the egypt blog

Emad El Dafrawy - conscientious objection declaration

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 4/18/2012 06:52:00 AM 1 comments

Iran pastor, still alive, passes 900th day in jail

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Michael Foust | Baptist Press

Yousef Nadarkhani

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Easter, Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani remains in jail -- alive, yes -- but having already passed his 900th day behind bars for being a Christian and still facing a possible execution.

Nadarkhani, whose first name also can be spelled "Youcef," was able to visit with a son on on the son's birthday Monday (April 2), according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which is closely monitoring the case. His 900th day in jail occurred in late March.

For weeks now, rumors have floated on Facebook and Twitter that he has been executed, with a picture of a body often accompanying the post. But that picture was taken well over a year ago of another person, and it's highly unlikely Iran would take a picture of Nadarkhani if he was executed, says Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice.

"We're able to confirm that he's alive pretty regularly, at least weekly," Sekulow told Baptist Press.

Often, Sekulow said, rumors of Nadarkhani's execution are easily dismissed, particularly if a rumor starts on the weekend. That's because the Iranian government shuts down around mid-Thursday and doesn't reopen again until Sunday in recognition of the Muslim calendar.

"They won't send out pictures [of Nadarkhani]," Sekulow said. "He is not someone who is on trial for being a spy -- those are the pictures of people we usually see. He is not one of those public executions."

Nadarkhani was sentenced to death in 2010 for converting from Islam to Christianity in a case that began in 2009.

The United States and the United Kingdom have spoken out publicly for Nadarkhani, pressuring Iran, and other countries are doing so too. Among those is Brazil, which unlike the U.S. and the U.K., has close ties to Iran. That gives Brazil leverage, said Sekulow, who visited Brazil earlier this year to discuss the case with Brazilian officials.

"Brazil has a working relationship with Iran on a daily basis," Sekulow said. "The Brazilian government has really taken this case -- senators, the executive branch, the people of Brazil. And it's such a key diplomatic partner for Iran."

In March, Iran acknowledged to the U.N. Human Rights Council -- meeting in Switzerland -- that Nadarkhani was charged with faith-based crimes. Specifically, Iran's human rights representative, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, said Nadarkhani was charged with: telling youth about Christ without their parents' permission, leading an illegal house church in his home, and offending Islam.

"He offended Islam by saying that Jesus was the only way to heaven," Sekulow said.

Sekulow urged the rest of the world to continue praying for Nadarkhani while also recognizing that the American view of courts and jails is meaningless in Iran.

"He has the death sentence hanging over his head, and the question now is: Does Iran try to push this to another trial -- try a new judicial process to stall the issue because of the international pressure? That's where we're focused now. We have gotten so much of the world's attention," Sekulow said. "I think we have to get past the goal of just keeping him alive, and figure out how to get him to be released."

Sekulow's group raised the alarm about Nadarkhani's case in February, fearing that an execution was imminent. That did not occur, but that does not mean that one was not scheduled, Sekulow said. Iran has a history, he said, of scheduling an execution to see if the information leaks.

"If it doesn't [leak], they may carry it out, and that's what happened the last time they did this."

Iran last carried out an execution for apostasy in 1990.

"He's not doing this to be some worldwide martyr that everyone knows about," Sekulow said. "He really is representing hundreds if not thousands of people who are in the same situation."

In September, Nadarkhani was given four chances to recant his faith in court and refused each time. His case then was referred to the ayatollah. The American Center for Law and Justice reported one of his court exchanges.

"Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?" Nadarkhani asked.

"To the religion of your ancestors, Islam," the judge reportedly replied.

"I cannot," the pastor responded.

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 4/12/2012 05:15:00 PM 0 comments

Egyptian synagogues and the good old days of Egyptian Jews

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Beautiful video with old pictures of Egyptian Jews and pictures of the amazing synagogues of Egypt.

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 4/11/2012 10:59:00 PM 0 comments

Maurice Mizrahi - Jews in Egypt - Growing up under Pharaoh (2008)

Saturday, April 07, 2012

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 4/07/2012 05:55:00 PM 0 comments

Love Never Fails - Brandon Heath

Friday, March 30, 2012

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 3/30/2012 05:59:00 AM 0 comments

Iran Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani Likely to Remain in Jail Another Year

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is seen here in prison in Lakan, Iran.
Nadarkhani faces execution for refusing to recant his Christian faith.

By Anugrah Kumar
The Christian Post

An Iranian court is likely to delay its verdict in a case concerning Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who is facing death penalty for converting to Christianity, to allow authorities to further coerce him to convert to Islam as he remains in jail.

The evangelical pastor’s lawyer has learned that the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, has asked the presiding judge over the trial, Ghazi Kashani, to delay the pending judgment and keep him in prison for another year, Present Truth Ministries said in a statement Thursday.

Nadarkhani, a 32-year-old house church leader from the Church of Iran denomination, was convicted of apostasy last year and was sentenced to death by hanging. However, the Supreme Court of Iran asked for the retrial of his case by a lower court in the city of Rasht in northern Gilan Province.

The deliberate delay is meant to let the case “slip away from international attention” even as the authorities continue to “use whatever means necessary to cause him to convert to Islam,” said Jason DeMars, the founder of the ministry that was first to report on the pastor’s arrest two years ago.

It was earlier learnt that the court in Rasht had asked Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the highest ranking political and religious authority in Shi’a-majority Iran, to rule on whether the pastor should be put to death.

The pastor was arrested in October 2009 from Rasht for allegedly protesting Islamic instruction in schools for his children, Daniel, 9, and Yoel, 7, and after he sought to register his church. Authorities, however, later changed the charges to apostasy. He has been lodged in a prison in Lakan, about seven miles south of Rasht, since then.

In June 2010, authorities also arrested pastor’s wife Fatemah Pasindedih to pressure him to convert. During this time their boys went to live with a relative. Yousef and his wife were also threatened that their children would be taken away and given to a Muslim family, but they remained firm. Pasindedih was later released.

The Rasht court convicted the pastor of leaving Islam and sentenced him to death in November 2010.

The pastor appealed against the Rasht court’s ruling at the Supreme Court in December 2010, as apostasy is not a crime as per Iran’s penal code. The court, however, held in June 2011 that apostasy was still punishable under Sharia or Islamic law but asked the lower court to reexamine whether Nadarkhani was a believer in Islam when he adopted Christianity at the age of 19.

During the hearings held in September 2011, Pastor Nadarkhani was told by authorities that he would be given three opportunities to embrace Islam and renounce his faith in Christianity to have the charges removed. But he refused to do so.

On Sept. 26, the court determined that Youcef was a Muslim when he adopted Christianity because he was born in a Muslim family. All witnesses stated that he did not practice Islam, yet the court inexplicably determined he was a national apostate.

While the court is likely to wait for another year before reaching a decision, “there are no assurances that he will not be executed,” warned the ministry. “It could happen at any time. This is the way that the Iranian government operates with executions. They do not give advance notice and it is done in secret.”

posted by Mamduh Schauki at 2/19/2012 04:19:00 PM 0 comments