Iranian-American pastor receives medical treatment, given extended family visit

Saeed Abedini, the Iranian-American pastor who has been imprisoned in Tehran for his Christian faith, has been examined for internal bleeding and was granted an extended visit with his family for the first time, according to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

“Our sources in Iran have confirmed that Pastor Saeed’s family in Iran was able to visit with him today in Evin Prison for an extended two-hour visitation,” Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ’s executive director, wrote March 18. 

ACLJ’s report said Abedini told his relatives that prison officials assured him he would be taken to a private hospital outside the prison to receive medical attention.

Medical treatment for the persecuted pastor, Sekulow said, would be “the first modest step toward acknowledging the grave human rights abuses Iran has perpetrated against this U.S. citizen.” He added, though, that Iranian officials have failed to keep promises in the past.

In one more bit of positive news, ACLJ said the Iranian Mission to the United Nations has asked Iran’s top appeals court officials to consider Abedini’s case. 

“International pressure is working,” Sekulow wrote. “Now is the time to step up the pressure. We know Iran is listening.”

Testifying March 15 on Capitol Hill (see story, page 17), Naghmeh Abedini, Saeed Abedini’s wife, said, “I must say I am disappointed with our government. I am disappointed that our president and our State Department have not fully engaged in this case. … I expect more from our government.

“We should know as American citizens that our government will stand up to protect our beliefs, our fundamental human rights,” she said.

After no representative from the State Department attended the Capitol Hill hearing, Rep. Frank Wolf, R.-Va., chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, left the hearing record open to allow the State Department a week to file written testimony. 

Wolf and five other congressmen subsequently sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, asking him to make the case a priority and to swiftly issue a public statement calling for the pastor’s immediate and unconditional release.

(BP)