Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

Above, Saeed Abedini

April 2016 – Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor from Boise, Idaho, was released January 16 after more than three years of being imprisoned in Iran. His release, coming after ceaseless campaigns for his freedom spearheaded by his wife Nagmeh Abedini and Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, was part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran. As part of that deal, three other American citizens were also released from Iran prisons: former Marine Amir Hekmati, journalist Jason Rezaian, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, said to be a businessman.

In Abedini’s first public interview, aired by Fox News on January 25, he said he was beaten several times, kept in solitary confinement for a time, witnessed traumatizing executions, and prayed for as long as 20 hours a day.

Patrick Mahoney, director of Christian Defense Coalition, said, “To those who made phone calls to the White House, to the members of Congress, to the State Department; for those who prayed without ceasing; for those who signed petitions, wrote letters, marched, prayed – it’s just a wonderful reminder: ‘Do not grow weary in well doing for you shall reap a harvest’ (Galatians 6:9).”

onenewsnow.com, 1/19/16; time.com, 1/16/16; bpnews.net, 1/26/16