(Prayer information via OpenDoors) Since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning in 2010 of the ever-expanding influence and numbers of house churches, the treatment of Christians has rapidly worsened. The regime tries to destroy those who reach out to converts and seekers by monitoring services, arresting converts, banning Farsi language services and closing some churches. Attacks against…
By Jordan Sekulow There is a glimmer of hope for American Pastor Saeed Abedini – a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. In an interview with CNN, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was directly asked about Pastor Saeed. His answer provides the first glimmer of hope for Pastor Saeed’s freedom. As…
By Christian T. George A curtain is all that separates U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini from the murderers and rapists in Iran’s deplorable Rajai Shahr prison. Robbed, tortured, and promised release if he denounces his Christian faith, Abedini continues to be deprived of basic human and religious rights. A former Muslim, Abedini converted to Christianity thirteen…
By J.C. Derrick WASHINGTON—Republican lawmakers blasted the Obama administration on Thursday for negotiating with Iran without demanding the release of three U.S. prisoners being held in the country. The comments came at a joint subcommittee hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of imprisoned American citizen and pastor Saeed Abedini, headlined…
By Stoyan Zaimov The U.S. government is being criticized by the American Center for Law and Justice for releasing an Iranian nuclear scientist as part of negotiation talks with the Islamic Republic, while failing to strike a deal for imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini and other Americans held in Iran. “This is betrayal,” said Jay Sekulow,…
By Katherine Burgess WASHINGTON (RNS) Congress is pressing for the release of Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran for his religious beliefs since September 2012. On Wednesday (Nov. 20) the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bipartisan resolution condemning Iran’s persecution of religious minorities and urging Abedini’s immediate…
By Heather Clark WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the release of an American pastor that has been imprisoned in Iran, as well as all others “detained on account of their religious beliefs.” The resolution, which acts as a statement and does not hold any legislative power, was passed…
By Lisa Daftari Iranian jailers have denied crucial medication to Pastor Saeed Abedini, the American citizen imprisoned there for his faith, according to the Idaho resident’s family and legal team. Abedini’s father went to visit him at the prison he was recently moved to, taking personal belongings, blankets and medications prescribed by Abedini’s doctor last…
By Heather Clark Fears are mounting following reports that an American pastor who is imprisoned in Iran has been transferred to an even more dangerous prison in the country. As previously reported, Pastor Saeed Abedini of Idaho, a former Muslim, left Iran in 2005 and moved to the United States with his wife and children…
By Grace Thornton BOISE, Idaho (BP) — “Be patient and endure.” From an Iranian jail cell, Saeed Abedini penned those words in a letter to his daughter Rebekka for her seventh birthday this year. But as the American pastor marked a year in Iran’s brutal Evin Prison with no hint of a coming release, “enduring”…