This guy's an American citizen from Iran. He was arrested in his home country one year ago yesterday for "undermining the Iranian government". In reality, what he was doing was visiting his family and working to help open an orphanage. Because he is a Christian pastor, this was seen as a crime (Christianity is illegal in Iran). He was beaten and tortured, put in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for weeks. It was only provided eventually so that he wouldn't die, and he is still subject to beatings. President Obama has not spoken publicly about this occurrence until this week.
He has been told he will be freed if he renounces his religion. He doesn't get much contact with his family, and it's only through letters, but he recently wrote to his daughter (for her birthday): "“My Beautiful Rebekka, you don’t realize how much I rejoice and weep when I see your pictures behind the glass window when my parents visit me every week in prison,” he wrote:
" 'Your hair has grown so long and is such a beautiful black color.'
'It is so hard and so heartbreaking for me to see these pictures and to know that I am not there beside you as you grow.' "
This is just for awareness. I'm not asking you to sign any petition, subscribe to any newsletters, donate any money, etc. This story was big for a few days, but has died on most news outlets. Word of mouth and the tag '#savesaeed' is the only way news is passed for him these days. Articles with more information:
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/saeed-abedini-american-pastor-sentenced-to-8-years-in-iran_n_2567051.html[/url]
Written by his wife:
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/25/grim-anniversary-one-year-in-iranian-prison-for-my-husband-pastor-saeed-abedini/[/url]
[quote]This is not a liberal or conservative issue. It is not a Christian or non-Christian issue. This is a human issue. We cannot afford to remain silent.[/quote]
How you can show support:
[url]https://www.facebook.com/PastorSaeedAbedini[/url] (Facebook)
[url]http://aclj.org/Tags/Saeed[/url] (American Center for Law and Justice)
[url]https://twitter.com/SaveSaeed[/url] (Twitter)
[url]http://beheardproject.com/saeed[/url] (Support site & petition)
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