Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Church leader, could be executed imminently after refusing an order by the Supreme Court of Iran to recant his faith. This demonstrates the Iranian regime's continued unwillingness to abide by its constitutional and international obligations to respect religious freedom. I pay tribute to the courage shown by Pastor Nadarkhani who has no case to answer and call on the Iranian authorities to overturn his sentence. Amnesty International designated Nadarkhani a prisoner of conscience and urged his immediate release, stating, "It is shocking that the Iranian authorities would even consider killing a man simply for exercising his right to choose a religion other than Islam." Statements of the Iranian government On 1 October 2011 the Iran state media reported that Nadarkhani is facing the death sentence for rape and extortion, not for apostasy and refusing to renounce his religion, as his lawyer, human rights groups and Western news media have reported. They also reported that they had not signed his execution order. Nadarkhani's lawyer said that he believed that Nadarkhani would not be executed. According to the government Fars News Agency in a 30 September story, Gholamali Rezvani, the Gilan Provincial Political/Security Deputy Governor, stated: Youcef Nadarkhani has security crimes and he had set up a house of corruption. ... Nobody is executed in our country for choosing a religion, but he has committed security crimes. He also accused Zionist media for spreading propaganda. In reply, Nadarkhani's lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: If he is under trial in another court on other charges, I am not aware. But we only defended him against the death sentence in the case of his charge of apostasy. The charge the court staff announced that I defended during several different court sessions was apostasy and no other charge. In a ruling from the Iranian Supreme Court, translated into English by the Confederation of Iranian Students, Nadarkhani was sentenced to execution by hanging for, "turning his back on Islam" and "converting Muslims to Christianity." The ruling also alleges that he also participated in Christian worship by holding home church services and baptising himself and others, effectively breaking Islamic Law. There is no mention in the ruling of rape or extortion allegations. Release In early September 2012, Nadarkhani was acquitted of apostasy, sparing him the death penalty. However, he was found guilty of evangelism,