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| Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani [PHOTO: ACLJ] |
New York: American Jewish Committee (AJC) has called for immediate release of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Nadarkhani, accused of apostasy, already has spent more than 1,000 days in prison in Rasht.
"The Iranian regime has moved up the Nadarkhani case, bringing it to the forefront just as the Non-Alignment Movement summit opens in Tehran," said Felice Gaer, director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. "UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of state attending the conference should emphatically speak out in support of Pastor Nadarkhani's freedom and dropping all charges."
Sentenced to death for apostasy in November 2010, Nadarkhani reportedly is awaiting an opinion from Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei related to a February 2012 renewal of an execution order. He was arrested in October 2009 for allegedly questioning the compulsory Islamic education of his children and making a portion of his house a Church.
In a news release, AJC claimed that Iranian officials have offered to "reduce or reverse Nadarkhani's sentence if he would disavow his faith, but he understandably has refused."
"The severe treatment of Pastor Nadarkhani contravenes Iran's own Constitution and its international obligations set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," said Gaer.
Notanly, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have called for Nadarkhani's release, and the U.S. House of Representatives also demanded his freedom in a bipartisan resolution that was adopted overwhelmingly in March.
According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, religious freedom in Iran has regressed to a point not seen since the early days of the Iranian revolution 33 years ago.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran has also expressed deep concern over Iran's “violation of human rights.”