The plight of imprisoned Iranian-American Saeed Abedini was the topic of a congressional hearing Thursday chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues.

    “As we speak, Pastor Abedini remains imprisoned in Iran, sharing a cell with violent criminals who have more than once surrounded Pastor Abedini as he tried to sleep, wielding knives and threatening his life,” Smith said. “Saeed Abedini is an American citizen. He went to Iran last year to build an orphanage for Iranian children.”

Abedini, who lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife and two children, had been arrested in Iran before, but released and told by the government he could enter and exit the country for humanitarian aid work if he agreed to cease pastoring house churches. Abedini accepted that proposal–but Iran did not uphold its end of the agreement. He was arrested in July 2012, imprisoned, and unjustly tried for sharing his religious beliefs and thereby supposedly undermining the security of Iran. The trial was not public, and he and his attorney were barred from participating in key portions of the trial—following which a judge sentenced him to 8 years in prison. His appeals have been denied.

    “In prison, he has been repeatedly beaten, denied medical care, and held in solitary confinement.  While nuclear talks played out on the world stage—Iran moved Pastor Abedini to a prison notorious for housing the worst criminals in Iran, Rajai Shahr,” Smith said.Click here to read Smith’s statement.

    Despite international diplomacy and negotiations on its nuclear program, the Iranian government transferred him from a prison commonly holding political prisoners, Evin Prison, to the notoriously dangerous Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj for violent criminals. According to onerecent AP report, “Transfer to Karaj, customarily used to house violent criminals, has all too frequently been a de facto death sentence for political prisoners.”

    Naghmeh Abedini—wife of Pastor Abedini—testified about the persecution of her husband.

    “While I am thankful for President Obama’s willingness to express concern about my husband and the other imprisoned Americans in Iran during his recent phone conversation with Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, I was devastated to learn that the Administration didn’t even ask for my husband’s release when directly seated across the table from the leaders of the government that holds him captive,” she said. “My husband is suffering because he is a Christian. He is suffering because he is an American. Yet, his own government at least the Executive and diplomatic representatives has abandoned him. Don’t we owe it to him as a nation to stand up for his human rights, for his freedom?” Click here to read her remarks.

    Rep. Smith and other members also mentioned the U.S. government’s refusal to link the nuclear talks with the release of Pastor Abedini and two other Americans Bob Levinson, and Amir Hekmati, unjustly imprisoned in Iran.

    The hearing, “Iran’s Persecution of American Pastor Abedini,” was held jointly by the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations (chaired by Rep. Smith) and the Subcommittee Middle East and North Africa.

 
 
    Witnesses, who focused on the plight of the imprisoned cleric and the need to protect religious freedoms, also includedDr. Katrina Lantos Swett, Vice Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; and Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director, American Center for Law and Justice, and; Dr. Daniel Calingaert, Executive Vice President of Freedom House. (Click on the names to read their testimony.) Click here to watch the hearing.

    The Iranian regime harshly persecutes Christians in particular, but also Sunni and Sufi sects of Muslims, and those of the Baha’i faith, Swett said.

    “Iran’s abuses against religious freedom and its unrelenting crackdown on religious minorities are deplorable and demand the world’s attention and action,” Swett said. “This is a matter of great urgency. We are concerned that the Iranian government may use the current interim agreement with the United States and other western nations on the nuclear issue to divert the world’s attention from the increasing mistreatment of Christians and other religious minorities throughout the nation.

     “If religious minorities in Iran ever needed a voice to condemn Iran’s abusive practices, it is now,” Swett said. “We hope that in his continued talks with Iranian President Rouhani, President Obama will lend his voice to the continued plight of Christians and other religious minorities, insisting that Iran demonstrate its commitment to peaceful intentions abroad by ceasing its war at home against its own people and their fundamental rights, including the right of freedom of religion or belief.”

    Sekulow said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has arbitrarily detained and imprisoned Pastor Saeed – subjecting him to violence and abuse. Violating both Iranian law and international norms, his trial lacked transparency and due process, and yet, the appeals court in Tehran upheld his conviction and eight year prison sentence. Pastor Saeed has exhausted all legal remedies in Iran to appeal this arbitrary conviction and detention – his freedom now rests solely on the success of diplomatic efforts by the U.S. government and world leaders dedicated to human rights.”

    Calingaert said, “In his campaign for the presidency of Iran, Hassan Rouhani repeatedly promised to release all political prisoners and to make a change ‘in favor of free speech and media freedom. The record of his first four months in office shows otherwise. He has yet to live up to these promises.”