Reports claim imprisoned Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has been subjected to mistreatment. He has been in jail in Rasht, north of Tehran, for more than a year after a court found him guilty of apostasy (leaving Islam) and sentenced him to death.

Sources in Nadarkhani’s denomination, the Church of Iran, report he is in deteriorating health. Persecution watchdog Compass Direct News reports claims of physical beatings, solitary confinement and ongoing pressure to recant his Christian faith.

It also reports Nadarkhani was forced to read Islamic literature aimed at discrediting the Bible. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is expected to rule later this month on whether the death sentence should he carried out. There are also fears more Iranian Christians may be arrested in December and January, as Christmas is the usual time authorities crack down on church gatherings.

Sydney Synod passed a motion in October to call on the Foreign Affairs Department to protest to Iran at the treatment of Pastor Nadarkhani. The Department has confirmed it has taken the matter up with Iranian government representatives.

Struggles in Asia

House churches in Vietnam have become the target of persecution launched, ironically, on the Interna- tional Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church in November. A gang seriously injured more than nine leaders of a Baptist house church network near Hanoi.

In nearby Burma at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in a grenade attack at an orphan- age in a primarily Christian region in the country’s northy. The attack occurred while a study group was meeting in the orphanage. The area, in Kachin State, has seen increasing violence and restrictions aimed Burma’s Christian minority. Christians are forbidden to hold Bible studies and pray, or build churches.