Die International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) macht in einer Pressemitteilung zusammen mit der Iranian League for Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) auf die dramatische Zunahme von Hinrichtungen und Todesstrafen im Iran aufmerksam.
At least one Christian pastor, Yousef Nadarkhani, has been sentenced to death in Rasht on charges of apostasy at the end of September. Another imprisoned pastor, Behrouz Sadeq Khanjani, is likely to receive a similar sentence in Shiraz. The increasing dangers and threats against newly converted Christians in Iran came to light on 4th January when the governor-general of Tehran Province, Morteza Tamaddon, described the ‘Evangelical proselytising Christians as a deviate and corrupt tendency’ and reported that ‘their leaders had been arrested in the Tehran province and more will be arrested in future.’ Unconfirmed reports indicated that up to 60 Christians had been detained on Christmas Eve, including Priest Leonard Keshishian in Isfahan.