House holds hearing on American pastor imprisoned in Iran
December 18, 2013
Two subcommittees of the US House of Representatives held a joint hearing on the plight of of Saeed Abedini, a US citizen who was born in Iran and was sentenced in January to eight years in an Iranian prison for engaging in evangelization.
Abedini, a convert from Islam, is a Protestant pastor who was involved in the Iranian house-church movement. He returned to Iran frequently to visit his parents and was arrested upon entry to Iran in August 2012.
“It is beyond comprehension that the US is prepared to relax sanctions on and release humanitarian aid for Iran at the same time that an innocent US citizen remains imprisoned for his faith and threatened with death,” Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, said in his testimony.
“In fact, it was while our government sat across the table from the Iranians disbursing humanitarian aid that Iranian guards transferred Pastor Saeed to a more deadly prison and denied him his necessary medications.”
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Further information:
- Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Iran’s Persecution of American Pastor Abedini Worsens (House Foreign Affairs Committee)
- Senators urge president to intervene on behalf of US pastor imprisoned in Iran (CWN, 11/14)
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