#BeHeard and #Reach3 for Pastor Saeed
Today, American citizen Pastor Saeed Abedini anguishes in an infamous Iranian prison. His crime? Refusing to denounce his Christian faith. Before it is too late for Pastor Saeed, we need your help to ensure that those in power in America hear his cries for justice!
On September 26, 2012, an American citizen was torn from his family when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrested him in a violent and unannounced raid. He was in Iran, volunteering his time to build a government-sanctioned orphanage. He was thrown in one of Iran’s worst prisons, where he remained in solitary confinement for the following 4 weeks. That November, he was moved to Ward 209 of Evin Prison having been tortured and beaten.
Pastor Saeed was denied bail in a sham hearing while his prison cellmates violently threatened his life. Saeed has committed no crime. He remains in an Iranian prison cell to this day.
In December 2012, the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), which has represented Pastor Saeed’s wife and family from the beginning, launched a digital advocacy campaign to bring attention to his plight, creating the website SaveSaeed.org and using social media to get his story on national radio, web, and television outlets. Petitions were created to let his supporters be heard in the fight to #SaveSaeed.
Since the campaign’s launch, Saeed’s story has made its way from the walls of Facebook to the halls of Congress, and even to the desk of the Oval Office. President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and dozens of international leaders have publicly called for the release of Pastor Saeed. To date, we have received over 930,000 signatures on petitions calling for the immediate release of Pastor Saeed. Their voices are being heard, but the work is not yet done.
In just a few weeks, on June 30th, the United States and Iran face a deadline to finalize a deal over ongoing nuclear negotiations. Pastor Saeed, along with the other Americans being held hostage in Iran, must be freed before any such deal is finalized. We are making a final push to present our leaders with 1,000,000 names advocating for the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini.
The overwhelming support for Pastor Saeed allowed the ACLJ to develop the Be Heard Project. Launched in 2013, the Be Heard Project is an online project that focuses solely on the persecuted Church. This international advocacy project has helped lead to the successful release of persecuted Christians around the world.
Today, through the Be Heard Project, we are starting a new campaign - Reach 3. We need each person who has signed a petition for Pastor Saeed to get three friends to sign as well. We must show our leaders in Washington how important it is to the American people that no deal with Iran is finalized until our Americans are brought home. Please visit BeHeardProject.com and sign the petition for Pastor Saeed. Let your voice #BeHeard and #Reach3 for Pastor Saeed.