Update March 2, 2023
Middle East Concern has reported that Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was released on February 26th, 2023 as part of a general pardon approved by the country’s supreme leader.
Update June 23, 2020
On June 22, 2020, Yousef Nadarkhani's prison sentence was reduced to six years. Further areas for appeal are also being explored.
Prisoner Details
Yousef Nadarkhani and three of his church members, Saheb (Zaman) Fadaee, 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.
Petition Officials
Masoud Pezeshkian
President
Mailing Address
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Palestine Avenue, Pasteur St., Pasteur Sq.
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Other Contact Information
Telephone: +98(21)64451
Fax: 98 21 649 5880
Saeed Iravani
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Email Address
iran@un.intMailing Address
622 Third Avenue
34th Floor
New York, NY
10017
Other Contact Information
Telephone: 212-687-2020
Fax: 212-867-7086
Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Email Address
contact@leader.irMailing Address
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Soahada Street
Qom, Iran
Other Contact Information
Fax: + 98 251 7 774 2228