Youcef Nadarkhani

Youcef Nadarkhani (born 1977) is an Iranian Christian pastor who was sentenced to death (but later acquitted) in Tehran as being a Christian having been born into Islam.

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iranian Christians were recognized as a "protected religious minority" and according to the Constitution of Iran possess freedom of religion and even have a Member of Parliament (MP) representing them.

However, evangelism and missionary work and converting Muslims to Christianity are prohibited by law.

Additionally, Christians and other minority religions are often subject to state-sanctioned discrimination.

The last known execution for this crime was in 1990.

However, despite there being no official civil law of apostasy, judges may still convict a defendant of that crime if they rule based on religion fatwas.

As a result, a few people have been convicted of it, but there have been no known executions.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, there is officially no crime known as apostasy in the penal code (although there was a law about it prior to 1994).

Nadarkhani was first taken into custody in December 2006, on the charges of apostasy from Islam and evangelism to Muslims.

He was released two weeks later, without being charged.

The charges against Nadarkhani were later changed to apostasy and evangelism, the same charges he was initially arrested under in 2006.

In 2009, Nadarkhani discovered a recent change in Iranian educational policy that required all students, including his children, to take a course in Quran study in school.

After he heard about this change, he went to the school and protested, based on the fact that the Iranian constitution guarantees the freedom to practice religion.

His protest was reported to the police, who arrested him and brought him before a court on 12 October 2009, on charges of protesting.

Initial reports, including a 2010 brief from the Iranian Supreme court, stated that the sentence on Nadarkhani (first name also spelled Yousef, Youssef, or Yousof; last name also spelled Nadar-Khani or Nadar Khani) was based on the crime of apostasy, renouncing his Islamic faith.

Government officials later claimed that the sentence was instead based on alleged violent crimes, specifically rape and extortion; however, no formal charges or evidence of violent crimes have been presented in court.

According to Amnesty International and Nadarkhani's legal team, the Iranian government had offered leniency if he were to recant his Christianity.

On 18 June 2010 Nadarkhani's wife was arrested and charged with apostasy.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment, and placed in prison in Lakan, Iran, which is just south of their hometown of Rasht.

She was released in October 2010., after serving four months in prison.

On 21–22 September 2010, Nadarkhani appeared before the 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan and received a death sentence for the charge of apostasy.

Nadarkhani's lawyer, Nasser Sarbaz, claims there were numerous procedural errors during Nadarkhani's trial.

After conviction, Nadarkhani was transferred to a prison for political prisoners, and denied all access to his family and attorney.

The delivery of Nadarkhani's written verdict was delayed by Iran's security officials.

Iranian officials seemed reluctant to execute Nadarkhani, and kept delaying his sentence.

They also gave him several opportunities to convert back to Islam.

On 13 November 2010, the verdict for the trial of 21–22 September was finally delivered in writing, indicating that Nadarkhani would be executed by hanging.

In 2011 a man was executed in Ahvaz, Iran for blasphemy and "spreading corruption on the earth" (Mofsed-Fel-Arz) when he claimed that he was God, and attracting a "following" around himself.

According to the fatwas, for a man, if convicted, the punishment is death by hanging--for a woman, it is life imprisonment.

The apostate should be given three chances to repent and convert back to Islam.

Nadarkhani is from Rasht, Gilan Province, in Iran.

He originally had no known religion, however, Nadarkhani said that he converted to Christianity as a child having never practiced Islam.

However, court documents claim that he converted at age 19.

Prior to his arrest, he was the pastor of a network of Christian house churches.

He is a member of the Protestant evangelical Church of Iran.

He is married to Fatemeh Pasandideh, and they have two sons, ages 9 and 7 (in 2011).

His lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah stated that an appeals court upheld his sentence after he refused to renounce his Christian faith and convert to Islam In early September 2012, Nadarkhani was acquitted of apostasy, but found guilty of evangelizing Muslims, though he was immediately released as having served prison time.

However, he was taken back into custody on Christmas Day 2012 and then released shortly afterward on 7 January 2013.

Nadarkhani was again arrested and beaten on 22 July 2018.

He was released in February 2023, but faced new charges in July 2023.