Jacob Abedini sent an invitation to his father in Rajaishahr prison to attend his birthday party in Idaho this week, but dad didn’t make it.
Jacob turned seven on March 17.
The invitation to Pastor Saeed Abedini was delivered in prison and Saeed was able to deliver a written answer through a relative who visited him in prison last week.
The response began:
“To my dear beloved son Jacob,
“I saw your beautiful birthday invitation that you had made me and I know how much you want me to be there on your birthday. Daddy loves you so much. I long to be there for your birthday and to make this reunion happen, but my chains are keeping me from you….
“I might not be there on your birthday and that breaks my heart as your father. But I know the One who is there on your birthday who is there for you and cares for you more than anyone could imagine.”
The father has not been able to attend his son’s birthdays since the boy turned four years old in 2012.
Jacob—along with his mother and sister—met with President Obama in January and Jacob told Obama his one wish was that Obama could bring his dad home for his seventh birthday. Obama asked the date of the boy’s birthday. When he heard how soon it was, he promised to try but said it would be very difficult to get him home that quickly.
Saeed converted to Christianity at the age of 20 in Iran. He later moved to the United States and became a citizen and an evangelical pastor. He traveled back to Iran several times. On one visit in 2009, he was detained and warned against working with the Christian home churches in Iran. He said he then stopped doing that. In 2012, he visited Iran again to help build a non-sectarian orphanage. He was arrested again and has been kept in jail ever since.