part of a reported government crackdown on Christian converts, Worthy News established.
Iranian authorities seized thousands of Bibles in north-west Iran and destroyed a church in the Islamic country’s south-east as part of a wider crackdown on Christianity, Iranian Christians said in messages monitored by Worthy News.
An evangelical pastor who faces execution in Iran for refusing to abandon his Christian faith has urged fellow believers to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and the “Word of God” despite persecution, according to a letter obtained by Worthy News.
An Iranian house church Christian was spending another day in brief freedom Thursday, July 21, after he was temporarily released from jail following the payment of a bail amount of some $101,000 in local currency, Iranian Christians said.
An unofficial translation of the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to execute Pastor Youcef Nadakhani was obtained by Worthy News on Monday, July 18.
The Iranian Supreme Court’s ruling on the appeal against the death sentence of Youcef Nadarkhani by a lower court was finally delivered to his attorney.
The United States has condemned reported plans by Iran to execute an Iranian pastor if he does not abandon his faith in Christ, Worthy News established Tuesday, July 12.
Farshid Fathi was in solitary confinement for months before he was told that he could be free on $200,000 bail; with great difficulty, his family came up with the cash after selling his father-in-law’s home, but when Fathi was ready to to walk out the prison door, the chief interrogator from the Iranian public prosecutor’s office ordered him back for further questioning.
Christians in Iran have challenged news reports that the death penalty for Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has been annulled pointing out that in reality the Supreme Court appears to have added a precondition requiring him to renounce his faith or face execution, according to an international Christian rights group.
Iran’s secretive supreme court has reportedly overturned a death sentence handed down to an evangelical pastor for leaving Islam, surprising trial observers who were earlier informed about an execution ruling.
An Iranian pastor, convicted of apostasy and sentenced to death, may have only hours or days to live, according to a US-based Christian ministry acquainted with the facts of his case.
The general director of comparative religious studies in Iran claimed the enemies of Islam donate approximately $50,000 a year to Iranian house churches that often have memberships of only 15-20 members.
No country in the Middle East has seen more Christians imprisoned in 2011 than in Iran. A recent report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide revealed that 254 Christians were arrested in more than thirty cities across the country since June 2010.
The fate of an Iranian Christian prisoner remained unclear Friday, June 10, nearly nine months after he was detained by security forces as part of a reported government crackdown on devoted Christians in this strict Islamic nation.
An increase in the arrest of Iranians converting from Islam reveals an abundant harvest resulting from evangelism by clandestine house churches in the Islamic state, according to Iranian Christian leaders.
Eleven members of one of Iran’s largest evangelical house church movements, who were charged with ‘action against the order of the country’ and drinking alcohol, have been acquitted by an Iranian court, Worthy News learned Friday, May 20.
Iran has released three Christians who were detained last year during Christian gatherings, but concerns remain over the whereabouts of a Dutch-Iranian believer, rights activists confirmed Friday, May 6.