American Pastor Saeed Sentenced to 8 Years in Notorious Iranian Prison

Aimee Herd : Jan 29, 2013
ACLJ.org

"With today's development I am devastated for my husband and my family. We must now pursue every effort, turn every rock, and not stop until Saeed is safely on American soil." -Naghmeh (Saeed's wife)

(Iran)—The American Center for Law and Justice released notice on Sunday that it had learned that American pastor Saeed Abedini had been sentenced to 8 years in the Iranian Evin Prison—known to be one of the most brutal in the country.

This news came after word by Iranian authorities that they were going to release Saeed, but when his lawyer arrived at the court, he "knew he had been deceived."

According to the press release, the judge "verbally convicted and sentenced Pastor Saeed to 8 years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches." Any evidence used against him stemmed from a time during the early 2000's when such things were not considered a "threat" to Iran.

The fact is, Pastor Saeed is NOT Iranian, he is an American citizen and has been for some time now. He had gone back to his homeland with his family last year to help establish some orphanages, when he was suddenly arrested. Saeed has already been beaten and even tortured, but now he faces 8 more years of such brutal treatment.

His wife Naghmeh, upon hearing his sentence pleaded, "The promise of his release was a lie. We should not trust the empty words or promises put out by the Iranian government. These false hopes amount to psychological torture. You don't want to trust them, but they build a glimmer of hope before the crushing blow. With today's development I am devastated for my husband and my family. We must now pursue every effort, turn every rock, and not stop until Saeed is safely on American soil."