The Supreme Court of Nepal has upheld the decision of a lower court to sentence a Nepali pastor to one year in prison and a fine for allegedly attempting to convert someone to Christianity.
Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya of Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal, has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment and a $75 fine, or $10,000 Nepalese rupees, for violating the country’s anti-conversion law, which went into effect in 2018.
Acharya was sentenced by the Dolpa District Court in 2021 but challenged the verdict to the country’s high court.
In October, the Supreme Court rejected Acharya’s application and upheld the lower court’s verdict.
“We were very hopeful from the Supreme Court and the judgment has come as a shock to us. We still are not able to understand the reason for such a judgment,” Junu Acharya, the pastor’s wife, told the Christian Post.
She added that her husband could be arrested at any time.
Acharya was first arrested in March of 2020 when a video was uploaded to YouTube of the pastor claiming COVID-19 could be healed through prayer, Christian Today reports.
The 35-year-old pastor denied uploading the video.
He was arrested, again, one year later, for offering to
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