Christian Heritage News

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press : ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) -- American pastor Saeed Abedini prayed hours at times to survive years of abuse and unjust imprisonment in Iran for his Christian faith, and described his prayers as a "wonderful time with the Lord" which he enjoyed. In his first media interview since his release from an Iranian prison was announced Jan. 16, Abedini told FOX News' Greta Van Susteren of the brutal physical and psychological torture he suffered in Iran for three and half years. The 35-year-old Abedini described three harsh beatings in particular, including a beating by an al Qaeda prisoner that nearly took his life. "I was beaten within to death kind of," he told Van Susteren in broken English. "God saved me over there." During a botched trial, the judge closed him in a room where guards beat him so badly with their fists that he suffered internal bleeding in his stomach. And at another time, he said, he was beaten on

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press : GERMANY (BP) -- The wife of freed pastor Saeed Abedini is expected to meet him in Germany, according to news reports released today (Jan. 19), where his health was being assessed after his release from a three-and-a-half-year imprisonment in Iran. Naghmeh Abedini was preparing to fly to Germany for a reunion before his return to their Boise, Idaho, home, she said in a Jan. 17 telephone interview on FOX News. "We are ready to welcome him home. I'm getting ready to fly out to Germany to be able to see him, and the kids are really excited because they are making welcome home signs," she said. "There's a lot of readjustment and a lot of healing that needs to happen. It's time for our family to heal and to move forward." Abedini was serving an eight-year prison sentence because of his Christian faith. U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., an evangelical Christian who has worked for Abedini's release, said in

By Michael Haverluck - Posted at One News Now : After being released by the Islamic Republic or Iran along with three other American citizens Saturday in a prisoner swap for seven Iranians, Pastor Saeed Abedni’s wife and Christian leaders have expressed a multitude of feelings concerning the move. Abedini, who began his flight home Sunday after a stop in Switzerland, along with Washington Post Reporter Jason Rezaian and former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati — the fourth released citizen Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari also reportedly left —was held in an Iranian prison for three years, often enduring torture for his Christian faith. He converted to Christianity in Iran before moving to the United States in 2005 and become a citizen in 2010, but was arrested in 2012 while visiting Iran to help build a nonsectarian orphanage. Iranian officials said he was a national security threat because of his faith in Jesus Christ and sentenced him to eight years in jail. Abedni’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini,

By Heather Clark - Posted at Christian News Network : KARAJ, Iran — An American pastor who has been imprisoned in Iran for over three years as part of an eight-year prison sentence has been set free in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Iran. “It is confirmed: Saeed is released!” Saeed Abedini’s wife Naghmeh posted on social media this morning. As previously reported , Abedini, a former Iranian Muslim turned Christian, left Iran in 2005 and moved to the United States with his wife and two children to find religious freedom after facing conflict with authorities for planting house churches in the county. In 2012, he traveled back to Iran to build an orphanage and visit his parents—and was about to return to the states—when he was taken into custody. Read more...

Posted at Voice of the Persecuted : “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Hebrews 13:3 ( Voice of the Persecuted ) As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving and the blessings of God and family, again we ask for you to remember the millions of our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted, brutalized and separated from their families. Saeed Abedini, also an American citizen, will be spending a fourth Thanksgiving in a brutal and violent prison cell separated from his family. His crime? His Christian faith and for refusing to deny Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Four other Americans are also being held in Iranian prisons. see information here It is critical that we remember the Persecuted Church and stand in solidarity with them. Therefore, will you leave a place setting on your holiday table in remembrance of Pastor Saeed along with the 4 other Americans imprisoned in Iran, and t

Naghmeh Abedini By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press: NASHVILLE (BP) -- The wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini has voiced regret for emails she sent to close friends reportedly accusing the pastor of spousal abuse stemming from what was described in press reports as his addiction to pornography. In two emails to close friends, Abedini disclosed that her marriage to Saeed Abedini has been troubled by "physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse (through Saeed's addiction to pornography)," Christianity Today reported Nov. 12. Naghmeh Abedini expressed regret a day later. "I regret having sent the emails," she said in a statement released Nov. 13 through the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). "I was under great psychological and emotional distress. I am now taking time off [from public advocacy for her husband's release] to heal and to rest and to spend much needed time with my kids." She did not specify the

Naghmeh Abedini By Morning Star News/Middle East correspondent - Posted at Baptist Press : ISTANBUL, Turkey, (BP) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Monday (Sept. 30) declined to meet with the wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini during his trip to the United Nations, days after the Christian's wife learned her husband had recently been tortured. Rouhani instead said in a television interview that releasing Iranian criminals held in U.S. prisons would change the "atmosphere and environment," hinting that such a change would be necessary for possibly freeing prisoners such as Abedini. The Iranians in question were sentenced to prison for violating the international trade embargo placed on Iran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, Rouhani said. "There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison as a result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran. Once these sanctions have been lifted, why k

From Voice of the Persecuted : YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=14&v=2coM6GmvNKc

By Bill Bumpas - Posted at One News Now : It has been three years since an American pastor was jailed in Iran for his Christian faith, and  now there are new reports of abuse and threats against Saeed Abedini. According to Todd Daniels of International Christian Concern (ICC), Abedini's family living in Iran was able to visit with him a few days ago, and he told them of the latest abuse that took place in jail. "He was severely tortured in a long interrogation by Iranian intelligence officials," Daniels reports. "That interrogation included multiple uses of taser or stun gun, physical abuse, [and] verbal abuse that compounds the suffering he's already faced in the past three years." Read more here...