Pastor Saeed Describes Details of Torture He Endured in Iran Prison - EMILY STEPHENSON/REUTERS CHARISMA NEWS

Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho is pictured with Congressman Robert Pittenger at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. (Reuters)

Pastor Saeed Describes Details of Torture He Endured in Iran Prison

1/26/2016 EMILY STEPHENSON/REUTERS  charisma news

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Saeed Abedini, an American pastor freed this month from an Iranian prison as part of a U.S.-Iranian prisoner swap, said in a television interview aired on Monday that he was tortured and left in solitary confinement for refusing to sign a false confession and saw other prisoners being taken to be hanged. 

Abedini told Fox News that while in Tehran's Evin prison he was beaten by interrogators, left with an al Qaeda prisoner who tried to kill him and watched people screaming and crying while taken to be hanged. 

"Yes, in interrogation once they beat me very badly because they wanted me to write something I didn't do ... Actually it was in a courtroom that the judge closed the door and the interrogators started beating me, and at that time I got a stomach bleeding," he told Fox News. 

"The worst thing that I saw was when they took some Sunnis for execution...Most of them were Sunnis, some of them were political prisoners.... I can say most were executed for their faith." 

Abedini was supposed to be reunited with his wife and children on Monday at a Christian center in North Carolina, but it was delayed because the family's travel plans have been "in flux day-to-day," a spokesman for the center said. 

The Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove, founded by the famed evangelical minister and his family, said Abedini wanted time to adjust and reconnect with his family after more than three years of imprisonment in Iran. 

Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, told Reuters last week the couple would work on their marriage. She said in a message to supporters that became public that her husband had been abusive and suffered from a pornography addiction. 

Abedini arrived at the Asheville, North Carolina, center on Thursday. He and his avid supporter Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, have so far declined comment. 

Abedini, 35, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced by an Iranian court in 2013 to eight years in prison for allegedly compromising Iran's national security by setting up home-based Christian churches there. 

Abedini was one of five Americans released by Iran in exchange for clemency to seven Iranians who were convicted or facing trial in the United States. The swap was announced at the same time as international sanctions on Iran were lifted in a deal with the United States and other major powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program. 

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

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After Years of Demonic Abuse, Pastor Saeed's True Condition Revealed - CBN NEWS CHARISMA NEWS

Saeed Abedini meets with Rep. Pittenger (Courtesy/CBN)

After Years of Demonic Abuse, Pastor Saeed's True Condition Revealed

1/20/2016 CBN NEWS  charisma news

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Pastor Saeed Abedini is in good physical, spiritual, and emotional health just a few days after his release from an Iranian prison, Rep. Robert Pittenger told CBN News.

Pittenger met with Abedini Tuesday afternoon. The two men talked and prayed together for about an hour-and-a-half.

"His spirits are great. He looked in good physical health," Pittenger said. "I think he's come out of it very well, mentally, physically, emotionally—he's engaged."

The North Carolina congressman flew to Landstuhl, Germany, as part of a delegation to meet Abedini and three other freed Americans. He's been a public advocate for the pastor's release since 2013.

For the most part, Saeed was kept in isolation, but in the past six months the Iranians began to give him better food and treatment.

Pittenger believes that's because they planned to release him once the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran was finalized.

"I think the Iranians had probably predetermined they were going to be releasing him, so they took good care of him, I think, the last six months," Pittenger said. "I think they treated him very well and fed him well to make sure he was fattened up and looked good."

Abedini is unsure of his immediate plans but is seeking God's will for his life and his future.

"He is very close to the Lord, we had a wonderful time of prayer. He senses God's calling on his life and he wants to please Him by way of his life and his family first," Pittenger said.

"He prayed very sincerely that he wants to be God's person and he wanted to be responsive to His will in his life and wants to be the caring husband that he desires to be," he said.

The Abedini family faces difficulties upon his return. Saeed's wife, Naghmeh, revealed recently they have struggled in their marriage. An email alleging emotional and verbal abuse by Saeed was published in media reports last year.

Naghmeh admits there will be difficult days ahead as the family seeks a time of healing.

"The reality is that we are not heroes. Jesus is the only hero. He is our only example, and we are broken people with issues," she told CBN News hours after her husband's release.

Watch Naghmeh's full interview with CBN News here: Pastor Saeed home in USA

Pittenger took a pastoral tone when addressing the circumstances.

"It stands in the hand of a healing Jesus. Jesus is in the business of reconstruction," he said. "We come as imperfect vessels to the throne and the grace of God. ... I know he desires to be with his family and be right by the Lord and be right by them, and as I said this is a healing process."

Earlier, Pittenger told CBN News that this phase is very critical for the released prisoners.

"They've come out of a very oppressive environment where they were, for the most part, left in isolation—had a lot of mental torture—and this will take time to process out and help them," he said.

"They've been in a very demonic atmosphere and it's been very oppressive," he said. "The transition in their life is going to be extraordinary. So, just being able to communicate, be back with their families, is going to be a real challenge. This is going to be a very hard process."

Pittenger has been calling for Abedini's freedom since 2013. Evangelist Franklin Graham, who heads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, played a role in enlisting him to the cause.

"Franklin has been a good friend of Mrs. Abedini's through this period. I was encouraged to get involved because of Franklin and also because of Dr. David Chadwick in Charlotte, the pastor of Forest Hill Church. So my interest is there because they asked me to get involved," he said.

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Persecuted Pastor Saeed's Wife and Kids Request Meeting With President of Iran

 9/3/2015 JAY SEKULOW/ACLJ  charisma news

The picture Rebekka Abedini drew for the Iranian president. (Courtesy/ACLJ)

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American Pastor Saeed Abedini's wife Naghmeh and their two young children, Rebekka and Jacob, are making an impassioned plea to meet directly with the President of Iran when he comes to New York later this month.

It has been over three years since Naghmeh has seen her husband, Pastor Saeed. After three years of missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and milestones in their children's lives, Naghmeh has a new unique opportunity to fight for the release of her husband, who remains wrongfully imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. 

The 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to open later this month, and the Iranian President and other top Iranian officials will be traveling to New York for the occasion. That's right—Iran's President will be on U.S. soil, where Pastor Saeed belongs.

Naghmeh recently sent a letter to the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations requesting a meeting with Iranian President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif and the Ambassador himself. 

In the letter, Naghmeh writes:

My husband has great love and respect for Iran, and this why, during the three years before his imprisonment, our family has committed to opening an orphanage for young street children. When Saeed returned to Iran in 2012, as he had done so many times, it was to put in place the final board member, a devoted Shia Muslim from Qom. Though we have lived in the United States with our children since 2005, we have been committed to serving some of Iran's most needy.

Yet, for the last three years, our family has greatly suffered in the absence of my husband and my children's father. Saeed is currently being held in Rajaei Shahr prison in Gohardasht. Saeed is not a criminal. Saeed is not a threat to Iran or the stability of its government. Saeed is a husband and a father. Saeed is suffering from internal injuries incurred during his time in prison that Iranian doctors have indicated need surgery and hospitalization, but which he has not yet received. 

Her letter concludes:

The purpose of the United Nations General Assembly is to facilitate discussion and decision-making that advances peace and security around the world. Yet, my husband remains in prison for nothing more than the peaceful exercise of his faith. Therefore, it is with the same spirit of diplomacy and decency that governs the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly that I respectfully request a meeting for myself and my legal counsel with President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif and yourself to discuss Saeed's situation. I will make myself available at your convenience.

Also included in the letter to the Iranian Ambassador are these hand-drawn letters from Pastor Saeed's children. Click here to see the photos.

This American family is torn apart. Pastor Saeed was trying to help the neediest Iranians, and instead, he sits tormented in one of the world's most dangerous prisons.

Iran wants to be a part of the international community, and they claim they are entering a new era. Here's their chance to prove it.

Meet with Naghmeh and free Pastor Saeed.

We will continue working for Naghmeh, Rebekka and Jacob to bring their husband and father—Pastor Saeed—home. We join them in urging Iran to meet with Naghmeh when the Iranian delegation is on American soil at the U.N. General Assembly.

We are also urging U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to meet with Naghmeh and Iran's president to put international pressure on Iran to honor its numerous human rights obligations and free Pastor Saeed.

Join our massive letter-writing campaign at the U.N. by writing a letter (or signing ours) at beheardproject.com. It's simple; we have a form you can fill out to write a letter for Pastor Saeed and we'll send it.

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Pastor Saeed Forcibly Returned to Prison after Beating

Pastor Saeed - in Iranian prison

Pastor Saeed Forcibly 

Returned to Prison after Beating

CBN News 

May 21, 2014

Saeed Abedini, a U.S. pastor who has been imprisoned for his faith, was severely beaten at an Iranian hospital, forcibly removed, and returned to the brutal Rajai Shahr prison.

His Iranian family claims the transfer was unexpected and the reason is unclear. But one of the guards involved in the transfer suggested recent Iranian nuclear talks could be a motive, the family said.

"This is an extremely disappointing development -- one that breaks my heart," Naghmeh Abedini, Pastor Saeed's wife, said.

"Our family is deeply saddened and we continue to pray for Saeed -- for his safety and his release. We are very grateful that so many people around the world continue to pray for Saeed," she added.

In March, Pastor Saeed experienced similar treatment. He was transferred to the same hospital in shackles and beaten by guards. Abedini was then denied medical treatment and visits from relatives.

Saeed's situation at the hospital had improved after global criticism. He was allowed frequent visits from local family members and was given nutritional meals.

His forcible return to prison comes as efforts continue around the world to secure his release.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) nearly 260,000 people from around the world have already signed the BeHeardProject petition, in an effort to get him released.

Let your voice be heard, sign the petition.

Watch: CBN News video