The New American - Wife of Imprisoned Iranian-American Pastor Appeals to Congress

By Dave Bohon, TheNewAmerican.com

Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of Iranian-born American pastor Saeed Abedini, testified before a congressional commission March 15, expressing her disappointment that the U.S. State Department hasn't done more to secure the release of her husband, who was sentenced in January by an Iranian court to eight years in prison for Christian work in his native country.

Abedini told the House of Representatives' bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that she was “disappointed in our government, that the President and the State Department have not fully engaged in this situation.” She said that her children have been unable to understand what has happened to their father. “They kept saying, 'Does daddy not love us anymore?'” she testified. “And I had to tell them that he was in prison because he loved Jesus.”. . .

Attorney Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, which has taken the lead in trying to get Abedini released, criticized the U.S. State Department for its apparent lack of interest in the American pastor's plight, calling it “AWOL” in the effort on Abedini's behalf. “The fact that the State Department refused to send a representative to this hearing underscores the lack of concern and engagement by the Obama Administration in securing the freedom of a U.S. citizen,” he said. “Naghmeh came all the way from Idaho to give her testimony here today, but the State Department couldn’t send one person down the street to speak about Pastor Saeed’s case. We believe that there is a great deal more that our White House and State Department can and should do for Pastor Saeed.”. . .

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