Iranian Pastor Receives Trial in Islamic Court

Iranian Christian, Hamid Pourmand will be charged in an Islamic Iranian court (sharia) within nine days. The exact date however, has not yet been made known. Pourmand, now 47, was arrested on 9th September of last year and spent several months in solitary confinement. He will appear before the Islamic court between 11th April and 14th April to face charges of apostasy from Islam and proselytising Muslims to the Christian belief. These two charges are, in Iran, serious enough for a possible death sentence.

Conversion of a Muslim to a non-Muslim religion is considered apostasy under Iranian law and is punishable by the death penalty, although it is unclear whether this punishment has been enforced in recent years. Similarly, non-Muslims may not proselytise Muslims without putting their own lives at risk. Evangelical church leaders are subjected to pressure from authorities to sign pledges stating that they will not evangelise Muslims or allow Muslims to attend church services.

Right now religious minorities such as Baha'is, Jews, Christians, Mandaeans, and Zoroastrians constitute less than 1 percent of the population combined, according to the International Religious Freedom Report 2004 from the U.S Department of State. The Government of Iran vigilantly enforces its prohibition on proselytising activities by evangelical Christians by closing their churches and arresting Christian converts. Members of evangelical congregations have been required to carry membership cards, photocopies of which must be provided to the authorities.

Worshippers are subjected to identity checks by authorities posted outside congregation centres. The Government has restricted meetings for evangelical services to Sundays, and church officials have been ordered to inform the Ministry of Information and Islamic Guidance before admitting new members to their congregations.

On 16th February, Pourmand was found guilty by a military court because he withheld information regarding his Christian background from his superiors, and he received a three-year sentenced for this. The Islamic regime in Iran doesn’t allow a non-Muslim citizen to serve as a military officer, since the non-Muslim would then have authority over Muslim soldiers.

Because of the sentence, Pourmand was automatically discharged from the army, which led to his regular income being cut off and his nearly 20 years of military pension being eliminated. His wife and his two children were told to leave their home in military lodgings immediately. Pourmand himself was transferred to a group prison at Tehran’s maximum-security Evin Prison after the sentence given by the military court.

The European Union (EU) lodged a formal protest with Iranian authorities last November over the arrests of Christians - and in particular Christian pastors - as an "infringement of the freedom of religion or belief."