VP PENCE ANNOUNCES “SIGNIFICANT SANCTIONS” AGAINST TURKEY UNTIL PASTOR BRUNSON IS FREED
VP PENCE ANNOUNCES
Published on Jul 26, 2018
Brunson, a pastor from North Carolina who has lived and ministered in Turkey for the past 20 years, was arrested and jailed for over 600 days. On July 25th, he was moved to house arrest.
A portion of Vice President Pence’s remarks are available here:
Pastor Andrew Brunson was imprisoned without being charged for more than a year. When the Turkish government finally indicted him, they accused him allegedly of “dividing and separating” Turkey by simply spreading the Christian faith. Pastor Brunson is an innocent man…
To President Erdogan and the Turkish government, I have a message, on behalf of the President of the United States of America. Release Pastor Brunson NOW or be prepared to face the consequences. If Turkey does not take immediate action to free this innocent man of faith and send him home to America, the United States will impose significant sanctions on Turkey until Pastor Andrew Brunson is free.
Trump: “United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
This is long overdue. Turkey has not been behaving like an ally of the United States for a long time, without Washington taking the slightest notion of the change. There needs to be much more of holding Turkey accountable for its actions against its Christian minorities and its increasing regional adventurism. Imagine in general how different the world would be if good relations with the United States depended upon how one treated one’s religious minorities, women, etc.“President Trump threatens to hit Turkey with sanctions if it doesn’t release Christian pastor,” by Mike Ciandella, The Blaze, July 26, 2018 (thanks to Robert):_____________________________________________________________________President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that the United States would “impose large sanctions” against Turkey for its imprisonment of Christian pastor Andrew Brunson. Vice President Mike Pence made a similar announcement at a religious freedom event earlier in the day….Trump tweeted that Turkey would face “large” sanctions for its treatment of Brunson, whom he described as “a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being.”
The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!At a State Department-hosted religious freedom event, Pence declared:To President Erdogan and the Turkish government, I have a message on behalf of the president of the United States of America: release Pastor Andrew Brunson now or be prepared to face the consequences.Islamic Republic of Iran: Christians seized from homes, pastor arrested and tasered despite offering no resistance
BY ROBERT SPENCER
(Morning Star News) – Three Christians in Iran were arrested from their homes today and yesterday following the violent arrest of pastor Yousef Nadarkhani on Sunday (July 22), according to advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC).Pastor Nadarkhani, a convert from Islam like the others arrested, was awaiting a summons to begin a 10-year prison sentence after his appeal of a conviction for “propagating house churches” and promoting “Zionist Christianity” was upheld in May.“Around 10 police officers arrived at the house and physically assaulted Yousef’s son when he opened the door to them,” MEC reported. “Both Yousef and his son were tasered, despite offering no resistance. The manner of their arrest was probably an attempt to intimidate the Christian community, but their friends report that the church has not given in to fear.”Pastor Nadarkhani was sentenced on July 6, 2017, along with fellow converts from Islam Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Mohammadreza Omidi and Saheb Fadaie. Mossayebzadeh was arrested from his home today, and Omidi and Fadaie were arrested from their homes yesterday evening (July 24), according to MEC.Pastor Nadarkhani ad [sic] Omidi were also sentenced to two years of internal exile, according to MEC.“Both will serve this sentence in the south of Iran, far away from their families in Rasht,” the group reported in a press statement.The three Christians arrested today and yesterday have been taken to Evin Prison in Tehran to join Pastor Nadarkhani, who has been put in a “quarantine” ward normally reserved as a form of punishment, according to MEC.“Please pray that the Lord will comfort and strengthen those arrested and their families and that the Christian community in Iran will trust the Lord and not be intimidated,” MEC’s statement read, also requesting prayer that “Iranian authorities will treat converts and other religious minorities with respect, and that they and their families will not be wrongly and aggressively handled.”The four Christians were arrested in Rasht on May 13, 2016 during a series of raids by security agents on Christian homes, according to advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). They were sentenced by Judge Ahmadzadeh, head judge of the 26th Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, who is accused of miscarriages of justice and is subject to financial sanctions in the United Kingdom, according to CSW.“Their appeal hearing on 13 December 2017 took place before Judge Hassan Babaee and Judge Ahmad Zargar, both of whom are alleged to have played prominent roles in the crackdown on freedom of expression in Iran,” CSW said in a press statement.Judge Zargar, a Hojjatolislam (clerical position immediately below an ayatollah), was among several Iranian officials deemed responsible or complicit in serious human rights violations in 2012, according to CSW. He was also one of six judges accused in 2014 of lacking judicial impartiality and overseeing unjust trials of journalists, lawyers, political activists and members of Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities, the group reported.“The national security charges leveled against these men were spurious, and their sentences are excessive, amounting to a criminalization of Christian practice,” CSW Chief Operating Officer Scot Bower said in the press statement. “We are calling for the unconditional release of Pastor Nadarkhani, and for his sentence and those of Mr. Omidi, Mr. Mossayebzadeh and Mr. Fadaie to be quashed.”…
Trump demands Turkey release U.S. pastor
Ben Davies of Rebel Media
Jacqueline Furnari testimony and singing of Andrew Brunson’s song, “Worthy of My All”
‘Shock and Betrayal’ Andrew Brunson’s Daughter Dismayed by Father’s Imprisonment, Still Waiting for Her Father to Walk Her Down the Aisle
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