Detained American pastor Saeed Abedini has been facing abuse from guards at his prison cell, according to a human rights agency.
Human Rights Activists News Agency Iran reported that prison guards at Rajai Shahr prison raided Abedini’s prison cell on August 6 and that their actions toward the pastor were “dishonorable and harsh.”
Information about Abedini’s current state of being is very limited as family members in Iran are currently out of the country and the Iranian government has rejected all requests for phone calls between Abedini and his wife and two children in the U.S., according to American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the legal organization representing Abedini’s family.
“Pastor Saeed is anything but political. Yet the Iranian regime continues to hold this innocent man hostage. We must send a message to Iran that Iran must immediately release Pastor Saeed and the other imprisoned Americans,” ACLJ writes. “Whatever benefit the Iranian regime believes it may receive from continuing to hold Pastor Saeed and the other Americans, the American government and the international community must make clear that unjustly imprisoning innocent men and continuing its hostage tactics will only result in Iran’s continued outcast from the international community.”
Saeed was arrested after entering Iran to build an orphanage in the summer of 2012 and has been detained since that time. He was sentenced to eight years in prison on January 27, 2013 for his involvement with underground churches in Iran, reportedly compromising the national security of the country, according to Demoss, a faith-based public relations firm.
