Catholic Beat - Prayer Vigil Today for Imprisoned Pastor
By The Catholic Beat
Prayer vigils will be held in more than 70 cities today, including Cincinnati, for an American citizen and Christian pastor jailed in Iran.
It’s the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Saeed Abedini, a naturalized American citizen and Protestant pastor who was convicted of “crimes against the national security of Iran” in January and sentenced to eight years in Evin Prison. His family contends that he has been beaten repeatedly, and that the sentence will mean his death.
Lawyers at the Amercian Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents Abedini’s wife and children who life in the United States, say the Iranian-born man converted to Christianity in 2000, and like many Christian converts started secret “house churches.” After marrying an Iranian woman who has lived most of her life in the United States, Abedini moved to Boise, ID, in 2005 and began a family. . . .