“Imprisoned Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has gone on a hunger strike to protest the regime’s attempt to bar his children from completing their education because they refuse to study Islam and read the Quran…..The policy requires all students to take a course on the Quran.”
Nadarkhani’s suffering as an apostate highlights the lack of human rights for Christians and religious minorities in Shia Iran.
“Nadarkhani was first arrested in 2009 for protesting the same education policy that is penalizing his children today.” His case attracted international intention and drew outrage, leading to Iran fabricating charges against him, much like what is done in Pakistan against Christians who suffer persecution by means of trumped-up charges of blasphemy.
In 2011, when international protests mounted against “the possible execution of Youcef Naderkhani….Iran’s state-supported Fars News Agency claimed…that Youcef Naderkhani’s charges are ‘rape’ and ‘repeated extortion.’” The regime added further fake accusations of his “acting against national security.”
“Nardarkhani tried to ensure his children were recognized as Christians before he was sent back to prison in 2018 so they wouldn’t have to take Islamic studies. However, the matter has yet to be resolved.”
Nadarkhani’s life, like those of many other apostates, has been marked by suffering since his conversion to Christianity 10 years ago, and there is no end in sight. Meanwhile, Islamic states and Islamic supremacists force their “Islamophobia” canard upon the world, while the human rights of Christians and other minorities are trampled under the mantra “Islam is a religion of peace.”
According to Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in dozens of countries, Christians are prohibited from sharing their faith with non-Christians. Additionally, Muslims are not allowed to visit church services. Christians that do reach out to non-Christians run the risk of having their churches closed by authorities.
“Imprisoned Iranian pastor’s kids denied school certificates for refusing to study Islam,” by Samuel Smith, Christian Post, October 1, 2019:
Imprisoned Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has gone on a hunger strike to protest the regime’s attempt to bar his children from completing their education because they refuse to study Islam and read the Quran.
According to Article 18, an organization that promotes religious freedom and tolerance for Christians in Iran, Nardarkhani’s teenage children went back to school last week but were told they hadn’t completed the previous grades.
While two of his youngest children have been told they can’t come back to school because they have not received credit for completing the previous grades, 17-year-old Daniel has been accepted back as a “guest” in the 12th grade but still has not received a certificate telling him that he completed the previous grades.
Nadarkhani, a Muslim convert who pastored a house church in the Gilan Province, is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison in Tehran on charges of “acting against national security.”
He was arrested in May 2016 and charged with promoting “Zionist Christianity,” and violating the national alcohol prohibition through communion and acting against national security.
Nadarkhani was first arrested in 2009 for protesting the same education policy that is penalizing his children today. The policy requires all students to take a course on the Quran…..