Tag: Exile

Iranian pastor taken to Evin Prison after violent raid on home

July 24, 2018 Iran Church of Iran, Evin Prison, Exile, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been taken to Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran, after a violent raid on his home in the northern city of Rasht on Sunday (22 July). The pastor was sentenced to ten years in prison in July of last year, alongside three members of his congregation, and had . . . Read More

Vietnamese Christian rights defender exiled to Germany after release

June 11, 2018 Vietnam Exile, Hanoi, Human rights, Nguyễn Trung Tôn, Nguyen Van Dai, Vietnam

Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, 48, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in April. (Photo: -/AFP/Getty Images)

Vietnam has released a Christian human rights lawyer and his assistant – both of whom were given long prison sentences in April – and sent them to Germany. No statement was issued by the government on the release of Nguyen Van Dai, 48, and his assistant, Le Thu Ha, on . . . Read More

Four Iranian Christians set to begin ten-year prison sentences

June 6, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, House churches, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Religious freedom, Saheb Fadaie, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

From left: Saheb Fadaie, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi.

The four Iranian Christians who saw their ten-year prison sentences upheld by an appeal court earlier this month are expecting to have to report to prison any day now. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, and fellow Church of Iran members Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi could receive a call . . . Read More

Iranian Christians’ jail terms ‘increasing’

May 3, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Prisons, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

An appeal court in Iran has upheld the ten-year prison sentences handed down to four Christians for “promoting Zionist Christianity” and running house churches. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi received notification from the court through their lawyer yesterday (2 May), said Middle East Concern. . . . Read More

Jailed Christian on hunger strike to protest against treatment of Iranian converts

July 21, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Bahram Nasibov, Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Eldar Gurbanov, Exile, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Karaj, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yusif Farhadov

Another imprisoned Iranian Christian has begun a hunger strike to protest against the recent rash of sentences against Christians in Iran. Ebrahim Firouzi, 30, who has five years left of his own sentence for “acting against national security”, followed fellow convert to Christianity Amin Afshar-Naderi in writing a statement criticising . . . Read More

Rash of sentences ‘shows government’s fear of growth of Christianity in Iran’

July 12, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Exile, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Four more Christians received lengthy jail sentences in Iran last week, it has emerged, taking the total number sentenced in the last month to 12. Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie, Mohammad Reza Omidi and Youcef Nadarkhani were each sentenced to ten years in prison. Omidi and Nadarkhani – a pastor who . . . Read More

Sudanese woman who escaped 100 lashes for adultery and death for apostasy, three years on

June 23, 2017 Sudan Apostasy, Europe, Exile, Islamic extremism, Mariam Ibrahim, Sharia, Sudanese Church of Christ

(Full transcript of video at bottom.) Three years ago today, a young Sudanese mother was freed from prison after narrowly escaping being hanged, first having been lashed 100 times for adultery. The delay on carrying out Mariam Ibrahim’s double sentence was due only to the fact that she was heavily . . . Read More

Mexican Christian starts new life away from village where he was beaten, imprisoned and eventually forced to leave

March 17, 2017 Exile, Lauro Pérez Núñez, Mexico City, Oaxaca

After facing beatings, imprisonment and eventually exile from his home village, Lauro Pérez Núñez and his family are starting a brand new life. He and his wife Amalia, converts to evangelical Christianity, were first ordered to leave La Chachalaca, in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, in 2015, together with their four children. . . . Read More

Iranian pastor released after six years in prison

October 18, 2016 Iran Behnam Irani, Church of Iran, Exile, Iran

An Iranian pastor has been released from prison after serving six years for “acting against national security”. Behnam Irani, from the self-styled “Church of Iran”, was originally given a five-year suspended sentence in 2008. He was re-arrested in 2010 during a service at a “house church” and in 2011 he . . . Read More

Azerbaijan registers Bible Society after 20 years, but will it be able to print Bibles?

October 3, 2016 Azerbaijan Central Asia, Exile, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Rasim Khalilov (left), Chairman of the Bible Committee, and Pastor Elchin Pashaev, one of the founders of the new Bible Society, holding the certificate of registration.United Bible Societies The recent registration of a Bible Society in Azerbaijan, after a 20-year fight, has brought fresh optimism to the country’s minority . . . Read More

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