Apostasy in Iran: CSW’s analysis

In most of the Islamic world, leaving Islam for another faith (or none) is widely understood to be a grave sin and a betrayal of the ‘umma’- the universal Islamic community.  However, in some countries apostasy is further understood as a move that threatens the integrity of the polity itself. In these circumstances, apostates risk not only social pressure and rejection by their families and communities, but also pressure from the state.  This pressure can include the annulment of marriages, denial of permission to travel, termination of citizenship, confiscation of identity papers, the consequent loss of social and economic rights, house-searches, and cycles of interrogation, arbitrary detention, sustained torture and court action for various supposed crimes.

In some of these countries, apostasy is a crime codified in the civil law. However, this is not the case in Iran, where apostasy is currently undefined in law and where there is no specific punishment stipulated for convicted apostates. The death sentence for apostasy is handed down in Iran, as in the case of Pastor Nadarkhani, only on the basis of an open-ended article of the constitution, which allows judges to deliver verdicts “on the basis of authoritative Islamic sources and authentic fatwa”.

The fatwas used in the case of Nadarkhani are those of Ayatollahs Khomeini, the “father” of the Iranian Revolution, Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and Makarem Shirazi, currently the most influential religious leader in Iran. However, not all Iranian Islamic scholars agree that the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for apostates. For example, the late Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, one-time heir apparent to Ayatollah Khomeini, argued that modern Muslims should be free to convert to another religion. Furthermore, the late Ayatollah Murtaza Muttahari believed that any measures used to compel religious belief were pointless, arguing that it was impossible to force persons to hold the rationally inspired faith of Islam. The Assize Court of Gilan province, which is now deliberating its final verdict for Nadarkhani, will soon issue a ruling that will take its place in the ongoing debate about the appropriate punishment for convicted apostates.

No Christian has been executed officially for apostasy in Iran since the death of the Reverend Hossein Soodmand, who was hanged in Mashad prison in 1990 following a period of intense physical and psychological torture. However, a draft Bill debated in the Iranian parliament in recent years sought to codify the Shari’a punishments for apostasy (the death penalty for male apostates and life-long imprisonment for females) indicating that some elements in Iran wish to see a more severe stance taken against apostasy. Whilst the death penalty was allegedly removed from the draft Bill in June 2009, the text of the Bill has not been made public, neither has a final version been passed at all stages. It is therefore possible that these provisions in fact remain intact. The case of Pastor Nadarkhani makes this a disturbingly pertinent issue.

Whilst official executions for apostasy are relatively rare in Iran, in the past those deemed guilty of leaving Islam have suffered extra-judicial executions. Pastor Mehdi Dibaj of the Assemblies of God Church in Tehran was condemned to death for apostasy in December 1993. He was released three weeks later after a strong international outcry, only to be found murdered six months later. The initiator of the international outcry for Pastor Dibaj, Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr, was also abducted and murdered. 

Should Pastor Nadarkhani be acquitted and released, a development which the international community must continue to seek, his problems may not be over and vigilance must be maintained in order to ensure that he and his family remain safe.

CSW continues high-level lobbying and advocacy on behalf of Pastor Nadarkhani, raising his case with key governments and international institutions calling for his unconditional release. In the next phase of CSW’s urgent campaign on his behalf, a global month of prayer and action was launched to support him.  For more information visit: www.csw.org.uk/nadarkhani