Israel Matzav

Tolerance, Islamic style: UN says Iran executing Christians

A report to the UN 'human rights council' claims that Iran is executing 'enemies of Islam,' a term that is apparently meant to consist largely of believing Christians.

[Former Maldives foreign minister and current UN investigator Ahmed] Shaheed was delivering his first report to the UN’s 47- nation Human Rights Council on the rights situation in the country since being appointed last year. Tehran dismissed it as a “compilation of baseless allegations.”

“It is with great concern that I report the significant increase in the rate of executions in Iran from 200 in mid-September 2011 to over 600 executions by the end of the year,” Shaheed told the council.

By December 31, 421 executions had been announced and 249 secret ones had been reported to him by sources inside and outside the country.

Iran’s persecution of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who has been sentenced to death for creating a home-based church and questioning compulsory Islamic education for his children, surfaced in Shaheed’s statements.

In a report on the website of the Washington-based American Center for Law & Justice, Tiffany Barrans, the group’s international legal director, who is in Geneva, wrote while Shaheed did not mention the pastor’s case in his new report, he had urged Iran’s authorities to consider the release of “Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who has been sentenced to death for apostasy....”

Ben Cohen, who has written about Nadarkhani’s case in the US media, wrote in an email to The Jerusalem Post, “It’s certainly encouraging that there’s a growing international awareness of Pastor Nadarkhani’s case, as well as a growing consensus among democratic nations that his immediate release is essential.”

Cohen, who jump-started a media project on the plight of Christians in the Middle East, wrote, “The Iranian regime wants to prove that it can be responsive to outside concerns, they should heed these calls. Sadly, Tehran’s record up to now is hardly cause for confidence.”

They don't mention Jews, but I find it hard to believe that the situation of Jews in Iran today is a whole lot better. How's that 'engagement' going Barack? After three years, it sure has changed a lot, hasn't it?

Labels: Christians in Muslim countries, Iran

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:36 PM