After posting bail, an Iranian pastor accused of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity is out of jail -- at least temporarily.
Pastor Wilson Issavi was arrested in February and held for nearly two months by Iranian government officials. According to the Farsi Christian News Network, he had been ordered a month earlier not to reopen his Pentecostal Church of Kermanshah after it and two others had been shut down by government security forces on charges of "attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity."
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says Pastor Issavi -- who reportedly appeared to have been beaten while in Dastgard prison -- displayed a Christ-like demeanor throughout his captivity.
"He seems to be in very good spirits," notes the VOM spokesman. "He made quite an amazing statement -- he said, 'You know, I'm a fisherman -- and a fisherman should expect their clothes to get wet sometimes.' So he really didn't see that being in prison was a shock or a surprise."
Nettleton points out that charges are still pending against the pastor.