Recently in Apostasy Category

"There's really no such thing as just Sharia, it's not one monolithic Continuum - Sharia is understood in thousands of different ways over the 1,500 years in which multiple and competing schools of law have tried to construct some kind of civic penal and family law code that would abide by Islamic values and principles, it's understood in many different ways..." -- Reza Aslan

Not really: Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

Some might arguing that fighting for Assad doesn't make these soldiers apostates according to Islamic law, but since Assad is an Alawite, the jihadists have a strong case: Islamic law forbids a Muslim to obey an Infidel ruler who is supposedly impeding Islam in some way. In any case, not in dispute is the death penalty for apostasy itself, however much Islamic spokemen in the West disingenuously deny it.

"Islamist rebels execute 11 Syrian soldiers for 'massacres,'" from Reuters, May 16 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

BEIRUT: Fighters of the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria executed 11 men they accused of taking part in massacres by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a video published on Thursday showed.

A man whose face was covered in a black balaclava shot each man in the back of the head as they kneeled, blindfolded and lined up in a row in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor.

"The sharia court for the eastern region in Deir al-Zor has sentenced to death these apostate soldiers that committed massacres against our brothers and families in Syria," the executioner said on the video.

Islamist militants with black flags shouted "God is great" as each man was shot. The executioner returned to some victims, firing more bullets into them to make sure they were dead.

The video is the second in two days to show such executions by fighters who say they are from Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

A video posted online on Wednesday from the northern province of Raqqa, which is controlled by Islamist rebels, showed three blindfolded men sitting on the curb of a central roundabout before being shot in the head with a pistol.

A man speaking in the video said the executions were revenge for killings in the coastal town of Banias two weeks ago. Photos and videos of the alleged Banias massacre showed dozens of mutilated bodies, many of them children, lying in the streets.

Note that here again we see Islamic jihadists explain their killings as revenge. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claimed that his Boston jihad murders were revenge; Islamic jihadists who fired mortars into Israel claimed they were doing it for revenge as well. This is because Islamic supremacists are apparently incapable of ever taking responsibility for anything they do; it's always someone else's fault. But more importantly, it's because in the absence of a caliph, the only jihad that is permissible according to Islamic law is defensive. Only the caliph, according to Sunni Muslim jurisprudence, can lawfully wage offensive jihad against non-Muslim states. So every jihad until the caliphate is restored has to be cast as defensive. This leads the jihadists to retail endless lists of grievances and alleged Infidel atrocities they're supposedly avenging, and foolish non-Muslim analysts to think that if they just redress the grievances and throw money at the jihadis, the jihad will go away. It won't. There will just be new grievances.

The man is set to get six years in prison and 300 lashes, but that isn't good enough: ""He has deprived us of our daughter and he must assume his responsibilities. We will ask the court to keep him behind bars until our daughter comes home." If she does come home, she will be pressured to return to Islam, and possibly imprisoned until she does so.

"Father to contest sentence in daughter's conversion to Christianity," from UPI, May 13:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 13 (UPI) -- The father of a woman who fled Saudi Arabia after accepting Christianity says the sentence given the man responsible for the conversion isn't "appropriate."

That man, the Lebanese director of a company where the woman worked, has been sentenced to six years in prison and 300 lashes, Gulf News reported Monday.

The father of the woman said he would dispute the ruling, saying it was "not appropriate for what he has done to us."

"He has deprived us of our daughter and he must assume his responsibilities," said the father, who was not named. "We will ask the court to keep him behind bars until our daughter comes home."

The woman, known in Saudi media as "The Khobar Woman" in reference to the city where she worked, had been sentenced to six years in jail and 300 lashes. She has reportedly fled to Sweden.

The father said he hoped the Saudi Embassy in Sweden would work to return his daughter to Saudi Arabia. He said he would guarantee she would not be harmed.

A Saudi national who reportedly forged a travel document so the woman could flee the country was sentenced Saturday to two years in jail and 200 lashes.

Saudi Arabia "applies a strict version of Sharia that stipulates Muslims who convert to another religion must be sentenced to death." Actually, there is no version of Sharia that doesn't stipulate that Muslims who convert to another religion must be sentenced to death.

"Saudi jails Lebanese who helped woman convert to Christianity," from AFP, May 12:

A Saudi court jailed a Lebanese man for six years and sentenced him to 300 lashes after convicting him of encouraging a Saudi woman to convert to Christianity, Saudi dailies reported Sunday.

The same court sentenced a Saudi man convicted in the same case to two years in prison and 200 lashes for having helped the young woman flee the ultra-conservative, US-backed Sunni kingdom, local daily Al-Watan said.

A court delivered the verdict in Khobar in the kingdom's east, where the woman and the two accused worked for an insurance company.

The July 2012 case caused a stir in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Sharia that stipulates Muslims who convert to another religion must be sentenced to death.

The woman, known only as "the girl of Khobar," was granted refuge in Sweden where she lives under the protection of unspecified NGOs, according to local press reports.

She had appeared in a YouTube video last year in which she announced that she had chosen to convert to Christianity.

Her family's lawyer Hmood al-Khalidi said he was "satisfied with the verdict," according to the press....

Oh good.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Rabat as we speak, so as to explain to the Supreme Ulema Council of Morocco (CSO) that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Morocco Fatwa Demands Death Sentence For Christian Converts," from BosNewsLife, April 25 (thanks to Andrew Bostom):

RABAT,MOROCCO (BosNewsLife)-- Christian converts in Morocco feared for their future Thursday, April 25, after the country's highest Islamic institute issued a fatwa demanding the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their religion.

The Supreme Ulema Council of Morocco (CSO), a body of Islamic scholars headed by King Mohammed VI, said that Muslims who reject their faith "should be condemned to death." CSO is the only institution entitled to issue 'fatwas', or religious decrees, in Morocco.

The ministry of Islamic affairs declined to comment on the issue.

The fatwa dates back to April 2012 when a legal report was prepared by the government, but it wasn't published at the time, according to local media.

Mahjoub El Hiba, a senior human rights official in the Moroccan government, denied to reporters that the government received a fatwa on "apostasy" -- the word used for abandoning Islam -- as the Arabic-language daily Akhbar al-Youm had claimed.

CRACKDOWN FEARED

The different statements could not be immediately reconciled, but local Christians expressed concern about the situation, saying it could lead to a new crackdown on the country's tiny Christian community of some 22,000 people.

"There's a lot of confusion and discussion in Morocco right now about the fatwa," said a pastor near the city of Marrakech in a statement distributed by advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC). "We fear that if the fatwa is approved, the government will use it to harass us and even arrest us during our meetings," the church leader added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The [Islamic] fundamentalists will have an excuse to harm us," the pastor reportedly said.

ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, Aidan Clay, agrees that the fatwa adds to concern about the position of Christians in the Islamic nation of over 32 million people. "

INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

"The Moroccan government lost credibility among international human rights groups in 2010 when it deported more than 70 foreign Christian aid workers on charges of proselytizing without granting due process rights to a hearing," he told BosNewsLife.

In total, Morocco expelled as many as 100 foreign Christians since 2010, because they allegedly tried to convert Muslims, according to BosNewsLife estimates.

Islamic extremism is the main "source of persecution" in Morocco, said Christian advocacy group Open Doors.

Among those already detained is 49-year-old Jamaa Ait Bakrim, an outspoken Christian convert, who was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2005 for "proselytizing" and destroying "the goods of others" after burning two defunct utility poles located in front of his own business in south Morocco.

MOROCCO LEGISLATION

Open Doors quoted activists and Moroccan Christians as saying that the severity of his sentence for a "misdemeanor" underscores Morocco's attempt him behind bars as long as possible "because he persistently spoke about his faith."

While apostasy is illegal in many Muslim countries and punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, Moroccan law so far does not directly prohibit it, according to experts familiar with the legislation.

Article 220 of Morocco's Penal Code does state, however, that "attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion" is punishable with six months to three years in prison. It was not immediately clear when and if the reported fatwa issuing a death sentence will become part of new legislation.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Rabat as we speak, so as to explain to Morocco's higher council of religious scholars (CSO) that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Morocco death for apostates fatwa sparks controversy," from AFP, April 20:

RABAT — A fatwa published this week by Morocco's higher council of religious scholars (CSO) calling for the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith has sparked fierce controversy in the country.

The scholars, who represent official Islam in Morocco, said in their edict, published in Tuesday's edition of Arabic-language daily Akhbar al-Youm, that Muslims who reject their faith "should be condemned to death."

The fatwa, which has provoked strong reactions, dates back to April 2012 when a legal report was being prepared by the government, but it was not published at the time, according to local media.

Mahjoub El Hiba, a senior human rights official in the government, denied in a statement to the official MAP news agency having requested any such fatwa from the council of Islamic scholars, as Akhbar al-Youm had claimed.

"What was published in the document attributed to the CSO does not concern our government and commits us to nothing," Hiba told AFP.

"I am not authorised to request advice or fatwas from the CSO. I do not have to comment on what a constitutional body like this does," he added.

The CSO is the only institution entitled to issue fatwas in Morocco.

The ministry of Islamic affairs declined to comment on the issue.

Morocco's penal code does not explicitly prohibit apostasy, which is illegal in most Muslim countries, and punishable by death in some states such as Saudi Arabia, although in practice people are rarely executed for renouncing their faith.

But Moroccan law states that "anyone attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion" risks six months to three years in prison.

Moderates.

PJ Lifestyle Bookshelf had this yesterday: "A reminder for modern day abolitionists from page 23 of Robert Spencer's new book Not Peace But a Sword: The Great Chasm Between Christianity and Islam." You can order the book here (Kindle edition here) and download a free sample chapter here.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Kismayo as we speak, so as to explain to these enraged Muslim gunmen that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Christian Shot Dead near Kismayo, Somalia," from Morning Star News, February 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Suspected Islamic extremists in Somalia shot a Christian to death this month on the outskirts of the coastal city of Kismayo, sources said.

Two masked men killed Ahmed Ali Jimale, a 42-year-old father of four, on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. as he stood outside his house in Alanley village, near a police station, they said. The killers were suspected to be members of the Islamic extremist Al Shabaab, a rebel militia ousted from the area four months ago but still engaging in hit-and-run tactics. A few of the four rival clans in Kismayo, 328 miles southwest of Mogadishu, are said to be housing members of Al Shabaab.

A businessman, teacher and medical consultant well-known in the area, Jimale ran a pharmacy in Kismayo. He would give private lessons on medicine and first aid, and as an underground Christian – as are all Christians in Somalia – he highlighted the teaching with discussions comparing the Bible and the Koran, sources said.

The students would share these lessons with other children, and this teaching, along with his close work with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that provides aid, appeared to have caught the attention of the Al Shabaab extremists, said a source who worked with Jimale but is no longer in the area.

When the Somali National Army and the Kenya Defense Forces wrested control of Kismayo from Al Shabaab, Jimale became increasingly open in presenting the religious content of his teaching, and the Islamic extremists suspected he was a Christian – and guilty of “apostasy” or leaving Islam, on the common assumption that all Somalis are born Muslim, the source said.

Toward the end of 2012, Jimale began receiving threatening messages in his phone, sources said.

“We have been monitoring your activities,” read one. “You have to stop introducing the children to foreign Christian religion as well as your close working relation with a foreign organization, otherwise we shall come for your head.”

Jimale had been an employee of the NGO, and occasionally he continued receiving contracts from the aid organization. Such organizations are often associated with Westerners and Christianity, both anathema to Al Shabaab.

“Jimale was a good man who helped our community,” a friend of the slain Christian told Morning Star News. “His widow is very scared and afraid, not knowing what will happen.”

Jimale’s children, two daughters and two sons, are ages 10, 8, 6 and 4.

The incident was the latest in a series of murders of Christians in Somalia over the past several years. On Dec. 8, 2012 in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, gunmen killed a Christian who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam (See “Christian Shot to Death in Somalia,” Dec. 14, 2012). Two unidentified, masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home for leaving Islam, Muslim and Christian sources told Morning Star News.

Siad and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000 according to a source who used to worship with them, had moved to Beledweyne from Doolow eight months before, after Somalia’s transitional federal government and African Union Mission in Somalia troops captured Beledweyne from Al Shabaab rebels. Siad had taken a job with a local NGO.

The area was under government control and there was no indication that the killers belonged to the Al Shabaab rebels who have vowed to rid the country of Christianity, but the Islamic extremist insurgents were present in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, and Christians believed a few Al Shabaab rebels could have been hiding in Beledweyne.

In the coastal city of Barawa on Nov. 16, Al-Shabaab militants killed a Christian after accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, Christian sources said (see “Christian Convert from Islam Beheaded in Somalia,” Nov. 17, 2012).

Mose drew suspicion when he returned to Barawa, in Somalia’s Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011 after spending time in Kenya, according to underground Christians in Somalia. Kenya’s population is nearly 83 percent Christian, according to Operation World, while Somalia’s is close to 100 percent Muslim.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Luxor as we speak, so as to explain to these enraged Muslim mobs that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Christian-Muslim tension flares in southern Egypt," by Haggag Salama for the Associated Press, March 1 (thanks to all who sent this in):

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — Dozens of Muslim residents threw firebombs and rocks at police on Friday as they tried to storm a church in southern Egypt in search of a woman suspected of converting to Christianity, security officials said.

Clashes between Copts and Muslims usually are sparked by disputes over rumors of conversion, Muslim-Christian love affairs and the construction of churches. Violence between Egypt's Christians and Muslims has risen in the past two years in the wake of the country's uprising that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak, but also weakened security across the nation.

"Clashes between Copts and Muslims usually are sparked by disputes over rumors of conversion, Muslim-Christian love affairs and the construction of churches." That is, Muslims riot over those things, because Islamic law forbids Muslims to convert to Christianity, forbids Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, and forbids Christians to construct new churches. That AP characterizes these things as sources of "clashes," as if both sides were equally to blame, is despicable, albeit common "journalistic" practice.

Officials said 11 policemen were wounded in the clashes in the town of Kom Ombo, which is near Aswan High Dam, about 980 kilometers (608 miles) south of Cairo. Coptic Christian activist Ibrahim Louis said 12 Christians also were wounded, including one man who was in serious condition.

The fighting erupted late Thursday night when hundreds of Muslim residents tried to get inside the church. Police used tear gas to keep the crowd from storming the church as some of the residents burnt tires along a major highway and cut off traffic. The clashes erupted again Friday afternoon when dozens of residents again threw firebombs and rocks at police. In anticipation of renewed clashes, police had set up checkpoints and increased their presence around the church.

Tensions rose after a 36 year-old Muslim woman, who has been missing for five days, was allegedly seen outside the church with a female Christian friend on Thursday. Some residents believe the woman, who is a teacher, converted to Christianity and is hiding inside the church. Others suspect she was forced into conversion and is being held against her will inside the church....

This is no surprise, For a Leftist like Al Gore, a Muslim like Qaradawi, even when he is calling for the murder of innocent people, is a non-white non-Christian non-Westerner, which means that he can do no wrong.

An update on this story. "Gore, Current silent as cleric affirms death penalty for leaving Islam on Al-Jazeera," by Nicole Lafond for the Daily Caller, February 12:

Aides to former Democratic Vice President Al Gore have failed to respond to a recent Al-Jazeera TV broadcast, in which a top imam affirmed the death penalty for anyone who quits Islam.

Gore sold his Current TV network to Al-Jazeera, which now plans to extend its broadcast into the United States this summer, according to Ashok Sinha, vice president of corporate communications at Current TV/Al-Jazeera America.

Gore reportedly sold Current TV for $500 million and endorsed Al-Jazeera’s news programs.

Western critics of Islam highlighted a recent broadcast of the network’s regular “Shariah and Life” show, which has an estimated audience of 60 million viewers worldwide.

The show’s host is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent Sunni Islamic cleric.

He declared that Islam’s mandated death-penalty for apostasy has kept Islam alive since the 1400s. “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment Islam wouldn’t exist today,” Qaradawi said on the show.

Qaradawi cited specific verses and narrations by Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, and the recorded testimony of his companions, that mandate the death penalty for anyone who tries to leave Islam.

“Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:33 says: ‘The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle is that they should be murdered or crucified,’” Qaradawi quoted on his show.

“And many hadiths, not only one or two, but many, narrated by a number of Muhammad’s companions state that any apostate should be killed. Ibn ‘Abbas’s hadith: ‘Kill whomever changes his faith [from Islam].’”

Those punishments are still applied in modern days. In early January, an Egyptian court sentenced a widow and her seven children to 15 years in jail for converting from Islam to Christianity, Fox News reported....

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be in communication with Qaradawi, to explain to him that he is getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

Video thanks to Ground Zero Mosque.

This is from my ABN show from last week (I just found the video): in this episode, I interview the courageous Egyptian ex-Muslim Nonie Darwish.

Actually, there is nothing surprising in this. Sharia denies Christians and other non-Muslims basic rights. Only Westerners who have swallowed the smooth lies of Islamic supremacist deceivers such as the Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf and Reza Aslan about Islamic law will find this odd.

"New report: Iranian Christians denied basic rights," from The Commentator, January 21:

A new report has claimed that despite the Iranian government’s assertions that it respects the rights of its recognised religious minorities, the Christian community in Iran faces systematic state persecution and discrimination.

The plight of Iranian Protestants, says the report, is of particular concern. The community faces tough restrictions on religious practice and association, arbitrary arrests and detentions for the practice of its faith. State executions and extrajudicial killings have also been noted, in the report by the New York based ‘International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran’.

The 73-page report, The Cost of Faith: Persecution of Christian Protestants and Converts in Iran, documents a pattern of rights violations that extends to all walks of life for Protestant converts in Iran and lists the systematic arbitrary arrest and detention of Christian converts.

Farshid Fathi, a 33-year-old Christian leader from Tehran was detained in December 2010 as part of a Christmas crackdown on Christians and subsequently charged with “acting against national security,” “contact with enemy foreign countries,” and “religious propaganda.” The judiciary sentenced him to six years in prison, which he is currently serving.

It is reported that Christian detainees are often denied due process and basic rights. They are held in prolonged detention without formal charges, trials are held without access to counsel, or, if there is counsel, without access to court files, and ill treatment is common during detention.

The Campaign’s research reveals that interrogators, prosecutors and courts consistently refer to standard Christian practices, such as membership in a house church, evangelical activities, and participation in a Christian conference, as criminal acts, and security officers routinely confiscate standard Christian items such as bibles, religious literature, and crosses during arrests.

The report also found clear and consistent evidence of the threat to life for Christian converts. One leading Christian pastor, Hossein Soodmand, was executed by the state for apostasy in 1990; other church leaders who were sentenced to death for apostasy, including Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, were subsequently acquitted only due to intense international pressure....

No surprise there, either, as Islamic law also mandates death for apostasy. Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

Read it all.

Saeed Abedini is accused of harming Iranian national security, apparently by converting from Islam to Christianity and founding Christian house churches. This kind of persecution manifests the fundamental fear, insecurity, and brittleness of the Islamic Republic. An update on this story. "'I am told I will hang for my faith in Jesus': American pastor faces death sentence in Iran," by Robert Tait in the Telegraph, January 18 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

An American Christian pastor faces a possible death sentence in Iran after prosecutors accused him of harming national security on charges he and his supporters claim amount to religious persecution.

Saeed Abedini, 32, who is Iranian born, is expected to go on trial next week before a revolutionary tribunal in Tehran in a hearing presided over by a judge blacklisted by the European Union for handing down harsh verdicts.

US officials have already voiced concerns over the fate of Mr Abedini, who has been held in custody since July 2011 after being arrested while on a visit to Iran from America.

His wife, Najmeh, says he has suffered beatings during interrogation and has expressed fears for his life in letters to her.

"This is the process in my life today: one day I am told I will be freed and allowed to see my kids on Christmas (which was a lie) and the next day I am told I will hang for my faith in Jesus," Mr Abedini, a father-of-two, wrote in one letter. "One day there are intense pains after beatings in interrogations, the next day they are nice to you and offer you candy."

The origins of the charges against Mr Abdini are not clear. But the American Centre for Law and Justice, a Christian advocacy group founded by the evangelist preacher, Pat Robertson, said it was connected with starting a home church movement.

"His court file indicated that this national security charge was directly related to his work starting a house church movement in Iran," the organisation said in a statement.

Harming national security is a capital crime under Iran's legal statute. Critics say it is vaguely defined and used to suppress opponents of the country's Islamic regime.

Mr Abdini, who converted to Christianity at the age of 20, was building an orphanage near the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea, fuelled by a belief that the Bible teaches helping widows and orphans, according to his wife.

He was detained in 2009 but later released after agreeing to sign a commitment not to engage in religious activities such as working in underground churches.

Mr Abidini had travelled to Iran nine times since his detention before being arrested again. "He had no worries that he would be arrested, believing that he kept his end of the promise and that the government would keep their end," she told AFP.

He has not had access to a lawyer since being re-arrested, she added.

She also said one of his interrogators had told him that Iran's theocratic rulers feared that "if the country is not following Islam, then we have less control over [its people]".

Mr Abdini is expected to be tried by Abbas Pir-Abassi, a judge subject to EU sanctions for human rights violations after sentencing several activists to death.

While Iran's constitution recognises the rights of religious minorities like Christians and Jews, the authorities have targeted Christian converts. Apostasy is punishable by death under the country's shariah code.

The US state department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, has expressed "serious concerns" about the case.

However, 49 US congressmen have urged the state department to call for Mr Abdini's release, saying the government could do more despite not having diplomatic relations with Iran.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel advising American policymakers, has called on Iran to release Mr Abedini "immediately and unconditionally."

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. But this mother and her seven children just got fifteen years in prison in brave new democratic "Arab Spring" Egypt. The criminal court of Beni Suef must be made up of moderates.

"Egypt, 15 years in prison for mother and seven children, converts to Christianity," from Asia News, January 14 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The criminal court of Beni Suef (115 km south of Cairo) has sentenced an entire family to prison for converting to Christianity. Nadia Mohamed Ali and her children Mohab, Maged, Sherif, Amira, Amir, and Nancy Ahmed Mohamed abdel-Wahab will spend 15 years in prison. Seven other people involved in the case were sentenced to five years in prison.

The case of the family of Nadia Ali Mohamed began in 2004 when, after the conversion, she and her children decided to replace their Muslim names on their identity cards with their Christian names and city of residence change. To do this she was aided by seven Registry office employees e. Born Christian, she had changed her religion to marry her husband Mustafa Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. After the man's death in 1991, Nadia decided to return to her religion of origins and to push her seven children to convert. In 2006, one of the boys was arrested by police in an information center in the city of Beni Suef. Suspicious of the young man from the documents he as carrying, where he had changed its name to Bishoy Malak Abdel-Massih, police agents interrogated him for hours until he confessed his conversion to Christianity as desired by the mother. The judges then decide to stop not only the woman, but all of her children and seven clerks from the registration office, responsible for changing the documents.

An individuals religious faith is listed in Egyptian identity cards. Christians, converted to Islam for various reasons that attempt to return to the religion to which they belong have enormous difficulty in correcting their names on the documents. This leads many people to forge them, risking prison. The reverse process, ie the transition from Christianity to Islam is not hindered, and in many cases is favored by the very Registry officials.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be jetting over to Iran to explain to the authorities of the Islamic Republic that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"US Pastor Saeed Abedini Faces Notorious 'Hanging Judge' in Iran," by Stoyan Zaimov for the Christian Post, January 10 (thanks to Daniel):

An American pastor currently held in Iranian prison is facing a grim future after it was announced that his case was recently transferred to a judge accused of human rights violations and infamous for the number of people he has sentenced to death.

"This new development is highly troubling -- it appears Iran is determined to remove any chance of the American pastor receiving any semblance of a fair trial. Even more troubling is that the U.S. government has remained silent, essentially abandoning this American in his search for justice," Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice, said in a report shared with The Christian Post. The ACLJ is representing Pastor Saeed Abedini's family in the U.S.

Abedini, 32, grew up in Iran, before converting to Christianity at the age of 20, and marrying an American woman in 2002, which helped him gain U.S. citizenship. Along with his wife, Naghmeh, and their two young children, the pastor has traveled back and forth between Iran and the U.S. a number of times in the past few years, helping create a network of underground churches, which provide a safe haven for Muslims who have converted to Christianity.

During one such trip in 2009, Abedini was detained by Iranian officials and interrogated for his conversion. While he was released with a warning against engaging in any more underground church activities, in July 2012, he was once again arrested while working on a non-sectarian orphanage project.

The ACLJ says the minister was arrested for "his previous work as a Christian leader in Iran," and that he faces the death penalty for trying to convert Muslims to the Christian faith. Currently, Abedini is facing trial at the Evin Prison in northwestern Tehran, described by the persecution watch group as one of Iran's most brutal prisons -- reports allege that he has been beaten by guards and inmates.

The pastor's case has been transferred to Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, and he is now in the hands of Judge Pir-Abassi, who was named in 2011 by the European Union as an individual subject to sanctions for human rights violations. The judge has reportedly presided over a number of cases against human rights activists, often handing down long prison sentences and even several death penalties – with some calling him one of Iran's "hanging judges."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also highlighted Judge Pir-Abassi in its 2012 Annual report to the U.S. State Department as being "responsible for particularly severe violations of religious freedom" and recommended that America should "continue to bar from entry into the United States and freeze [his and his immediate family members'] assets."

The ACLJ says that although the U.S. State Department has acknowledged Pastor Abedini's case, no action has yet been taken on his behalf.

"It is an absolute travesty that the U.S. government would stand by idly while an American citizen, detained for his exercise of a fundamental human right, deteriorates in an Iranian prison," the watch group insists....

Over at FrontPage Magazine (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discuss how the road to Sharia Egypt has taken is akin to the Sudanese pattern, which culminated in genocide for all who reject Sharia:

The current tensions in Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and a fragmented populace that includes large segments of people who oppose the Islamization of Egypt—the moderates, secularists, and Christians who recently demonstrated in mass at Tahrir Square and even besieged the presidential palace—is all too familiar. One need only look to Egypt's immediate neighbor, Sudan, and its bloody history, to know where the former may be headed.

The civil war in Sudan, which saw the deaths of millions, was fundamentally a byproduct of an Islamist regime trying to push Sharia law on large groups of Sudanese—Muslim, Christian, and polytheist—who refused to be governed by Allah's law, who refused to be Islamized. Although paying lip-service to pluralism and equality in the early years, by 1992, the Islamist government of Khartoum declared a formal jihad on the south and the Nuba, citing a fatwa by Sudan's Muslim authorities which declared that "An insurgent who was previously a Muslim is now an apostate; and a non-Muslim is a non-believer standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam, and Islam has granted the freedom of killing both of them."

In other words, Khartoum decreed that: 1) It is simply trying to do Allah's will by instituting Islamic Sharia law; 2) Any Sudanese who objects—including Muslims—is obviously an infidel; 3) All such infidels must be eliminated. Accordingly, countless people were butchered, raped, and enslaved—all things legitimate once an Islamic states declares a jihad. While South Sudan recently ceded, the Nuba Mountains in the north is still continuously being bombarded.

Now consider how the above pattern—false promises of religious freedom, followed by a Sharia push and a declaration that all who oppose it, including Muslims, are infidels and apostates to be killed—is precisely what has been going on directly to the north of Sudan, in Egypt.

First, although Muhammad Morsi repeatedly promised that he would be a president who represents "all Egyptians" during presidential elections, mere months after coming to power, he showed that his true loyalty—which should have been obvious from the start, considering that he is a Muslim Brotherhood leader—was to Sharia and Islamization.

Even so, Egyptians did not forget that Morsi, during presidential elections, had said the following in a video interview:

The Egyptian people are awake and alert—Muslims and Christians; and they know that, whoever comes [to become Egypt's president], and does not respect the rule of law and the Constitution, the people will go against him. I want the people immediately to go against me, if I ever do not respect the law and Constitution...

Why are Swedish officials so anxious to deport Reza Jabbari? Why won't they explain why? Why are people with weaker cases for asylum allowed to stay in Sweden? It couldn't have anything to do with a policy of favoring the large and growing Muslim minority there, now, could it? Or are the Swedish officials in question just so certain that Islam is a Religion of Peace, and so full of the soothing nonsense of Western Islamic apologists who claim that Islam has no death penalty for apostasy, that they're certain that Reza Jabbari faces no danger in Iran?

"Swedish Officials Order Iranian Christian Deported for Second Time," by Steve Little for CBN, December 23 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

An Iranian convert to Christianity seeking asylum in Sweden is once again facing deportation to Iran, according to his pastor. If he’s sent back to Iran, the convert, Reza Jebbari, could be imprisoned or even put to death for leaving Islam.

CBN News first reported on Jebbari’s case last month when Swedish authorities rejected his application for asylum and ordered him deported. A few days later, a Migration Board official announced they were halting the deportation process and granting Jebbari another hearing.

Now, Jebbari’s pastor, Cai Berger, tells CBN News that another migration official has denied the request for asylum and police are seeking to take Jebbari into custody and begin the deportation process.

Jebbari’s lawyer has already filed another appeal, but Berger says they are puzzled at the government’s persistence in its attempts to deport the Christian convert.

“It would seem that we are in a tight spot again and, quite frankly, we're at a loss as to why the Migration services are so determined to deport [him],” Berger wrote CBN News in an email. “People with weaker cases get permission to stay in Sweden, but not him.”

CBN News has yet to receive a reply to an email to the Swedish Migration Board’s press office requesting an explanation for the decision to deny asylum....

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be jetting over to Rasht to explain to the authorities of the Islamic Republic that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Iran re-arrests Pastor Nadarkhani on Christmas Day," by Lisa Daftari for FoxNews.com, December 26 (thanks to Kenneth):

The Iranian Christian pastor who had been imprisoned in Iran for converting from Islam to Christianity was taken into custody again on Christmas Day, according to several Iranian media sources and individuals close to the pastor and his family.

Youcef Nadarkhani, 35, had been summoned to return back to Lakan Prison in Rasht, the facility where he served time and was then released, based on the charge that he must complete the remainder of his sentence, according to several reports and confirmed by those close to Nadarkhani in Iran.

In September, the pastor was acquitted of apostasy, but the court maintained his three-year sentence for evangelizing Muslims. As he had already served close to three years, the pastor was freed after posting bail.

The court had then stated that the remainder which equaled roughly 45 days, would be served in the form of probation.

Nadarkhani, married and father of two young children, came under the regime’s radar in 2006 when he applied for his church to be registered with the state. According to sources, he was arrested at that time and then soon released.

In 2009, Nadarkhani went to local officials to complain about Islamic indoctrination in his school district, arguing that his children should not be forced to learn about Islam.

He was subsequently arrested.

Since Nadarkhani's release in September, his attorney, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah has been imprisoned and remains in Iran's notoriously brutal Evin Prison where his health is rapidly deteriorating and is being denied proper dental care, according to his family. He has been incarcerated for advocating Nadarkhani's case and other human rights cases....

"This is an Islamic country, and Islam is clear about everything. There is no need for people to voice their opinions about it. And if he truly is an apostate, he should be punished." Again and again we see this: utter certainty about what Islam is all about, enunciated by Muslims in Muslim countries -- and the very same propositions denied by Islamic spokesmen in the West, and those who assert that they're part of Islam denounced as "Islamophobes."

So it in the case of apostasy. Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be jetting over to Sana'a to explain to Yemeni authorities that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"'Repent or die' in Yemen," by Judith Spiegel for Radio Netherlands, December 21 (thanks to Lachlan):

Ali Ali Qasim Alsaidi felt Yemen and its people were drifting away from Islam as it was meant to be. He wrote his findings – substantiated by Qu’ranic [sic] readings – on Facebook. And he’s now accused of apostasy, facing death penalty. It is early the morning when Ali Ali Qasim Alsaidi (43) drives to the Press and Publications Court in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. Dressed in a brown suit, he steers his old Mercedes through the quiet streets of the city. People here are oblivious to the Kafka-like trial Alsaidi will be facing in an hour or so. “It’s sorry or die”, he says. He means that in order for him to be cleared of the apostasy accusation, he has to repent. But he finds this difficult. “The things I wrote on Facebook were the result of research and are religiously correct”, says Alsaidi. He also felt it was his duty to write them down. Galileo of Yemen

Alsaidi is the general director for budget and planning at the Yemeni Higher Judicial Council Secretariat. It was his colleagues who allegedly reported him to the prosecutor’s office. His lawyer Amin Hajar says that Alsaidi’s colleagues did so because they wanted his job. According to Hajar, “they have turned him into the Galileo of Yemen, only 500 years later.”

“Religion in this country is going this way”, Alsaidi points to the right, “and the people are going that way”, he points to the left. This is what he tried to make clear in his Facebook posts, most of which he published in the spring of 2011, when there was heavy fighting between government troops and the tribesmen of Hameed al Ahmar in the Al Hasaba district.

Taboo on discussing religion

“In this country you can discuss everything except religion”, says Alsaidi. And indeed, there is hardly any subject Yemenis do not discuss daily and at great length during their qat sessions, but religion is hardly ever one of them. “Nobody has read the Qu’ran [sic]. People just listen to all kinds of sheikhs.” In his Facebook posts he emphasises the importance of using reason as a means of finding the truth in religious matters.

For this, Alsaidi now stands trial in the Press and Publications Court. There’s a crowd in front of the entrance to the building, where many of Alsaidi’s family, friends and neighbours have gathered. They all believe in his innocence and are annoyed by the affair. “This country doesn’t know what freedom means, and Islah (Yemen’s equivalent to the Brotherhood) is making it worse”, they say angrily.

Article 259

The specialised Press and Publications Court was established in 2009. Many people believe its sole purpose is to silence Yemen’s few independent media outlets. Apparently it is now also being used to silence bloggers and Facebook users. It is questionable whether this court has the authority to do so, which is one of the arguments Alsaidi’s defence lawyers will be using. But then again, if not this court, there’s probably another one in Yemen.

A more important line of defence is that nothing Alsaidi wrote is against Islam and thus in violation of Article 259 of the Yemeni criminal code which states that “anyone who turns back from or denounces the religion of Islam, will receive the death penalty after being asked to repent three times and after having received a respite of thirty days.’

Eliminating apostates

Alsaidi didn’t denounce religion, argues his defence team. Or as the Yemeni journalist Hind Aleryani wrote in her blog: “there is nothing in Alsaidi’s writings that shows he is an unbeliever.’ Support came from other sources as well. Most of them are afraid that if this case succeeds, the apostasy article might be politically (ab)used to get rid of people.

But the media and lawyers aren’t raising the even more fundamental question, at least from a Western perspective, about whether there may be something wrong with the article itself. What if Alsaidi or anyone else were an unbeliever? Should the state have the right to punish people for denouncing their religion?

Religious conservatives

“Of course”, responds a schoolteacher who lives not far from the court and wishes to remain anonymous. “This is an Islamic country, and Islam is clear about everything. There is no need for people to voice their opinions about it. And if he truly is an apostate, he should be punished.’

Which is exactly what Alsaidi’s family and friends are afraid of. “It is not only the court that could punish Ali. Any crazy person who considers him a kafir [unbeliever] might also decide to kill him”, they say. They stroke their chins, referring to men with beards.

"Repent or die"

Then it is time to go inside the courtroom. The hearing doesn’t take long. Alsaidi’s defence team repeat what they’ve said before: their client should not be here. The prosecutor repeats what he said before: Alsaidi is an apostate. The judge says Alsaidi’s defence team should come up with a better defence, next week, same time, same place.

Back in the car Alsaidi is disappointed. This is not good. “Nothing changed. They are delaying the case because they want me to repent, but how can I? I am afraid I will first lose my job, then my wife [under Yemeni law a Yemeni wife cannot be married to an (alleged) unbeliever] and then my life.”

Conversion away from Islam is forbidden on pain of death. Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be jetting over to Somalia to explain to Somali authorities that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Christian Shot to Death in Somalia," from Morning Star News, December 14 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Gunmen in central Somalia on Saturday (Dec. 8) killed an underground Christian who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam, area sources said.

Two unidentified masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, for leaving Islam, Muslim and Christian sources told Morning Star News. The assailants fled immediately after the murder.

Siad’s oldest daughter (name withheld), 15, said her father was killed “because he failed to attend the mosque for prayers and used to pray at home. He used to share with us about Jesus.” She said that he had received messages on his mobile phone stating, “We know what you are doing, and you must stop, otherwise you risk your life.”

Siad’s 42-year-old wife (name withheld), three daughters and two sons have fled the area, fearing for their lives.

A Christian source in Mogadishu confirmed the killing, and a Muslim resident of the Beledweyne area also said Siad was killed for leaving Islam.

“Siad deserved to die because he was not committed to the Islamic religion,” the resident said....