A 19-year-old Christian convert in Iran has described the abusive way in which she was treated by authorities as she was interrogated, with the questioning intently focused on trying to make her admit to “illicit” sexual relations with men.

Fatemeh Mohammadi, who served six months in the notorious Evin Prison for her faith, described how she was treated in a letter on Monday to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Mohammadi, who was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran earlier this year on charges of “membership in evangelical groups,” “engaging in Christian activities,” and “acting against national security through propagating against the regime,” says that she was repeatedly asked about sexual relations by officials.

She replied to them, “I have never been involved in any relationship; you are slandering me. What you are doing is not right or moral.”

The young woman says that officials insisted they have evidence to prove their charges of sexual relations, but did not present any.

“No matter how much I insisted that I have never had a sexual relationship, they would not accept it,” she said.

She was moved in and out of solitary confinement while multiple interrogators mocked her and continued questioning her about perceived immorality.

“I was feeling very sick during that session, and felt an excruciating pain in my chest; I could barely breathe and started to cough incessantly,” Mohammadi shared.

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Source: Christian Post

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The U.K. government has responded to a petition demanding that women be heard from when it comes to transgender people using single-sex spaces, by vowing that the latter will not be legally entitled to female or male-only bathrooms.

“Any GRA reform will not change the protected characteristics in the Equality Act nor the exceptions under the Equality Act that allow provision for single and separate sex spaces,” said the Government Equalities Office, speaking of the Gender Recognition Act.

“Providers of women-only services can continue to provide services in a different way, or even not provide services to trans individuals, provided it is objectively justified on a case-by-case basis,” it added, as reported by The Independent on Monday.

“The same can be said about toilets, changing rooms or single-sex activities. Providers may exclude trans people from facilities of the sex they identify with, providing it is a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate aim.”

An official petition to the U.K. government, which as of Thursday morning had over 12,000 signatures, demanded that women be consulted when it comes to changes to policies affecting gender.

“We call for women to be consulted on how to protect women and girls’ rights, safety, privacy and dignity,” asks the petition started by feminist groups, such as The Sex and Gender Ethics Society, A Woman’s Place UK, Fair Play for Women, and #ManFriday.

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Source: Christian Post

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An arts and crafts teacher’s restoration of a 16th-Century wooden statue of St George in a Spanish church has been ridiculed by the town’s mayor as it has gone viral around the world.

The polychrome effigy of St. George, the patron saint of England and other nations, received a significant make-over at the Church of St. Michael in the town of Estella, but instead of praise has earned much ridicule, as The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

The church hired the teacher to freshen up the 500-year-old statue, but the result left the Roman soldier with a rosy pink face and a red-and-grey suit of armor, with observers around the world, including Estella’s own mayor, criticizing the new look.

“The parish decided on its own to take action to restore the statue and gave the job to a local handicrafts teacher. The council wasn’t told and neither was the regional government of Navarre,” mayor Koldo Leoz said.

Explaining his objections, Leoz continued:

“It’s not been the kind of restoration that it should have been for this 16th-century statue. They’ve used plaster and the wrong kind of paint and it’s possible that the original layers of paint have been lost.”

The mayor revealed that experts have been summoned to determine whether it is possible for the restoration work to be undone.

“This is an expert job it should have been done by experts,” he declared.

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Source: Christian Post

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