Iran is fighting a vicious war against the drug trade. So far there have been over 3,000 border guards who have lost their lives in shoot out with drug barons. There’s no doubt this is a war that must be won. Iran has between two to four million addicts. It is an epidemic that casts a shadow over the whole country. In response the judiciary, led by Sadegh Larijani, has adopted a Singaporean attitude to drug dealers. This partly explains the dramatic spike in executions this year. Most of those sentenced have been involved in the drug trade. There are also other areas of crime where the judiciary has been active. Recently there has been a campaign to stamp out financial corruption. Every country needs its judiciary and security forces to focus on protecting its people from drugs and crime. In this campaign they deserve the prayers and support of the church. This is where the focus of the judiciary should be. But it is very odd that the security forces fighting drug traffickers are also called upon to arrest ordinary Christians whose orthodox faith has been a part of Iran’s culture for nearly two thousand years. It is even odder that the dignity of the judiciary that rightly punishes criminals for murder, rape, and stealing, should allow itself to be questioned by the entire world for sentencing someone like Yousef Naderkhani to death simply because, along with two billion other people, he believes Jesus Christ is divine. Pray for: Determination of judiciary in its fight against drug trafficking Courage to uproot all financial corruption Wisdom to allow religious freedom