American pastor Andrew Brunson has been released after being detained for two years in Turkey.
At a hearing this morning, a Turkish court freed him from judicial control, which lifts his house arrest and travel ban.
Despite a guilty verdict sentencing him to 3 years, 1 month, and 15 days in prison, Brunson may return home to the United States as soon as today due to good behavior and time already served…
“Turkey has done the right thing in allowing him to return to his home country,” said David Curry, Open Doors president. “I applaud President Trump for the unrelenting pressure his administration applied to Turkey on this matter, in part through tariffs and sanctions. The president has rightly recognized that economic leverage can help bring positive change for human rights and can convey a powerful message of solidarity with oppressed religious minorities, especially persecuted Christians.”
Brunson faced up to a 35-year prison sentence, but maintained his innocence throughout the saga. “I am an innocent man on all these charges. I reject them,” he had stated. “I know why I am here. I am here to suffer in Jesus’s name.”
Stella's Place 
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Nothing like the kidnapping and murder of a US-based Saudi dissident in a Saudi embassy on Turkish soil to cut right thru those bureaucratic red tapes…
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Not to mention the U.S. economic sanctions on Turkey.
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The Saudis have that multi-billion $$ arms contract in hand and the other hand on the oil tap that could seriously impact on Trump’s economic recovery.
Right now we have two large and powerful military forces, the Saudis and the Turks, who are sorta pissed at one another. The Turks are pissed at the US, as are the Russians, for the US support of the Kurds in eastern Syria, right on the Turkish border. And then there’s the newc Saudi poobah who seems a bit raw and Erdogan’s internal problems…lotta stuff on the plate.
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