March 20, 2016
In the letter, dated February 23, Obama noted that he made a vow to do everything possible to see Abedini freed from Iran. “I want to personally convey to you how gratified I am that we were finally able to do so,” Obama wrote.
“As you know, I was joined by many of our fellow Americans in praying for your freedom. We all now give thanks that you are home. Many will continue to be inspired by your unyielding faith and courage in the face of great adversity,” the president wrote.
Abedini said, “This is an inspiring letter.”
Abedini said he remained grateful for Obama’s efforts as the president spoke out for his freedom and held conversations with Iranian leaders calling for the pastor’s release.
In the past, Obama had been accused by some, such as the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), of not doing enough to help Abedini’s cause. ACLJ, a Christian legal group, represented Abedini’s wife during his imprisonment.
Irani couple in Cambodia gives up and goes home
An Iranian married couple who accepted asylum in Cambodia a year ago in order to get out of Australia’s detention center on Nauru island have given up and returned home to Iran, the Cambodian and Australian governments announced Tuesday.
In 2013, Australia made a deal with Cambodia, paying it $41 million to take in refugees from detention camps Australia runs on Nauru and Manus islands. But only five people have ever agreed to go to Cambodia—three Iranians and two Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.
One of the Rohingya gave up and returned home last year and now the Iranian couple has gone home, leaving just a single Iranian and a single Rohingya in Cambodia.
Gen. Tan Sovichea, the head of refugee affairs at the Cambodian Interior Ministry, said, “The Iranian couple told us that they decided to go back to Iran because they felt homesick.” He said they left Cambodia February 12. He did not give their names.
About 2,000 people, including hundreds of Iranians, are confined on Nauru and Manus under an Australian policy that denies people sneaking into Australia by boat of the right ever to settle in Australia. After Australia started enforcing that policy, boat arrivals came to a complete halt. No boat people have been found in more than a year.
In February, New Zealand’s prime minister repeated an offer to take in Iranian and other refugees on Nauru and Manus, but Australia’s prime minister appeared to reject the offer for fear it would only encourage more people to try to reach Australia by boat.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s government reached an agreement in 2013 with Australia to resettle 150 refugees a year from the islands. Key said the offer still stands, provided the asylum seekers meet New Zealand’s character requirements and are genuine refugees.
“So, I can’t tell you who might or might not be able to come, or whether the Australian government would want to exercise the right to do that,” Key told reporters in a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “All I can simply say is the offer remains on the table.”
Turnbull appeared to dismiss the offer, saying his government didn’t want to give people smugglers “marketing opportunities” to recruit asylum seekers from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to embark on the dangerous journey.
“We take into account what John has proposed,… but we do so very thoughtfully, recognizing that the one thing we must not do is give an inch to the people smugglers,” Turnbull told reporters.