Conditional release of Hadi Asgari from prison
Barnabas Fund, 19 April 2018
After a harrowing 19-month detention, Hadi Asgari, a Christian convert from Islam, was released after posting bail on 11 April.
Hadi was arrested in August 2016 when security officials interrupted a gathering of Christian families. He and pastor Victor Tamrazare are appealing ten-year sentences for “acting against national security”.
Fellow Christian convert Amin Afshari was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on the same charges.
Hearings are now expected to take place in late April or early May.
Local sources confirm that Amin and Hadi remain firm in their faith despite facing ongoing pressure to convert back to Islam.
Adult male converts from Islam are punishable by death according to sharia law in one of the countries of the world where the Islamic death sentence for apostasy is officially available, although it has not been used since 1990.