News

Thank you, Rea, and others

for replying. farsinet, as I'm sure you noticed, is also a Christian source (Iranian Christian), but if you look at their list of persecuted Iranians (and one Turkish) that there doesn't seem to be gross exaggeration. They are not exactly alleging bi-monthly mass executions.

//www.farsinet.com/persecuted/

However their home page item on the pastor comes from none other than worthy news, whose 'about us' I checked and is under construction! (revision?).

There is a wiki link to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF, a US Congress created Commission), brought up by IF in the wiki article on the pastor posted by Yolanda. They are apparently a whole can of worms (and one which Sargord might have some legitimate critique of if he felt this discussion were 'worthy' of anything but snyde snippets while he campaigns against the death penalty in California). Nevertheless one assumes they verified the pastor's existence.

It is not necessarily true that Iranians in Iran know more about what is going on inside than those outside, except within limited circles, although that's changed a bit since the uprising.  One time a few months before it, I found out information about labor purges that was pretty much only in the international labor pressand on obscure workers' sites within Iran which were the sources. I got in touch with one of themabout a couple of cases. At AT the same time there were articles about a couple of strikes from other sourceswhich I asked them about and they hadn't heard about them and were unable to verify the reports. As it turned out I'm almost positive they were true. And so it goes.

Hopefully someone with the capability could do a search in on the pastor in Persian, but it would not necessarily lead to much and wouldn't mean it wasn't true. I ask you what an anti-Christian persecution group would hope to gain by fabricating the death sentence of a pastor, thus flaming the ire of IRI.

And I can't for the life of me (no pun intended) imagine why anyone would concoct a wife who got convicted and then acquitted, why bother? What is this, an Agatha Christie novel? So unless Sargord jumps into the fray to discuss this I consider your (as in you, Sargord)'s passionate anti-capital punishment stance to be hypocritical.

I mean, c'mon, Sargord, why don't you contact these people and ask them if it's true at least before laughing?:

The 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan

This matter matters.

USCIRF and Pastor Nadarkhani

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF, a
US Congress created Commission) had recently urged Obama to demand
release of pastor Nadarkhani (who is facing Execution by IRI),  for
Apostasy

//www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases/343...

I hope Pastor Nadarkhani and all the other innocent Iranians who are on
death row of barbaric IRI regime for bogus charges, are released and can
return to their families

......

It is a super sad story....'cause he got 2 small kids: 6 year old and 8 year old sons! Another thing is that human lives are so cheap over there......they can casually sentence people to die without any written document........absolutely no respect for human lives! My heart goes out to his whole family!

DelilahNY

Don't know much about the first site, it's Iranian.

The second one is French, Christian though. So I'd take it with a grain of salt.

//www.farsinet.com/dibaj/pastor_youcef_nadarkhani.html

//www.eglisediran.org/?cat=1

Don't know what to make of it myself. The only people who can tell what's really going on are Iranians in Iran. But there aren't any of them on this site, hélas.

Sargord, Rea

Sargord, I would appreciate an answer from you. The details on the case given seem far too particular to be fabricated and looking over the other items on the worthy news homepage, those don't seem to be fabrications either. I don't really understand why I can't find news of this outside of the Christian press, but Rea said she did and I would appreciate it if she would provide links (the wiki link is contestable, anyone can write in wiki...). Sargord, do you or do you not believe this is a pure fabrication and if you do, did you bother doing any googling about worthy news or the pastor himself before making glib remarks? You are a walking contradiction. You post a blog passionately endorsing a California political candidate for their anti-death penalty stance and then you make flippant comments about this case without even doing any legwork, it seems, and then you do not answer a simple question. I want to know if you think this case is fabricated, and on what grounds. Just sneering isn't grounds enough.

We want to know.

IRANIAN WHO DON'T KNOW IRANIAN CHRISTIANS

I am quite fed up with remarks calling ARMENIAN AND ASSYRIAN IRANIAN non Iranian Christian, when do you Muslim Iranian want to learn about your own people and country and history. Assyrian being living in Iran from last 6780 years which several thousand years prior to Persians and they have been Christian from last 2000 years and those Persian converted to Christianity from late 1880 which mostly were in Shiraz. ARMENIAN IRANIAN being living in Iran from last 6000 years before Persian and some of you have to understand that Iranian Armenian are not only Armenian in ISFAHAN you must educate yourself and you must know that Armenian also lived for thousands of years in NORTH WEST OF IRAN AND SAME IS ASSYRIAN WHO LIVED BEFORE ARMENIAN IN NORTH WEST of the country. This amazing how some of you are living in free world and do not understand the tolerance and everything is politic and everything as per SARGOD goes to Jews and Jews cannot escape from our stupid short comings , if the nation is evolved how do expect to be free and how do you lay the democracy. we deserve what we get because we are not evolve yet, those of us who lived next to Assyrian and Armenian should cherish and thank them because they were our neighbour and they taught us humanity and kindness, I personally and my family have learned how to be tolerant and how to be good human.CONVERTING FROM CHRITIANITY TO ISLAM IS OK BUT OTHERWAY AROUD IS PUNSHIMENT WITH HANGINING.Over years and years Christian being victim of being only Christian and nobody even calls them by their nationality and race in IRAN and why is that, THEY are proud Iranian and proud ASSYRIAN and ARMENIAN who are more Iranian than I and you Muslim Iranian could be, they are honest and loyal and they don't attack you and they don’t lie to you and they don't stab you from back, these two nations being massacred by Muslims in IRAN, IRAQ, TURKEY, SYRIA, EYGEPT, IN HOLE MIDDLE EAST. ISLAM IS DEEP TROUBLEIf Iranian were free today, thousands and thousands every day will convert to ZORASTIANISIM OR CHRISTIANITY and I will stay non believer and I would not bow to manmade god and will not bow to fist or the 7th century beliefs.

Sargord P.

Instead of attacking others, why not provide something of substance.

E.g. why not try and convince us, non Iranians, that this is not just anti IRI propaganda. 

Not that we matter much on IC, but in the final analysis we do. We vote and we shape, one way or another, public opinion in our respective countries.

How about that for a change ?

FYI back at you

Yeah, Darius. That's like supporting a claim by  an extremist group of US military torture against one of its members using archive photos of Abu Ghraib.

You're going to have to do better than that.

PS. personally, I trust IRI to be more intelligent

All powerful apparatus such as IRI has nothing to fear from an impoverished evangelical pastor with 2 children and wife too feed. So, he'll be out of prison soon.

Furthermore, the Pope may take up Ahmadinejad on his word. Did he not recently send a soliciting letter to Vatican ?

In conclusion, I'd worry more about journalists, bloggers and human rights activists rather than about Christian pastors. For they've got Vatican to take care of them.

FYI/VIDEO: Vendetta Against Anglican Bishop in Iran (1980)

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE: Vendetta Against Anglican Bishop in Iran (1980)

Bishop Daghani Tafti an Iranian Anglican Bishop whose son was assassinated speaks about the arrest of secretary Jean Waddell. (circa 1980) 
Anglican Bishop in Iran from 1961 to 1990 but was obliged to spend the last 10 years of his episcopate in exile, following the 1979 revolution and an attempt on his life in November of that year.

In the course of the attack, in which several shots narrowly missed their target, his wife, Margaret, was wounded in the hand; and in May of the following year his only son, 24-year-old Bahram, was murdered, apparently by government agents.   

"Ah, Christian site, not to be trusted"

Was my first reaction. However, the story has been reported on other sites as well. 

@comrade: find your story heartbreaking. But not because of the good father. Because of your mother and the assurance she needed but didn't get.

None should ever be deprived of solace in their last moments.

Sargord, it's true that I can't seem to find neither hide nor

hair of this fellow in anything but Christian news sources and this one 

......

Sorry, Comrade,

    There are Iranian Armenian Christians in Iran....I ran into Iranian Armenians in Glendale.....they have a huge church there......every Sunday traffic jam........I cound not think of who are the non-Iranian pastors in Iran......wow, Europeans...just hope they are ok. As you know, IRI can call anyone spies........throw anyone into jail.........Thank you for sharing!

Wow! Another avatar! :O)

"Armenian pastors?"

Since when have our Armenians become non-Iranian? I grew up amongst minorities. The pastor was European, Yolanda.

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

.....

So there are non-Iranian pastors in Iran? Armenian pastors? IRI gives other religions hard time: Sufis, Bahais, now Christians.......

Forgive me, Father!

In the late 80's I had to make a clandestine trip to my beloved homeland to be near my dying mother, who happened to be in the midst of a conversion to Christianity. To this day I cannot overcome my sense of guilt for asking the non-Iranian(underground) pastor to no longer go to her house. He did not ask for a reason, and I didn't elaborate on security issues. I know that I deprived her of what she needed the most in her last breath: Assurance of a peaceful journey.

I wish there was something I could do for Pastor NaderKhani.

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

.......

Hi! SP,

    Here is the news from non-Zionist source:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youcef_Nadarkhani

 I hope you are satisfied!

It is amazing you pledge allegiance to IRI, you are not even from there......

.....

Petition link:

//www.gopetition.com/petition/40651.html

signed!

"Worthy News." Now there's a

"Worthy News." Now there's a news service I ain't never heard of. It's Evangelical Christian-Zionist, no doubt.

Well for all you eager anti-Iran rubberneckers, you simply can't get enough of this kind of thing, can you. 

Thanks Yolanda

Thanks Yolanda, these sensless orders for executions wil not end as long as IRI is in power. The word has to spread to expose this barbaric regeme every time they kill an innocent person for thier imposed cult.

.......

Sorry to hear the sad news......I have sent the news to Keith Olbermann and Whitehouse.......hopefully there is a campaign being launched to save this guy's life...

Thank you for spreading the word!