A United Nations panel this week blasted Iran's continued imprisonment of American citizen Saeed Abedini, who is
serving an eight-year prison term in the
Islamic republic for practicing his faith.
Abedini, 34, of Boise, Idaho, "has been
deprived of his liberty for peacefully
exercising the rights to freedom of
religion, belief, and association,” said the
report, from United Nations Human
Rights Council Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention. The report comes
just a week before leaders from around
the world, including Iran, gather for the
annual UN General Assembly in New
York, and ahead of the Sept. 26 two-year
anniversary of Abedini's jailing.
ADVERTISEMENT
The six-page document detailed Abedini's
plight and called for his immediate
release. His wife, Naghmeh Abedini, who
remains home with their two children, has
pleaded with lawmakers and the White
House to pressure Iran. She told
FoxNews.com she believes the UN stance
could go a long way toward bringing Saeed
Abedini home.
“From the depths of my heart, I urge
the member countries of the UN to act
on the recommendations of this
report."
- Naghmeh Abedini, wife of
imprisoned pastor
"There are times where your cause feels
forgotten -- but today is not one of those
days,” she said. “From the depths of my
heart, I urge the member countries of the
UN to act on the recommendations of this
report. As these countries sit face-to-face
with Iran during the upcoming UN
General Assembly, I plead with them to
ask for my husband's release. It is time for
our family to be re-united. My children
need their father and I need my husband."
Abedini was arrested in 2009, but
released after pledging to stop formally
organizing house churches in Iran. When
he returned to Iran in 2012 to help build a
state-run, secular orphanage, police pulled
him off a bus and imprisoned him.
Over the last two years, Abedini has
endured long stints in solitary
confinement, and, according to his
attorneys, beatings and torture at the
hands of his jailers and fellow inmates.
For months, he has been denied proper
medical attention for his injuries,
according to his family and attorneys.
“This formal opinion recognizes the
arbitrary nature of Pastor Saeed's
imprisonment -- an imprisonment that
the group declared violated numerous
provisions of international covenants to
which Iran obligated itself,” said Jordan
Sekulow, executive director of the
American Center for Law & Justice, which
represents the Abedini family.
“Iran is at a critical juncture on the world
scene, and it is time that Iran take a step
of good faith and release Pastor Saeed in
accordance with the UN's
recommendation," Sekulow said.
More than a decade ago, Abedini began
working as a Christian leader and
community organizer developing Iran’s
underground home church communities
for Christian converts who are forbidden
from praying in public churches. After
spending months imprisoned without any
notice of charges, Abedini was sentenced
in January 2013 to eight years in prison,
as his family and attorneys continue to
press the State Department and other
public and private groups to help win his
release.
There has been wide bipartisan support in
the Senate and Congress, with lawmakers
calling for the pastor’s immediate release.
Last year, Abedini’s attorneys filed an
appeal to overturn or shorten his prison
sentence but the court denied the petition.
Many have criticized Western leaders for
not pressing more forcefully for Abedini’s
release, along with the two other
Americans, former U.S. Marine Amir
Hekmati and former CIA operative
Robert Levinson, to be released as part of
the ongoing nuclear deal with the Iranian
government.
President Obama raised the issue of
Abedini in his historical phone call with
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in
September of last year as he left the UN
and headed back to Tehran, but did not
make it a condition for dropping U.S.-led
economic sanctions imposed over Iran's
nuclear weapons program.
Lisa Daftari is a Fox News contributor
specializing in Middle Eastern affairs.


www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/18/un-panel-raps-iran-over-imprisonment-christian-pastor-saeed-abedini/