Jordan Sekulow is encouraging Obama to speak out on Abedini’s behalf again considering this latest move by the Iranians. I will say as bad as it may be, and we should pray fervently for Pastor Abedini’s safety and release, God can and will protect Abedini from his accusers in that prison. I firmly believe that.
That said, this latest news isn’t encouraging:
CNS NEWS – The Iranian prison where American pastor Saeed Abedini is now being held is “regarded as one of Iran’s harshest jails because of its high number of cases of torture, rape and murder,” according to press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
Human rights groups have long received reports from relatives of political and other prisoners held at Rajaee Shahr (Rajaishahr) prison in Karaj, near Tehran, about the conditions there, including claims of serious violence, overcrowding, torture and denial of medical attention.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which is acting for Abedini’s family, learned this week that Iranian authorities had moved him on Sunday from Tehran’s Evin prison, where he has been incarcerated for more than a year, to Rajaee Shahr.
“Pastor Saeed has been placed in a 3m by 3m cell (approximately 10ft by 10ft) with five other inmates in the ward reserved for murderers and rapists,” ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow wrote in a letter to President Obama, urging him to speak out “directly and forcefully” to save the pastor’s life.
He quoted a Dutch diplomat’s description of the prison as a place where “political prisoners have to share cells with dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists and drug addicts who don’t hesitate to attack their cell mates. They have nothing to lose: many of them are condemned to death anyway. Murders or unexplained deaths are a regular occurrence.”
Sekulow said Abedini’s transfer to such an environment “appears designed to afford the Iranian regime political cover should Pastor Saeed be either severely injured or killed by fellow inmates.”
He recalled that Obama during his September phone conversation with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani had urged him to release Abedini.
“This new and extremely dangerous development is deeply troubling and once again requires the intervention of the administration at the highest levels,” he wrote.