Raising American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s Plight Twice Before the UN

Over the past two days, we’ve had the opportunity to present twice before the United Nations Human Rights Council, specifically raising the case of American Pastor Saeed Abedini.

Your voice – your petitions, your prayers, your tweets and Facebook posts – is being heard at the highest levels internationally for Pastor Saeed.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve had teams from both our U.S. and international offices in Geneva meeting with world leaders.  Yesterday, our international affiliate, the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ), had the opportunity to present Saeed’s case before the U.N.  (See video above.)  Not only were our representatives able to bring up Pastor Saeed’s case by name and call for his release, we were able to do so at a session dedicated specifically to Iran’s human rights abuses.

Representatives of the Iranian government were there and heard first hand about Pastor Saeed’s case.

This marks a tremendous opportunity to further elevate Pastor Saeed’s plight on the world stage.

Presenting our remarks was Joy Mdivo, the Director of the East African Center for Law and Justice (EACLJ).  The EACLJ is one of the ACLJ’s international affiliate organizations based in Nairobi, Kenya. The EACLJ actively engages in East Africa to support the rule of law, religious freedom, and issues important to the Christian faith.  The EACLJ facilitates its goals by engaging international, national, and local government officials.

In addition to presenting about Pastor Saeed specifically, our team was also able to address the broader issue of human rights in Iran, including Pastor Saeed, in a second presentation earlier today.  (See video below.)

Yesterday too, representatives of the U.S. and Germany raised Pastor Saeed’s case at the U.N.  Each time his case is raised, each call for his freedom, on the world state continues to build pressure on Iran.  Now is a critical time as Iran prepares to celebrate the new year, a time when the nation traditionally grants clemency to prisoners of conscience.

This week, we were able to take your voice directly to the U.N.  Join the over 217,000 who have signed the petition for Pastor Saeed’s release, and continue to pray for Pastor Saeed.