Search

Login

Register

Be

Heard

Project

Donate

>

Petition

AUG // 2018

Five years ago, we celebrated a major victory when due to the diligent legal advocacy work of the ACLJ and the unwavering support and prayers of ACLJ members, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani – sentenced to die in Iran for “apostasy” – was set free.

Unfortunately for Pastor Youcef and his family, Iran has once again targeted him for his Christian faith. Only July 22, 2018, He was arrested and brutally beaten in his own home, and his young son was tasered by Iranian authorities.

Sources report that plain clothes Iranian agents raided Pastor Youcef’s home on Sunday, July 22 and then proceeded to attack him before arresting him.

Pastor Youcef, a Christian born and living in Iran, has been arrested and imprisoned numerous times, stemming from his Christian faith.

Pastor Youcef was convicted and sentenced to execution by hanging for converting to Christianity. The ACLJ worked for years to bring Pastor Youcef’s plight to the international spotlight to gain his freedom while he sat on death row.

After three years, Pastor Youcef was finally released as a direct result of supporters all across the world standing up and demanding his freedom.

Two years ago, sources reported Iran’s Intelligence Ministry’s forces raided 10 house churches, including one where Pastor Youcef and his wife and three others were attending a Christian church service. They were all released on bail.

Now Pastor Youcef’s situation has taken a dire turn.

After the recent brutal home raid where he was attacked and arrested, Pastor Youcef has been imprisoned again, far away from his family.

Pastor Youcef has been sentenced to ten years in Iran’s remote Evin prison – often referred to as a “torture factory” – where Christians and opponents of the current corrupt Iranian regime are kept.

However, Pastor Youcef was also sentenced to an additional two years of so-called “internal exile.” All for the supposed crime of “promoting Zionist Christianity.”

The innocent pastor is now incarcerated in the prison’s windowless quarantine ward – notorious for overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, oppressive heat, and even insect infestations.

The inhospitable ward is normally reserved as an additional punishment. This forbidding modern-day dungeon will be Pastor Youcef’s home because he dared to live his Christian faith – unless we once again take action for him.

Iran’s actions violate multiple international human rights treaties they have agreed to in the past, as well as demonstrate a direct violation of its own constitution which claims to guarantee religious liberty for its citizens.

Pastor Youcef is an innocent man suffering in an abhorrent prison facility for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This atrocious religious persecution cannot be ignored.

Iran has demonstrated time and time again that it is a threat not only to Israel and to the United States, but to its own people. It is time for the rest of the world to step up and take action.

Iran will only listen when it feels the maximum pressure of the international community. This is a blatant miscarriage of justice. Pastor Youcef must be allowed to return to his family, and Iran’s violent persecution of Christians has to end.

We have fought for Pastor Youcef’s freedom before, and we are prepared to do so again on the international stage. He needs you too. Sign our petition demanding his freedom.

You can help save Youcef Nadarkhani