Yousef Nadarkhani | Iran

Yousef Nadarkhani and three of his church members, Saheb (Zaman) Fadee, Mohammad Ali (Yasser) Mosayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi, are serving 10-year prison sentences on charges of “acting against national security” and “promoting Zionist Christianity”. The men are all members of the Church of Iran.

Yousef, 45, had spent nearly three years in prison after being sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010. He was acquitted in September 2012.

The believers, along with Yousef’s wife, Fatemeh Pasandideh, were arrested on Friday, May 13, 2016. Yousef and Fatemeh were released on bail the same day, while Saheb, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Reza were released on bail two weeks later. The four men were sentenced in July 2017 and began their sentences a year later in July 2018, after violent arrests at their homes. Fatemeh was reportedly told she would be arrested if she left Gilan Province. Saheb, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Reza were also sentenced to 80 lashes each for drinking wine during Communion.

Yousef became a Christian at age 19. His wife is also a Christian convert from Islam, and the couple have been fighting for more than 10 years for the rights of their two boys to be recognized as Christians. For the past several years the boys have been denied certificates showing they completed their studies, because they refused to take Islamic classes.

Updates

Youcef Nadarkhani Permitted Home Visit

by VOM NZ |

On April 15, 2022 Youcef Nadarkhani was given a week’s furlough, on bail of 300 million tomans, (around $11,500), which was later extended by a further seven days to spend time in Rasht, with his wife Tina and sons Danial and Youeil. This was his first visit home in nearly four years. For years Youcef had declined any opportunity for furlough, until all his fellow Christian prisoners of conscience had themselves received such opportunity.

During his incarceration, Youcef’s two sons were denied education which prompted him to go on a three-week hunger strike. Youcef has also suffered covid symptoms in prison due to an outbreak of covid in the prison. There is no information on whether he continues to suffer fatigue from that, only that he and three other Christian prisoners were affected by it.

Youcef returned to prison on April 29th, 2022.