Mehdi "Petros" Foroutan, a 27-year-old pastor in Iran, was arrested in January 2010 and charged with crimes against national security and blasphemy against Islam. Although acquitted of the blasphemy charge and released on bail a month later, Pastor Foroutan
was sentenced to one year in prison. Unlike most people who wait for an arrest warrant, Pastor Foroutan reported to prison on Sept. 25, 2011, to begin serving his sentence. Almost immediately, Pastor Foroutan was transferred to the area of the prison for recovering drug addicts in Shiraz. It is often called "the end of the road" for addicts and drug dealers. Please pray for Pastor Foroutan's safety and protection from easily transferred diseases as he lives among drug addicts. Pray that God uses and works through the pastor to free those held captive by addiction.
RECENT UPDATE!: VOM contacts have recently learned that Pastor Mehdi "Petros" Foroutan, who is serving a one-year prison sentence in Shiraz for crimes against national security, has been placed in solitary confinement and has not been allowed a phone call since Oct. 17.
There is concern that he is being tortured.
INDONESIA: Pastor Arrested after Authorities Close Church
On Sept. 20, local officials threatened to close the Indonesia Pentecostal Church in Sumedang. The church had previously received a letter to cease Christian activities, and the district head of Jatinangor in Sumedang, Nandang Suparman, said the church had no legal building permit. Suparman urged the church to move its services into a building belonging to the Institute of Public Administration (IPND).
The Indonesian Christian organization Kabar Gereja reports that the IPND building accommodates the congregations of at least 14 closed churches and cannot
accommodate more. After closing the church in Sumedang, authorities arrested the church's pastor for forcing others to attend church. The church was built more than 24 years ago and only recently began receiving threats.
The church's pastor was put on trial on Oct. 3. He faces up to three months in prison. According to local sources, at least 30 churches have been closed or burned in 2011.
Behnam Irani, a 41-year-old pastor from Kraj, Iran, was convicted of crimes against national security in January 2011 and sentenced to one year in prison. After voluntarily surrendering to authorities on May 31 to begin his sentence, he learned that he would be forced to serve five years in connection with a previous conviction.
Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security (MOIS) raided Irani's house church on April 14, 2010, and assaulted him before taking him into custody.
Although he was released on bail two months after his arrest, he later received the one-year prison sentence. When Irani voluntarily began serving his sentence in May 2011, he was prepared to spend one year in prison. But he received a letter in October stating that he must now serve five years from his previous sentence.
Irani was first arrested in December 2006 and tried for crimes against national security. He was released in January 2007 but was soon re-arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in prison. Irani was never called to serve the sentence that is now being held against him.
Irani became a pastor in 2002, 10 years after becoming a Christian. Please pray for his wife and two children as they wait for him to return home.
On Oct. 9, Christian protestors marching toward the television and radio broadcasting building near downtown Cairo were pelted with rocks and other projectiles. By the time the protestors made it to the building, the army began shooting into the crowd and rolling over protestors with their riot-control vehicles.
Witnesses at the scene reportedly said they saw body parts scattered around after the attacks. Amateur video at the scene shows two riot-control vehicles careening haphazardly through the crowd of protestors. The attacks left 26 dead and hundreds wounded.
The protest was in response to a Sept. 30 attack in Upper Egypt, where the Mar Gerges Church building was burned down along with several Christian-owned homes and businesses.
The church building, which was being renovated, was attacked by local Muslims who claimed the congregation had no right to build it, despite legal documents produced by parish priests.
... this last story is personal. My wife and I have two close friends living in Egypt. They are Coptic Christians and are under constant threat ...
A Voice of the Martyrs Volunteer
A Voice of the Martyrs Volunteer
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