Iran: Two religious 'converts' freed but others still in jail

01-10-2008

Mahmoud Matin Azad and Arash Basirat were arrested on 15 May by intelligence officials in the city of Shiraz, in southwestern Iran during a meeting with 13 others who were later interrogated and released.

Azad and Basirat are the first two Christians to be released after a trial. On other occasions, Iranian converts would be released after a few weeks or months in jail.

In Iran abandoning Islam and the conversion to other faiths is not a crime in the penal code.

However, in the past several converts have been jailed, died in mysterious situations, or sentenced to death, such as the case of evangelical pastor Hossein Soudmand, hanged in 1986 in Mashad prison.

The government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently presented to Parliament a proposal to modify the penal code and include in it the crime of 'ertedad' or abandonment of Islam, which could carry the death penalty.

The Parliament approved the law and it is currently being reviewed by the Council of Guardians, a body in charge of studying legislation passed by the Majlis or Parliament.

The release of the two converts follows a statement last Friday by the European Union saying it was "very worried" about what it sees as a deterioration of religious freedom in Iran.

This, following the arrest of members of the Baha'i and Christian faith, as well as Sunni and Sufi Muslims.

According to unofficial sources, 43 'converts' are jailed in Iran, almost all of them arrested in the past year.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.2522344642