CNN - With Pressure Mounting, Iranian Supreme Court Could Rehear Pastor’s Case

By Dan Merica, CNN.com

Should Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's case be returned to the Supreme Court of Iran, that country's highest court has agreed to review it, according to the pastor's lawyer.

Mohammad Dadkah, Nadarkhani's lawyer, confirmed the Supreme Court's statement in a Thursday conversation with CNN. The reversal is a minor victory for the two-year-old legal battle; the Supreme Court passed on hearing the case in 2010. . . .

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, an organization that has regularly updated its followers on the status of the case, said once the international community got a word of this case, voices were raised high enough that Iran began to feel the pressure.

"I don't credit one group or just Christians even," Sekulow said. "But when the world started speaking out, more and more people heard about Pastor Youcef and voices were raised."

He said the key to the campaign was making the issue about human rights, not religion. Drawing contrast to the ACLJ's activism on other issues of Islam in America, Sekulow said, "This is not about that - it is about a pastor's life and an attorney."

According to a count by the ACLJ, 80 members of Congress have released statements on the issue, in addition to public statements by the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. . . .

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