September 06-13
An Iranian appeals court has refused to reduce the eight-year prison term handed down to an Iranian-American Christian pastor from Idaho, Saeed Abedini.
Abedini, 33, is a naturalized American citizen who lived in Boise with his wife and two children. He led a congregation there before his arrest. He has been held in Iran’s Evin Prison since last September, following his arrest on a bus.
His supporters say he has been beaten and tortured in prison, and that he was only in Iran to try to start a non-denominational orphanage.
“While we remained hopeful that Iran would use its own appeal process to finally show respect for Pastor Saeed’s basic human rights, again Iran has demonstrated an utter disregard for the fundamentals of human rights,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an Evangelical Christian group that represents Abedini’s wife.
“We are exploring all options with Pastor Saeed’s family, including options in this country and abroad to bring more pressure on Iran from the US and other countries around the world,” Sekulow said.
Abedini’s attorneys were quoted as saying they had been hopeful President Rohani would show more clemency in religious persecution cases. But an Iranian president has no say over the Judiciary.
The decision to reject Abedini’s appeal came Sunday from the Tehran Court of Appeals and was handed down by a two-judge panel that refused to provide Abedini’s Iranian attorney with a written copy of the decision, according to the attorney.
One of the judges issuing the decision, Judge Ahmad Zargar, was previously sanctioned by the European Union for issuing long-term sentences and death sentences for peaceful protesters.
Abedini was first arrested for evangelizing more than a decade ago. He said he was freed and told by authorities he could return to Iran to visit family as long as he refrained from spreading his faith. But when he went back to Iran last year to help build the orphanage, he was arrested. He said he did no evangelizing as per his pledge on his first release.
“The news out of Iran is devastating to our family,” said Naghmeh Abedini, who believes her husband’s only hope for freedom lies with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi.
Naghmeh Abedini also expressed disappointment with the Obama Administration.
“My husband is serving eight years in the notorious Evin prison and facing daily threats and abuse by radicals because he refuses to deny his Christian faith,” she said. “I am extremely disappointed that President Obama has chosen to remain silent on this critical human and religious rights case of an American imprisoned in Iran.”
President Obama has not spoken out on Abedini’s plight; US presidents only rarely speak on individual human rights cases. But the State Department has publicly condemned Abedini’s continued imprisonment on multiple occasions.
Abedini’s case has become a major issue with American Evangelicals who have repeatedly flayed Obama for not getting involved personally.