Nina Shea: 2 Severely Persecuted Christians Freed
Nina Shea writes at The Corner:
Last Saturday brought rare good news on the international religious-freedom front. Two high-profile Christian prisoners who had been severely persecuted under their countries’ Muslim apostasy and blasphemy laws were freed.
In Pakistan, Rimsha Masih, 14 years old and mentally disabled, was released on bail after being arrested on August 16 on charges that she had burned pages from a Koran -- an allegation that was bravely refuted by others. . . .
In Iran, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, imprisoned since 2009 and facing possible execution on charges of apostasy for his conversion to Christianity, was also freed.
Shea says the international outcry was key to positive outcomes in these two cases:
When the injustices became internationally exposed, these countries’ leaders, even leaders within their respective religious establishments, were reluctant to take responsibility for the law or Masih’s or Nadarkhani’s fate.
Nina Shea is director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute. Forthcoming from Thomas Nelson Publishers in 2013 is the new book Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians, co-authored with Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert.
