Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani recently refused an offer to secure his own release by agreeing to state that the Muslim prophet Mohammed was a messenger sent by God.

Pastor Nadarkhani's lawyers were unexpectedly summoned to his home city of Rasht on December 30, 2011.

“During ensuing discussions, local authorities indicated they would release the pastor if he agreed to make the statement regarding the Prophet Mohammed. However, Pastor Nadarkhani has refused to do so, and remains in prison awaiting a final decision on his case.”

Towards the end of 2011, unconfirmed reports were indicating that the case may have been passed on to the head of the Iranian judiciary, and that execution may have been delayed for up to a year to allow time to convince the pastor to renounce his faith.

The terms of the recent offer from the Rasht officials have been described by local sources as “amounting to an indirect recantation of faith.”

Sources also point out that the request violates article 23 of the Iranian Constitution, which states that no-one should be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.