Freedom Now welcomes reports that Iran released Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani from prison on February 26 after nearly five years in detention. Nadarkhani was arrested in May 2016 and initially sentenced to 10 years in prison for national security-related charges. He was released as part of a national amnesty issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to commemorate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“We are grateful that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been released and reunited with his family,” said Freedom Now Program Director Karl Horberg. “He was wrongfully detained for peacefully practicing his faith, a tragedy that occurs too often in Iran. We call on the government to quash Pastor Nadarkahni’s politically-motivated conviction, guarantee that he receive reparations for the time spent in wrongful detention, and ensure that he faces no further harassment for exercising his internationally protected rights.”
Though not religious as a child, Pastor Nadarkhani converted to Christianity at age 19, becoming a member of the Only Jesus Church. He now belongs to the Protestant evangelical Church of Iran and served as a pastor of a 400-member house church.
Through much of his life, Pastor Nadarkhani has been the target of religious discrimination, for which he has been arrested, tried, and imprisoned on at least three occasions since 2006. In 2010, he was sentenced to death by hanging for the crime of apostasy for converting to Christianity after adulthood. He was acquitted of the crime and released in 2012 due to international pressure.
Pastor Nadarkhani’s most recent arrested occurred in May 2016 during a government raid on a private Christian ceremony. In July 2017, he was found guilty of “acting against national security” by “promoting Zionist Christianity.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and an additional two-year sentence in external exile in southeast Iran.
Pastor Nadarkhani began serving his sentence on July 22, 2018 after police staged a raid on his home, physically attacking him and his son. He was detained in the notorious Evin Prison. On October 5, 2019, Pastor Nadarkhani was granted a new trial scheduled to begin on May 11, 2020. The new trial was ordered after the judge from the initial trial was removed from his position on charges of corruption. In June 2020, his sentence was reduced to six years.
Freedom Now and Dechert LLP filed a petition in April 2020 with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Pastor Nadarkhani. In February 2021, the Working Group determined that Pastor Nadarkhani’s detention was a violation of international law.