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United States Calls for Release of Pastor Saeed Abedini

  • Carrie Dedrick Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Dec 31, 2014

The United States has called for the release of American citizens held in Iran, including imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini. 

Abedini, an American citizen of Iranian descent was imprisoned in Iran in 2012 after being accused of working with the underground church movement. The American pastor was in Iran building a secular orphanage at the time of his arrest and detainment. Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The U.S. has also denied a claim that the White House proposed a prisoner exchange for former Marine Amir Hekmati. 

Charisma News reports State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said, "Those reports are not accurate.” 

"The U.S. government has not proposed a prisoner exchange for Mr. Hekmati. It's not true. We do, however, call on the Iranian government to release Amir Hekmati immediately, as well as detained U.S. citizens Saeed Abedini and Jason Rezaian, and to assist us in locating Robert Levinson,” Rathke continued. 

Publication date: December 31, 2014