[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19217]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              IRAN'S PERSECUTION OF PASTOR ABEDINI WORSENS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 16, 2013

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, at our full committee hearing 
on Tuesday, December 10, I asked Secretary of State Kerry whether he 
had raised Pastor Saeed Abedini's release during the Iranian nuclear 
talks. I read him the following advance excerpt of the testimony that 
Naghmeh Abedini--wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini who remains imprisoned 
and subject to torture in Iran--would offer on Thursday, December 12. 
``While I am thankful for President Obama's willingness to express 
concern about my husband and the other imprisoned Americans in Iran 
during his recent phone conversation with Iran's new president, Hassan 
Rouhani, I was devastated to learn that the Administration didn't even 
ask for my husband's release when directly seated across the table from 
the leaders of the government that holds him captive. My husband is 
suffering because he is a Christian. He is suffering because he is an 
American. Yet, his own government at least the Executive and diplomatic 
representatives has abandoned him. Don't we owe it to him as a nation 
to stand up for his human rights, for his freedom?''
  Secretary Kerry acknowledged that he had not done so--confirming the 
awful report that Naghmeh had already heard.
  Pastor Abedini remains imprisoned in Iran, sharing a cell with 
violent criminals who have more than once surrounded Pastor Abedini as 
he tried to sleep, wielding knives and threatening his life.
  Saeed Abedini is an American citizen. He went to Iran last year to 
build an orphanage for Iranian children. He had been arrested in Iran 
before, but released and told he could enter and exit the country for 
humanitarian aid work if he agreed to cease pastoring house churches.
  As Pastor Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, testified last week, he accepted 
that proposal--but Iran did not uphold its end of the agreement.
  Abedini was arrested in July 2012, imprisoned, and tried for sharing 
his religious beliefs and thereby supposedly undermining the security 
of Iran.
  He was denied contact with his attorney until just before the trial. 
The trial was not public, and he and his attorney were barred from 
participating in key portions of the trial--following which a judge 
sentenced him to 8 years in prison. His appeals have been denied.
  In prison, he has been repeatedly beaten, denied medical care, and 
held in solitary confinement. While nuclear talks played out on the 
world stage--Iran moved Pastor Abedini to a prison notorious for 
housing the worst criminals in Iran, Rajai Shahr.
  The very fact that Pastor Abedini was moved to a dangerous prison in 
the middle of negotiations confirms that the Iranians recognized him as 
a potential factor in the negotiations. Since August of 2012, the 
United States has reportedly released four Iranians, including most 
recently a high-ranking scientist, who were imprisoned in the U.S. for 
sanctions violations.
  Speaking for myself, I question whether these releases are unrelated 
to the nuclear talks.
  Yet American citizen Saeed Abedini remains in a hell-hole prison in 
Iran.
  The U.S. government must not waste another opportunity to secure the 
release of Pastor Abedini--his case needs to be front and center in the 
next round of U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Time is running out. Naghmeh, 
Rebecca, and Jacob need their husband and father home.

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