Pastor Saeed Abedini – Iranian American – 8 Year Prison Sentence

I’m sure many of you are aware of the Iranian American Pastor Saeed Abidini who was arrested in Iran as he was in the process of setting up an orphanage.  He was convicted of Crimes Against National Security for his activity as a house church leader in Iran, in the early 2000’s in particular.

He became a Christian in 2000 and began his ministry shortly thereafter.  He was married to Naghmeh, an Iranian American in 2002. He left Iran in 2005 after both he and his wife received a summons regarding their house church activities. He responded to the summons, was interrogated and then returned home. He and his wife left the country very shortly after that.

He has been living in Boise, Idaho, for the past several years and has also travelled back and forth to Iran a few times.  In 2009 he was arrested and interrogated regarding his Christian activity.  He was released after signing an agreement that he would cease his house/church activity.  In 2012 he returned and was assisting in building an orphanage.  As he was in the process of doing this, he was arrested and placed on trial.  He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, which he is now serving in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran.

Currently, many are fighting to get the US State Department more involved in this situation. They have made a few statements about him, but by all appearances there has been little diplomatic effort to free this American citizen.

Sign the petition to free Pastor Saeed at http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-iranian-abuse-imprisonment

You can view more information about Pastor Saeed at http://savesaeed.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeed_Abedini

Please take action to help pastor Saeed and remember to pray for him and his family.