Iranian Christian Women in Prison - Told to Reconsider Their Faith

Two Iranian Christian women were first arrested in Iran in March and accused of apostasy against the Muslim faith. Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30), who have both become ill while in Iran's Evin prison, were recently brought to trial. A sentence was supposed to be pronounced by the end of the proceedings. Instead, because of the strong Christian testimony of these two young women, the prosecutor sent them back to their cells to reconsider their testimonies before sentencing would be decided.

The courtroom dialogue is recounted at Elam, a ministry to the growing number of Christians in Iran. This is a paraphrased partial account.

Mr. Haddad, the prosecutor, at one point asked the two women if they were Christians. They replied that they love Jesus. So he asked again if they were Christians, to which they replied, "Yes, we are Christians." This could have been a death sentence for a man. Iran does not sentence women to death for apostasy, but they could face life imprisonment.

Haddad then proposed that they admit to previously being Muslims. But Rustampoor and Amirizadeh replied they were born in Muslim families, but were not Muslims.

Haddad asked them if they regretted becoming Christians, to which they said no. He told them they should renounce their faith in both verbal and written form. They said they would not.

During the questioning, Rustampoor and Amirizadeh stated they believed that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit to accept Christ. Haddad told them they were not worthy of God speaking to them.

Amirizadeh answered, "It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy."

Haddad sent the women back to prison to think about coming back when they are ready to comply (by renouncing their Christian faith). But to this, the women told him they had already done their thinking.

What these women are willing to go through makes one wonder why American Christians (myself included) sometimes don't even have the courage to talk about our faith to our own next door neighbors.

Why has this barely been reported outside of Christian/Conservative media venues?
In June of 2009, President Obama said this in his now-famous Cairo Speech (text retrieved from USA Today):

..."And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."

Yet, Iran and many other countries may no longer recognize, or never did recognize, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights set forth on December 10, 1948 after World War II. It declares, among other things (Article 18):

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

As of the writing of this article, there was no news of a verdict for Rustampoor and Amirizadeh.

The original version of this article, including applicable Bible verses for those interested in connecting this situation with their faith, was published at The Underground Online Magazine (www.theundergroundsite.com).

Sources:
-Persecution.org: http://www.persecution.org/suffering/pressdetail.php?presscode=280.
-USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-06-04-Obama-text_N.htm.
-Jihad Watch: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026881.php.
-United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#atop.
-Testimony recounted at Elam: http://www.elam.com/articles/Urgent-Prayer/.