Please continue your prayers for Pastor Saeed Abedini and his family.
The Pastor’s wife, Naghmeh, along with Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice, will testify before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Thursday. The hearing will obviously be centered on the plight of Pastor Saeed who has been imprisoned in Iran for his faith. We here at FGGAM, along with many others, have called for more attention to be brought to this situation from our leaders in Washington D.C. and are appreciative that the Congress is at least going to take a look at it.
Pastor Saeed was transferred last month to the violent criminal ward in Rajai Shahr Prison, the deadliest prison in Iran. With Iranian authorities refusing to give him his medication, his health is declining. According to the ACLJ, he’s malnourished and covered in lice. This week it was learned that Pastor Saeed has been repeatedly robbed and threatened at knife point in this new prison. “In light of his deadly situation and the Obama administration’s refusal to even ask for Pastor Saeed’s release in recent direct negotiations with Iran, it is imperative that Congress speak out,” Sekulow wrote. “The U.S. State Department and the Obama Administration must make Pastor Saeed’s freedom a true priority. The life of a U.S. citizen – whose only “crime” is his Christian faith – is at stake,” he warned.
In addition to Pastor Saeed, two other Americans are believed to be held in Iran, with one facing a death sentence. One, a former U.S. Marine, Amir Hekmati, has been sentenced to death for spying for the U.S.’ when he was visiting his family in Iran. The other, a retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007 and was last seen on Iran’s Kish Island. While Tehran denies holding him, U.S. officials believe they have not been forthcoming about Levinson’s whereabouts.
The hearing will be chaired by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), who says the hearing will focus on Pastor Saeed’s worsening plight. We are grateful for this opportunity to elevate Pastor Saeed’s case, and it could not come at a more pivotal moment.
Recent comments from the Obama administration and the State Department that they are negotiating with Iran ‘on the fringes’ concerning the Pastor is totally unacceptable in my opinion. American citizens being unlawfully imprisoned should not be marginalized and should rather be a top priority. Pastor Saeed, and the two other American’s being detained in Iran should have been a precondition to ANY talks with Iran and NO agreements should have been made until their situation was dealt with in a completely satisfactory manner, which I consider to be their unconditional release and return to their loved ones.
You may read my other articles concerning this situation here:
https://fggam.org/secret-talks-reportedly-free-convicted-iranian-while-americans-continue-to-be-held-by-iran/
https://fggam.org/a-thanksgiving-plate-for-pastor-saeed/
https://fggam.org/obama-administration-betrays-pastor-saeed/