he may face "execution by hanging" after he was forced to appear before an Islamic court in Tehran on charges of "deserting Islam and proselytizing Muslims," a Christian news agency said Saturday, April 23.
47-year old Pourmand, who is married with two teenage sons, was in the last 10 days brought to court "every two or three days for hearings varying from one to two hours in length," Compass Direct reported, citing sources close to the case.
However faced with international and domestic pressure Iranian government officials have reportedly suggested that Iranian citizens "who had changed their religion before the 1979 Islamic revolution" would "not be prosecuted" by authorities.
Pourmand, of the Assemblies of God church, became a Christian over 25 years ago, but it is
unclear if the court agrees his conversion happened shortly before the Islamic revolution.
WIFE WORRIED
"His wife and family are very worried," a source close to the them told Compass Direct, which
investigates the plight of persecuted Christians. "Nobody knows what the court decision will be.
He is still refusing to deny Christ," the unidentified source was quoted as saying.
Pourmand and his wife Arlet, who is from Assyrian Christian background, have two teenage sons, Immanuel and David. A former colonel in the Iranian army, Pourmand was serving as a lay pastor in the Assemblies of God church in the southern port city of Bandar-i Bushehr when he was arrested by Iran’s feared secret police last September.
The pastor was allegedly kept for the next five months in strict isolation cells, most of the time in total darkness. "He was repeatedly shown execution blocks within the prison by his jailors, who told him he would be hung there soon if he did not recant his Christian faith and return to Islam," Compass Direct said.
PASTOR HANGED?
On at least one occasion, he was reportedly given paper and told to write out his last remarks. "Then we are going to take you out and hang you," the guards declared, according to Compass Direct.
In attempting to "wear down Pourmand emotionally and force him to deny his faith," his jailers lied to him repeatedly, claiming his wife and two sons were also under arrest and being mistreated because of him, said Compass Direct.
Iranian officials could not be reached for comment. Since his February conviction by a military tribunal, Pourmand has been imprisoned in a group cell at Tehran’s maximum-security Evin Prison with a number of well-known political dissidents. The military verdict that lead to his initial imprisonment and stripped him of his military rank and pension is on appeal before the Iranian Supreme Court.
ATTEMPTED SECRECY
Despite the attempted secrecy inside Iran over Pourmand’s imprisonment, news about his apostasy case has circulated widely since his military court conviction on February 16. The pastor was accused and convicted of “deceiving” the armed forces about his faith, although he had produced written evidence that his superiors were fully aware of his conversion to Christianity.
"Now almost all Iranians know about Pourmand’s case, because it is being reported on many Farsi radio stations and television networks, and over the internet," an Iranian Christian confirmed to Compass Direct. US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also distributed a BosNewsLife report on his case.
Human rights watchers say Iran’s Islamic government has used trumped-up spying charges in 1988 and 1990 as a pretext to jail, try and execute two other former Muslims for alleged "treason." Since then, another four Protestant church leaders from Muslim or Christian backgrounds are known to have been assassinated under "suspicious circumstances,", according to human rights groups.
DOZENS FLEE
Compass Direct said dozens more have fled the country to escape legal prosecution for apostasy or proselytizing. Dozens of evangelical Christians have reportedly been arrested this past year in ongoing police crackdowns in major cities, as well as in the provinces of northern Iran.
Although most of these believers were apparently released after several weeks of what church sources describe as "harsh mistreatment and interrogation," they reportedly remain under threat and police surveillance.
The Iranian government strictly forbids evangelical Christian activities and has closed down churches, banning Farsi editions of the Bible and arresting citizens caught worshipping in house-church fellowships, Compass Direct reported.
"FOREIGN RELIGIONS"
In addition top officials have reportedly warned the Iranian populace against a number of "foreign religions" targeting the country with illegal propaganda. Christianity, Sufism and Zoroastrianism were denounced as specific threats to Iran’s national security, Compass Direct said.
There are reports that most young people prefer to be Christians or Zoroastrians rather than following the Muslim religion of their parents and grandfathers. Analysts have linked the apparent church crackdown to fears within the government in Tehran to lose control over a growing movement of people fighting for more religious and political freedom in the strict Islamic nation.
(With reports from Iran, Compass Direct, Stefan J. Bos).
