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.
Residents of southern Israel were sent back into bomb shelters this weekend as Gaza’s terrorists stepped up their rocket launchings. Close to 20 were fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza over the past week – totaling 348 this year alone.
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.
Iran has released on bail a man who was jailed because he converted from Islam to Christianity, but several others remain detained because they are unable to pay for their freedom Iranian Christians said Monday, April 11.
Five Iranian house church Christians were behind bars Wednesday, March 15, after being sentenced to one year imprisonment on charges of “crimes against the Islamic order” and there were reports that Iranian authorities have been burning Bibles.
Iranian Christians requested prayers Sunday, January 16, amid a new wave of arrests of Christian converts, many of them former Muslims.
The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says an American church’s plan to burn Korans on September 11 could endanger U.S. troops and damage the overall war effort in that country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks to continue U.S. backed direct negotiations for the creation of a Palestinian state within a year despite serious differences that remain between the two sides.
A well-known Iranian pastor faces execution after two judges agreed to make him “liable to capital punishment,” as part of a crackdown on the growing Protestant church movement in the Islamic nation, Worthy News and its parner agency BosNewsLife learned Tuesday, July 13.
Iran has acquitted “on all charges” two young women who were detained fourteen months ago “for their Christian faith and activities” and abandoning Islam, Iranian church officials confirmed Sunday, May 23.