{"id":2707,"date":"2013-03-22T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/us-help-for-jailed-iran-pastor-woefully-inept-congressmen-charge\/"},"modified":"2013-03-22T06:04:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T06:04:00","slug":"us-help-for-jailed-iran-pastor-woefully-inept-congressmen-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/03\/us-help-for-jailed-iran-pastor-woefully-inept-congressmen-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"US help for jailed Iran pastor ‘woefully’ inept, congressmen charge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Mar 22, 2013 \/ 12:04 am (CNA<\/a>).- Five members of Congress say the U.S. State Department is not doing enough to help Pastor Saeed Abedini, an imprisoned U.S. citizen being held in an Iranian prison because of his Christian beliefs.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo date, the State Department\u2019s posture on this case has been woefully inadequate, especially given that the life of an American citizen hangs in the balance,\u201d their March 20 letter said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBoth the European Union and the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran have advocated publicly for Pastor Saeed \u2013 the same cannot be said of this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThose who signed the letter to Secretary of State John Kerry included Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the House Committee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

\tThe letter charged that the absence of State Department testimony at a recent hearing \u201csent a dangerous message\u201d that \u201ceven human rights that compromise the safety and security of American citizens will be met with virtual silence from the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPastor Abedini is serving an eight-year sentence in Iran\u2019s harsh Evin Prison. He converted to Christianity from Islam 13 years ago and had worked with house churches in Iran until attracting government opposition. In 2009, he agreed to stop working with house churches and he began work in non-religious orphanages.<\/p>\n

\tHe was arrested in September 2012 on charges that his earlier work with house churches posed a threat to national security.<\/p>\n

\tThe pastor has been a U.S. citizen since 2010, following his marriage to his American wife. He has the support of legal groups like the European Centre for Law and Justice and the American Center of Law and Justice, which have helped collect nearly 450,000 petition signatures in support of Abedini.<\/p>\n

\tIn a February letter, the pastor reported that in prison he has suffered physical violence, psychological abuse, death threats and declining health.<\/p>\n

\tLast week the Tom Lantos Human Rights commission held a hearing about religious freedom abuses in Iran with a specific focus on the Abedini case. The State Department said no one was available to testify.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThere was a palpable sense of disappointment in the room that our government didn\u2019t deem the hearing important enough to provide a witness,\u201d said the congressmen\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n

\tState Department officials met with Rep. Wolf\u2019s staff and Abedini\u2019s wife and her legal counsel later that day. Wolf said these officials would have made suitable witnesses for the hearing.<\/p>\n

\tReps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.) also signed the letter.<\/p>\n

\tThey charged that the State Department \u201cmisled\u201d the commission. They urged Kerry to issue a public statement advocating Pastor Abedini\u2019s \u201cimmediate and unconditional release\u201d and to use the full resources of the U.S. government to free the pastor.<\/p>\n

\tThe congress members said an earlier State Department statement that expressed disappointment at Abedini\u2019s sentence failed to convey \u201can appropriate sense of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThey also backed a proposal to create a special envoy at the U.S. State Department to advocate on behalf of religious minorities in the Middle East and South Central Asia. In the last congressional session, the proposal passed in the House but failed to advance in the Senate Foreign Relations committee, which Kerry headed at the time.<\/p>\n

\tRep. Wolf earlier this month released a report on the persecution of Christians, Jews and other religious minorities in the Middle East and south central Asia that lamented that persecution was causing a Christian exodus from the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Mar 22, 2013 \/ 12:04 am (CNA).- Five members of Congress say the U.S. State Department is not doing enough to help Pastor Saeed Abedini, an imprisoned U.S. citizen being held in an Iranian prison because of his Christian beliefs.<\/p>\n

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