Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Will Obama meet with Naghmeh Abedini tomorrow?

President Obama is going to be in Boise, Idaho tomorrow. That is the home town of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini, who's serving eight years in prison in Iran for his faith.
Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, has pleaded with Obama to meet with her so that she can ask him for her husband's release.

"My heart leapt with hope when I heard that you would be visiting my hometown of Boise, Idaho. Since the Iranian government took my husband, Saeed Abedini, almost three years ago, I have been praying and wanting to meet with you," Naghmeh Abedini wrote in a letter ahead of Obama's visit.

"With each of my travels to Washington D.C. I hoped that I would get a call, or an invitation to see you and to speak with you. To have you look into my eyes and see the piercing pain that has been there since my husband's imprisonment; to see my kids and to know that they have missed the warm embrace of their dad for nearly three years."

She added: "Mr. President, my children and I respectfully request, as you come to our home town of Boise, Idaho, that you take a moment of your time to meet with us."

Pastor Abedini was imprisoned in Iran in September 2012 after traveling to work on a children's orphanage, and was later sentenced to eight years in prison.

Since then the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents Naghmeh and the couple's two children, has campaigned, along with hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, calling for the pastor's release.

Pastor Abedini has held fast to his faith despite the brutal treatment he has received in Iranian prisons, which has included beatings and death threats by jihadists believed to be connected with terror group ISIS.
Read more here.

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