Youcef Nadarkhani with wife Fatemah Pasindedah and sons Daniel & Yoel, c. 2009
After having run through the Iranian appeals process, Youcef Nadarkhani has received a final sentence of death from the 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the Province of Gilan, according to reports that our State Department is taking very seriously. The original execution order, handed down in September, 2010, mandated that:
. . . the above-mentioned person as an apostate will be executed by being hanged until somehow his soul is taken from him.
Though the trial court found no evidence that Nadarkhani had ever practiced Islam, he has been sentenced to death for being an apostate–that is, for renouncing Islam (can you really renounce a faith you never practiced?) and converting to Christianity.
