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| More pictures of the release here |
Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, spent three years behind bars waiting to be executed to refusing to renounce Christianity. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence.
He was released from custody with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.
Nadarkhani was arrested in his home city of Rasht in 2009 soon after calling into question the Muslim monopoly on religious education of children, which he felt was unconstitutional, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
He was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010, a decision that was upheld by the country’s Supreme Court in 2011.
Although the Iranian penal code did not specify death for apostasy, a constitutional loophole allowed judges to refer to Sharia law to justify such a sentence.
Source: Daily Mail, Sept. 8, 2012
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