Capital Charges
On Tuesday, October 7, 2014 2:43 AM, "ANS@Assist-Ministries.com" <ANS@Assist-Ministries.com> wrote:
| ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com Monday, October 6, 2014 Capital Charges Faced by Three Christians in Iran Dropped at Court Hearing By Jeremy Reynalds Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service SURREY, ENGLAND (ANS) -- A human rights group says it has learned that Pastors Matthias Haghnejad, Behnam Irani and Deacon Silas Rabbani from the Church of Iran denomination, who were facing capital charges that now appear to have been dropped, were tried for other alleged offences at the 1st Branch of the Revolutionary Tribunal in Karaj on Sept. 30. According to a news release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Moluk Ruhani, Zainab Akbari and Hamidreza Borhani, three Christians who were amongst a group of six arrested in Isfahan in early September, have been released. Pastor Haghnejad, Pastor Irani and Deacon Rabbani, who are being held separately in Ghezal Hesar Prison, had recently been charged with Mofsed-e-filarz, or spreading corruption on earth, a vague charge that carries a death sentence. Additionally the two pastors had been charged with Moharebeh, enmity against God, which can also carry the death penalty, while Behnam Irani had received 15 other charges. However, CSW said sources state that the Moharebeh and Mofsed-e-filarz charges appear to have been dropped, and all three were tried for "action against national security" and "creating a network to overthrow the System." The men now await a verdict from Judge Asel Al-Hosseyn, who tried their cases. CSW said the dropping of the capital charges against the three Chri stians comes a week after a Muslim man, Mohsen Amir-Aslani, 37, was executed for Mofsed-e-filarz and heresy after describing the biblical story of Jonah as an allegory. According to local sources, the Head of the Judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, disregarded a Supreme Court decision to release him after the trial judge appealed for the death penalty to be carried out. While a high-ranking judge has claimed Amir-Aslani was executed for rape, CSW said authorities have yet to produce substantive evidence to support this allegation. Elsewhere, three of six Christians arrested in Isfahan in early Sept. have been released. Moluk Ruhani, Zainab Akbari and Hamidreza Borhani were released in late Sept., while Mohammed Taslimi and Parsa Dadkhah remain incarcerated. The whereabouts of Moluk Ruhani's sister, Sepideh Morshedi, is unknown. CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in the release, "While we applaud the dropping of the capital charges leveled against Pastors Haghnejad and Irani, and Deacon Rabban i, it is completely unacceptable that they have faced trial once again on unwarranted charges and that their unjust prison terms may be extended even further. "Moreover it is difficult to conceive of how imprisoned men from a severely repressed community could pose a danger to such a powerful system." He added, "We also express our deepest condolences to the family of Mr. Amir-Aslani, whose execution is emblematic of the arbitrary nature of the Iranian judicial system and the flagrant disregard of the nation's highest judicial authority for the rule of law and justice." Christian Solidarity Worldwide works for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice. For further information, visit www.csw.org.uk.
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