Yousef Nadarkhani

Yousef Nadarkhani is one of the pastors of a network of Christian house churches. He is a member of the Protestant evangelical Church of Iran. Nadarkhani, whose case became internationally known, was acquitted of apostasy; (His original sentence was capital punishment). He was found guilty of evangelism and sentenced to prison.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='18316'> He converted to Christianity at the age of 19. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18317'> Iran Prison Atlas reported that he was arrested this year on charges of "acting against national security" and transferred to the Intelligence Detention Center in Rasht. He was released later. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18318'> According to the lawsuit, this is the date he was arrested. It is said that his wife, Fatemeh Pasandideh, was also detained at the same time. According to unofficial reports, Mr. Nadarkhani was opposed to imposing the Qur'an on his son and other Christians in Gilan and therefore consulted with 14 imitators on the religion of the son of a Muslim who has now become a Christian. He is said to have been detained for this reason. Mr. Nadarkhani was later transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht. He had, for this reason, sought the opinion of 14 Shiite Marja’s (clerics who have religious authority to lead) on what was the religion of children whose parents were Muslims in the past but have converted to Christianity. He is said to have been detained for this reason. Mr. Nadarkhani was later transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18319'> Branch 11 of the Gilan Court of Appeals and Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Mohammadi Kashani and in the presence of Fatemeh's and Yari's advisers, sentenced Yousef Nadarkhani to death on charges of "apostasy." Citing Article 168 of the Constitution, based on fatwas issued by Khomeini, Khamenei, Golpayegani, Safi, and Makarem Shirazi, the court declared the Christian citizen a "natural apostate." It sentenced him to “execution by hanging in such a way that his soul is released.” This lawsuit is registered in the evidence section of Yousef Nadarkhani's profile. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18320'> The sentence of execution was implemented. The United States, European countries, the European parliament, the German parliament, international personalities, and human rights organizations asked for Yousef Nadarkhani's freedom and respect for freedom of religion. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18323'> Branch 27 of the Supreme Court, headed by Morteza Fazel with Azizollah Razaghi as counsel, ruled that the hearing was incomplete because, in the process of embracing Islam, Yousef Nadarkhani has had to have declared, after puberty, “that he is a Muslim” and “to undertake Islamic education” but “none of the informed locals, acquaintances, relations or Muslims who socialized with him previously were questioned or consulted” to ascertain if he, was in fact, a Muslim to begin with. The verdict can be found in the evidence section of this website. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18321'> According to Mohammad Ali Dadkhah to Radio Farda, Pastor Nadarkhani was taken to court for three consecutive days from this date to repent and return to Islam, but she refused to comply each time. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18322'> After Pastor Nadarkhani refused to repent and leave his religion, Fars news agency wrote, “informed sources have provided information that shows that an individual, named, Yousef Nadarkhani was accused of violent charges such as rape and numerous other sinful acts, and was sentenced for these charges, that had nothing to do with his leaving his religion.” Alam Ali Rezvani, the Security deputy of Gilan’s Governor, told Fars news agency, “the accusations against, and the execution of, this individual was not confessional, or because of religion, no one is executed because of his choice of religion in our country. He is a Zionist charged with threatening national security.” Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Mr. Nadarkhani’s lawyer, said he had no knowledge of any other charges against his client and defended Mr. Nadarkhani only against the charge of “apostasy” and nothing else. Also, the captured picture of the verdict letter, which can be found in the evidence section of this website, shows that there is no truth to the Fars news agency claims. According to information gathered by the Iran Prison Atlas, accusations such as “rape,” “terrorism,” and “witchcraft” have been repeatedly used by media akin to security forces for cases of ideological dissenters who have gained international notice. These charges are usually never mentioned in the court, but security officials and media repeat these accusations regularly. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18324'> 14 Iranian Muslim Intellectuals wrote a statement in defense of Yousef Nadarkhani. They claimed in parts of their statement that “Yousef Nadarkhani was imprisoned for the charge of following the precepts of Christianity, he was then placed in solitary confinement to break him into giving up his belief, and when the prison authorities were faced with his resistance, they sent him to the psychiatric hospital to disorient his psyche. But his persistence led them to take his wife hostage to make him choose between his faith and his loved one. Now that all these efforts to break his faith have hit the wall of his constancy, his enemies have erected a scaffold from which to hang him.” “We, a group of the followers of the teachings of the pure Mohammad, respect Yousef Nadarkhani’s faith in a single God and his belief in the message of love and sacrifice of the teachings of the Jesus and see his constancy in his faith as noble and praiseworthy, we share his and his loved ones’ pain and his communities bitterness.” Signatories were as follows: Ali Afshari, Abdol Ali Bazargan, Reza Borghani, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Reza Alijani, Mostafa Rokhsaf, Sobrab Rezghaei, Massoumeh Shafiei, Shirin Ebadi, Hossein Kamali, Akbar Ganji, Yaser Mirdamadi, Arash Naraghi, Hassan Yousefi Ashkevari </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18326'> The Court Judge requested Ali Khamenei to review the case. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18325'> The Supreme Court of Iran announced in a press release: “the Supreme Court has reviewed the case of Yousef Nadarkhani accused of Apostasy, and due to faulty and incomplete research, the case, itself, has been declared incomplete and sent back to the court that initially heard it to correct the mistakes and complete the necessary research.” In the court ruling, it has been said that, “after correcting the mistakes and shortcomings of the case and the issuing of a renewed verdict, if there is a request for appeal, then the Supreme Court will review and rule on the case.” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18327'> According to the BBC Persian Service, the court acquitted Yousef Nadarkhani from the charge of “apostasy.” It condemned him to “acting against national security” to three years that he had already served in prison, to date, for the case that was opened in 2007. The spokesperson for the Church of Iranians, citing the case of Pastor Dibaj, who had been taken and killed by individuals, according to regime authorities, were “zealous Muslims,” said that the safety of Pastor Nadarkhani and his family is the responsibility of the ruling regime in Iran. Branch 11 of the Gilan Court of Appeals and Criminal Court (The same department that issued the death sentence) sentenced him to three years in prison. However, there is no information about the judge who issued the ruling. Still, some local sources told Iran Prison Atlas that Judge Mohammadi Kashani, who sentenced him to death, sentenced him to three years in prison. Yousef Nadarkhani was released from prison after the conviction was issued due to serving his sentence. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18342'> He turned himself in to Rasht Prison to serve the remaining 45 days of his three-year prison sentence. He was released on parole a few days later. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18328'> Yousef Nadarkhani, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh, and Zaman Fadaei were arrested in their home chapel during the performance of a religious rite. A few hours later, Yousef Nadarkhani and Fatemeh Pasandideh were released. In late May 2016, Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh and Zaman Fadaei were released with the posting of an IRR 1000 million bail. According to the reports, Jalili, the prosecutor at branch 14 of the court of Rasht, Mohammad Reza Omidi, was refused bail for reasons that remain unknown. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18329'> Mohabat News said Mohammad Reza Omidi, Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh, Zaman Fadaei, and Yousef Nadarkhani were tried in Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran headed by judge Ahmadzadeh. The next meeting of the court took place a few days later. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='18330'> The head of branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, Judge Ahmadzadeh, sentenced nine Iranian citizens and three Azerbaijani citizens to 85 years. Mr. Ahmadzadeh was sentenced to 10 years in prison each, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh, Zaman Fadaei, Yousef Nadarkhani, Amin Afshar Naderi, Victor Bet Tamar's, Hadi Asgari, Keyvan Fallah Mohammadi, Nasser Navard Goltapeh, Aldar Ghorbanof, Bahram Nasif, and Yousef Farhad, for the “forming illegal groups in the form of creating home-churches.” He added another five years of incarceration for the “insulting the sacred” to Amin Afshar Naderi’s sentence. Several of these individuals were banned from leaving the country for two years. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19084'> Radio Farda reported, pressure on Yousef Nadarkhani’s family has increased and his son has not been registered to go to school </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='23413'> Yousef Nadarkhani was arrested. According to Article 18, security officers struck his son, Daniel Nadarkhani, with a shocker as he entered the house, then beat himself up, inviting them to calm down, and attacked him with an electric shocker. Two days later, Mohammad Reza Omidi and Zaman Fadaei were arrested, and the next day, Mohammad Ali Mosayebzadeh was arrested. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26797'> HRANA reported that schools have refused to enroll their children in the new school year. Yousef Nadarkhani went on a hunger strike to protest. After a while, he ended his hunger strike with the promise of the authorities to enroll his children. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30022'> <reference source='https://articleeighteen.com/news/5760/'> According to Article 18, Yousef Nadarkhani and Zaman Fadai are still imprisoned. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='20462'> The appeals court reduced his sentence to six years in prison. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='38804'> <reference source='https://articleeighteen.com/fa/news/11234/'> Article 18 reported that at least four Christian converts, including Yousef Nadarkhani, were infected with coronavirus in Section Eight of Evin Prison. These prisoners are denied access to medical care. Yousef Nadarkhani came on leave sometime later. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='38985'> <reference source='https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-calls-permanent-release-iranian-pastor-youcef-nadarkhani'> The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)issued a statement welcoming the release of jailed Pastor Yusuf Nadarkhani and called for his full release. The commission's chairman, Nidin Minza, called on Iran to release him and other prisoners imprisoned for their religious beliefs. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='48331'> <reference source='http://rlu.ru/3dIlj'> He was released. On February 5th, 2023, the Islamic Republic's Judiciary issued a memo that announced the beginning of the process of releasing some of the protesters arrested during the 2022 national uprising. According to the judiciary's Mizan website, and latest comments made by the spokesperson for the judiciary, this "pardon" is in honor of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and contingent on the prisoners expressing regret; The pardon is not extended to cases with charges such as "connection to dissident groups", and "destruction of public property". However, many of the released prisoners have posted videos and notes saying they never requested a pardon and never expressed regret. There are even videos of female activists taking off their hijab and chanting against the Islamic Republic in front of the prison moments after their release. The release of prisoners being called a pardon has caused massive reaction online and some activists on social media and human rights organizations consider it a PR stunt to repair some of the damage to Ali Khamenei's image. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>