Wife of imprisoned Idaho pastor says U.S. has abandoned husband

Two years after the Iranian government imprisoned an Idaho pastor, his wife said the United States is not doing anything to bring him home.

Saeed Abedini is serving an eight-year prison sentence. He is charged with “undermining the national security of Iran because of Christian gatherings.” He just passed his two-year mark.

Eyewitness News anchor Todd Kunz visited with his wife, Naghmeh, to see how she and her two young kids are coping with his absence. It was a late-night phone call from his mother that told Naghmeh they had taken him.

“I felt really weak. I felt like I can’t even breathe, you know? I can’t believe this has happened. This is my life. I would look at my kids. They were sleeping. It was midnight and I thought, ‘What am I going to tell my kids?'” said Naghmeh.

“Do they know? Do they understand? Do they ask questions? Where’s Dad?” asked Kunz.

“Oh yeah, every day. They see dads doing things with their kids and I can see their eyes follow that and I can see the longing in their eyes for that touch,” said Naghmeh.

“When they hurt, you see that hurt, and then you hurt,” said Kunz.

“That’s the hardest part of the journey for me. Because when you are going through something as an adult, you can try to deal with it and just be strong, but when your child hurts and there is nothing you can do about it, that’s the hardest. That’s the part where God has used to draw me closer to him because I’m like, ‘This is so painful. Help me.’ And just trying to trust my kids’ hurt and pain to God as well,” said Naghmeh.

Many people think Saeed’s imprisonment is for his most recent work in Iran.

“They didn’t say he had done anything wrong from 2009 to 2012 when he was traveling back and forth on the orphanage. They went back to 2000, between 2000 and 2005 when (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad was not president, when Saeed had converted from Islam to Christianity and when the house churches were started again under government supervision,” said Naghmeh.

Saeed was born and raised in Iran as a Muslim. He converted to Christianity in 2000 and joined a government-approved church.

“Even our marriage was in Iran. The government approved our conversion. They said, ‘OK, you are coverts from Islam to Christianity,'” said Naghmeh.

Naghmeh said he was assigned to start Bible schools or house churches that are carefully monitored by the Iranian government, but in 2005, when Ahmadinejad became president, the atmosphere changed. There was pressure on religious minorities, so the Abedinis came to America. In 2009, Saeed went back to Iran, and was questioned by the government. Ahmandinejad’s regime said no more house churches, but rather asked Saeed to help with humanitarian efforts. So he started a non-Christian orphanage.

“And so we had worked with the Iranian government on an orphanage from 2009 to 2012 when he was arrested,” said Naghmeh.

Then the call came.

“Saeed’s mom called and said they’ve taken him,” said Naghmeh.

He was detained in the summer 2012. He remained under house arrest without a lawyer, Nagmeh said, until the night before Jan. 27, 2013, when he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

“They asked for his help. They opened it up and they said here come help, but I’m kind of feeling like maybe there’s a trap?” said Kunz.

“You know, when they took him, it was surprise because he was working with them. It’s almost as if, why did they even offer up a humanitarian effort? They could have said, ‘No house churches. Don’t come back. We don’t want you here.’ But they were reeling him in to come and ‘Let’s do this orphanage together.’ They took him as hostage because it was nearing the nuclear talks or whatever, and they needed to take an American citizen,” said Naghmeh.

“What are we doing? What is the United States government doing to get him home?” asked Kunz.

“My feeling on that? Nothing. My feeling deep down, I feel like Saeed has been abandoned. I don’t feel like they are fighting for him. We’ve been talking with Iran for over a year now. We’ve released $7 billion, and he’s not home. And Iran and the Middle East understand that it takes a lot before this administration stern(ly) says, ‘You need to release this person.’ I feel like they don’t want to really. They want to focus on the nuclear and if Saeed is abandoned in the process, then he’s abandoned,” said Naghmeh.

“If you were in charge, what would you be doing?” asked Kunz.

“Why have we released $7 billion to Iran? This relationship building with Iran is not going to work. Iran will really only do something if it’s put under pressure, financial pressure. The only reason they’ve sat down to talk about the nuclear issues is because of the sanctions,” said Naghmeh.

“But we’re giving them none,” said Kunz.

“We’re giving them money. You know Sen. (Jim) Risch has been an amazing advocate. He has said it again and again to Wendy Sherman and John Kerry, ‘Why? We should not release one more penny,'” said Naghmeh.

“(The Iranian government) said, ‘If you return to Islam, we’d free you.’ I don’t know if that’s the truth, if they would’ve freed him, but that’s what they were telling him,” she added.

“His conversion from Islam to Christianity in the early 2000s, your thoughts on that?” Kunz asked Risch, an Idaho Republican.

“She’s certainly right that there is, in all likelihood, some level of unhappiness with that fact,” said Risch.

“The other thing that she mentioned that is probably the most likely are these current talks that are going on in Iran. The deadline was Nov. 24, that Iran and six other nations would get together and come up with some deal that possibly ends the nuclear anticipations that Iran has, and she thinks that they are holding him for some kind of bartering power,” said Kunz.

“There could be some thoughts in their mind that they have some bargaining power with him or it could be a combination of the former and that thought,” said Risch.

“Does this ISIS situation complicate this at all in any way?” asked Kunz.

“It is certainly not helpful. That is another complication that we really don’t need in what otherwise is a delicate situation,” said Risch.

“What are we, the U.S., doing today to get pastor Saeed Abedinin back home?” asked Kunz.

“What really disappoints me is how the administration has handled this. This should not be in the situation it is in right now. The one thing that strikes me about this is I don’t see as much compassion as I would like to see for this family. The Abedini family has been incredibly patient. They’ve been prayerful. They’re trying to work through this thing, but you have a wife and children here that really what their father home, and they should have their father home,” said Risch.

“Iran gets what they want without having to release anyone. There’s no chance of Saeed coming out,” said Naghmeh.

Risch said the No. 1 thing the U.S. is doing right now to get Saeed home is the sanctions against Iran.

As for those nuclear talks, Iran and six world powers were unable to reach any agreement Monday so they have pushed it back to March 1, 2015. The deadline for a final agreement is July 1, 2015.

Reacting to the results, Naghmeh writes in a last-minute statement: “Since we have extended the nuclear talks for another eight months and will be meeting with Iran on a more regular basis, this is the best time for Iran to build trust by releasing Saeed. We need to continue to speak out and ask our government to speak out for Iran’s continued human rights violations and demand for Saeed’s release.”

Naghmeh said it is her faith in Jesus Christ that keeps her going.