2023-07-18 00:30:43
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who has faced a legal battle for years due to the religious persecution he suffers in the dictatorship of Iran, has again been the target of accusations, this time from a Christian couple who would have suffered psychological torture during an interrogation.
According to information from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the couple would not have endured the torture during the interrogation, and therefore would have made accusations against Nadarkhani and another pastor named Abdolreza Hagjnejad, better known as Matthias.
Now, both will have to return to the courts of the Islamic dictatorship in order to defend themselves. The main accusation concerns Christian preaching in the country, through the installation of house churches, something that the Islamic government sees as a “threat” to national security.
It was for this same reason that Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was sentenced to the death penalty in 2017, when he began the fight in Iranian Justice for his life. Several Christian organizations and international authorities, such as then-President Donald Trump of the United States, pressured Iran to release the religious leader.
In March of that year, Nadarkhani obtained an amnesty from the Iranian government, gaining his freedom. The pardon was granted on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. As a tradition, some detainees are released.
The pastor, however, did not escape suffering 30 lashes, and his freedom has been monitored ever since. For one of the representatives of CSWit is clear that Christian leaders have been suffering an intense wave of Islamic persecution in Iran.
“It is clear that these men are being harassed because of their leadership role in the church,” said one of them, noting that the accusations have no legal basis.
“This is a violation of Iran’s Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling that preaching Christianity cannot be considered a threat to national security,” he concluded.
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