The Perils of Being A Christian

This is from "Voice of the Martyrs":

Pastor Hamid Pourmand, a former Iranian army colonel, was arrested when
security police raided a church conference of more than 80 church leaders
that he was attending. He became a Christian about 25 years ago. During his
military career, his superiors had acknowledged that he was a Christian and
he had even been excused from observing the Muslim month of fasting.
However, it is illegal for a non-Muslim to serve as a military officer; and
on February 17, 2005, a Tehran military court sentenced Hamid to three
years in jail and ordered his transfer to Evin Prison. Found guilty on
charges of deceiving the Iranian armed forces, his sentence automatically
discharges him from the army, cuts off his regular income, and eliminates
his military pension. His wife and two teenage children were forced to
leave their military housing.

In addition, he was charged with apostasy from Islam and proselytizing
Muslims to Christianity. Both charges are punishable by death. Because news
of his appearance before an Islamic Shariah court in Tehran leaked out to
the international press he was taken by armored car to Bandar-i Bushehr to
stand trail. On May 28th an Islamic judge acquitted pastor Pourmand of
these charges. According to Compass Direct, the judge reportedly stated “I
don’t know who you are, but the rest-of-the-world does,” a clear reference
to the international attention that this case has attracted.