Today’s Headlines:

IRANIAN CHRISTIAN RELEASED EARLY AFTER 2 YEARS IN PRISON

DALIT WOMAN IN INDIA ROBBED OF HER KIDNEY DURING SURGERY

Today’s Top Stories:

IRANIAN CHRISTIAN RELEASED EARLY AFTER 2 YEARS IN PRISON

Iranian Christian Hamid Pourmand was sent home in late July by Tehran prison authorities who informed him that he was not required to serve the remaining 14 months of his three-year prison sentence. Pourmand, now 49, was arrested along with 85 other church leaders on Sept. 9, 2004, in a secret police raid of an Assemblies of God church conference. He had been volunteering as a lay pastor at the time while remaining a colonel in the Iranian army. The other leaders were soon released while Pourmand was placed in solitary confinement for five months and remained jailed under charges that he deceived the Iranian army by concealing his conversion from Islam to Christianity, despite contrary evidence. Later he was convicted of apostasy and proselytizing. Following his release, Pourmand was warned that attending church could cause his release orders to be revoked. During previous proceedings, Pourmand, a Christian for more than 25 years, was dishonorably discharged from the army and his pension and benefits revoked. His wife and teenage sons were forced to leave military housing and left without income during his incarceration (Compass Direct).

DALIT WOMAN IN INDIA ROBBED OF HER KIDNEY DURING SURGERY

A doctor robbed a Dalit woman in India of her kidney as she underwent surgery for a pain in her uterus. Gospel for Asia founder Dr. K.P. Yohannan says this is another sad example of how India’s Dalits, often referred to as “untouchables,” are denied even the most basic human rights. Even worse, Yohannan says, “they are openly abused with no consequences for those who oppress them.” The woman’s efforts at justice have been met only with resistance and scorn due to her social status. When the impoverished couple did not have money for surgery, they were referred to Dr. Richharia who performed a surgery on Dec. 20, 2003, but after surgery the pain in her uterus continued. When they returned to Richharia, he assured her the pain would disappear after a few months. The woman suffered for almost two years until last January when the couple went to another doctor. An ultrasound showed the woman’s left kidney was missing. When the couple returned to Richharia, he refused to see them while staff there physically assaulted them for criticizing the doctor’s reputation. (Religion Today)