Foreign Secretary William Hague has added his voice to those condemning Iran’s refusal to rescind the death sentence of a church pastor.
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani been held in Rasht prison in northern Iran since last year after trying to officially register his church. The pastor was charged with apostasy and sentenced to death. He has refused to recant his faith in appeals hearings – a condition for his acquittal.
Mr Hague said, “I deplore reports that Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Church leader, could be executed imminently after refusing an order by the Supreme Court of Iran to recant his faith.
“This demonstrates the Iranian regime’s continued unwillingness to abide by its constitutional and international obligations to respect religious freedom.
“I pay tribute to the courage shown by Pastor Nadarkhani who has no case to answer and call on the Iranian authorities to overturn his sentence.”
The international group, Human Rights Watch also urged Iranian authorities to free and drop all charges against the pastor.
“Iran is one of the very few countries in the 21st century where authorities would drag an individual before a court of law and force him to choose between his faith and his life,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“Nadarkhani should not have to spend one more day in jail, let alone face execution.”
“Both international and Iranian law require Iranian officials to safeguard the equality and human rights of all Christians, regardless of whether they are historic communities such as the Armenians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, or Christian converts,” added Stork.