Iranian envoy handed protest at German chancellor's office

Berlin - Iran's envoy to Berlin was handed a protest at Chancellor Angela Merkel's office Thursday against plans to hang an Iranian Protestant minister for apostasy and other offences.

Germany gave the charge d'affaires an 'urgent' request to Tehran to prevent last year's death sentence being carried out on Youcef Nadarkhani, 35. The pastor, who runs a network of evangelical house churches, has refused to recant to obtain mercy.

A court had earlier convicted him of spreading non-Islamic beliefs and objected to his Christianity because both his parents were Muslim. It is estimated that there are 400,000 Christians in Iran. The vast majority of people in Iran are Muslim.
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