TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– A detained pastor of a major network of Christian house churches in Iran will be executed by hanging for “apostasy”, or abandoning Islam, according to translated court documents seen by Worthy News Wednesday, November 24.
The 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan said Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani had proved his “apostasy” by “organizing evangelistic meetings and inviting others to Christianity, establishing a house church, baptizing people, expressing his faith to others and, denying Islamic values.”
Nadarkhani is “an apostate [and] will be executed by being hung…Somehow his soul is taken from him,” the court wrote.
The written verdict was “officially officially handed out” Tuesday, November 23, said a source of Nadarkhani’s evangelical Church of Iran network speaking on condition of anonymity.
Lawyers Naser Sarbazi from Tehran and Abbas Salmanpour from Gilan’s capital Rasht, who already learned about the verdict earlier this month, are appealing the sentence, Worthy News learned.
