Iran: Imprisoned American pastor tortured, threatened with death -- "the message is you will be treated this way until you become a Muslim"

"All people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay the Jizya they should be fought till they are killed." -- The renowned Qur'an commentator Ibn Kathir

Islamic Tolerance Alert from the Islamic Republic of Iran: "Imprisoned American says Iranian captors 'waiting for me to deny Christ,'" by Lisa Daftari for FoxNews.com, February 22 (thanks to Daniel):

American pastor Saeed Abedini, jailed in a notoriously brutal Iranian prison for his Christian faith, is facing physical and psychological torture at the hands of captors demanding he renounce his beliefs, according to supporters.
The 32-year-old married father of two, who left his home in Boise, Idaho, to help start an orphanage in his latest country, detailed “horrific pressures” and “death threats,” is a letter to family members, according to his U.S.-based attorneys.

“My eyes get blurry, my body does not have the strength to walk, and my steps become very weak and shaky,” read the letter, sneaked out of Evin prison in Tehran. "They are only waiting for one thing…for me to deny Christ. But they will never get this from me.”

Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches. The American Center for Law and Justice has provided legal support for Abedini’s family in the U.S. and is working through various government means to help win the pastor’s release. ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow said the fact that the torture is happening after Abedini's trial, a sham he and his attorney were not even allowed to attend, is particularly chilling.

“This is post conviction," Sekulow said. "This isn’t about a trial. This is about life, and the message is you will be treated this way until you become a Muslim.”

Family and friends of Abedini have long suspected the worst regarding his treatment in the prison, but the latest letter confirmed their fears.

“This is only second time we’ve heard from him, but this makes sense in light of how Christians are being treated in Iran," Sekulow said. "He can’t communicate this message every day. It’s our job to get this important message out to everyone.”

Abedini has denied evangelizing in Iran since being arrested and admonished more than a decade ago. He has made over nine trips to Iran since 2009, but says he traveled to visit family and friends, and on his last trip over the summer of 2012, finalize details on a family established orphanage. Authorities pulled him off a bus last August and threw him into Evin prison....

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25 Comments

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boakai ngombu | February 23, 2013 2:43 PM | Reply

May Saeed Abedini know the closeness of the Savior and Lord, Jesus, and be comforted, trusting the Lord does not forsake those He has made his own.

May he continue to trust that the same Lord watches over his family and those whom he served.

quite different is the case for the impoverished Muslim in similar circumstance, who can only hope that he/she has progressed on the path, enough, to get close to the Allah god (unknowable; as imagined)... who can never know for sure that he/she matters to this capricious deity, having failed so often to live SHARIA

Salah | February 23, 2013 3:10 PM | Reply

Here's what ayatollay Mesbah Yazdi had to say about torture in Islam:
"If the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape"

http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/04/rape-and-torture-viol-et-torture.html

Jan | February 23, 2013 3:19 PM | Reply

This man is a **true** martyr and hero. He is suffering for what he believes as a Christian.

Unlike the cowardly, murdering mohammedan suicide bombers who take innocents lives, whilst proclaiming themselves as 'martyrs', and 'heroes'.

dumbledoresarmy | February 23, 2013 4:19 PM | Reply

I just sent off an email to my parish priest, requesting that his name be added to our prayers during Lent.

I explained that he is being abused because of the apostasy law in Islam. If he doesn't renounce his Christian faith and return to Islam, he will be killed.

I encourage others here who may be members of Christian churches, to do likewise; make sure that your priest/ pastor/ minister knows about this brave man.

Cases like this can raise awareness; because in order to explain why precisely this man, a convert to Christianity from Islam, is being treated so badly, one must explain about Islam's apostasy law.

apran | February 23, 2013 4:35 PM | Reply

What does Obama do about this case? Is he too busy being a narcissist?

Exmuslim | February 23, 2013 4:43 PM | Reply

Even though I'm not a Christian myself and do not believe in Christ as a deity I still have great admiration for this man and his courage standing up to Islamic supremacist may the true god provide him with strength and continued courage and inspiration and grant him his ultimate reward in the hereafter.

George replied to comment from apran | February 23, 2013 5:00 PM | Reply

Please--Obama can't be bothered with this! He's busy with important stuff, like taking golf lessons from Meldrick Woods and blaming the opposition for resisting his compulsion to spend trillions of dollars we don't have. Michelle and the kids? On winter vacation in high-dollar Snowmass, of course. Now, you tell him that someone made a less-than-flattering movie about Muhammad and he'll be all ears (which he pretty much is anyway!). But persecuted, tortured Christians? Ho hum...

miriam rove replied to comment from apran | February 23, 2013 7:09 PM | Reply

to busy being scared.
m

gravenimage | February 23, 2013 7:23 PM | Reply

Iran: Imprisoned American pastor tortured, threatened with death
..........................................

Is the United States doing *anything* to secure that man's freedom? I wouldn't count on it. There was a time when both the president and the public at large would be up in arms over this treatment of an American citizen.

"the message is you will be treated this way until you become a Muslim"
..........................................

Could anyone imagine a Christian saying this? Or anyone of any other mainstream faith? Of course not.

The 32-year-old married father of two, who left his home in Boise, Idaho, to help start an orphanage in his latest country, detailed “horrific pressures” and “death threats,” is a letter to family members, according to his U.S.-based attorneys.
..........................................

How common is *this*? This good man *must* have known he was taking a risk, but he wanted to help the country he was born in by founding an *orphanage* there. And for his loving charity, he is now facing abuse and torture.

The contrast between this man and his vicious Muslim tormenters *could not be more stark*. Why isn't the whole world outraged over this?

Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches.
..........................................

What sort of nation can have its security threatened by the presence of orphanages and house churches? A Muslim nation, that's what...

The American Center for Law and Justice has provided legal support for Abedini’s family in the U.S. and is working through various government means to help win the pastor’s release.
..........................................

Bravo to the ACLJ for taking this case!

London Jim replied to comment from Jan | February 23, 2013 9:06 PM | Reply

Seconded, Jan.
Trust you're well, Jim.

Truthseeker | February 23, 2013 9:21 PM | Reply

I will offer prayers for Ppastor Saeed Abedini. In the course of Human Destiny, the waters of oppression have only served to further the flame of pure faith?

How was it that a mere handful of Christians would lay down their lives in the Coliseum and yet, in time, conquer the hearts and minds of the Roman Empire.

Respectfully yours, TS

dby | February 24, 2013 3:58 AM | Reply

Astounding that neither Christians, nor their institutions and power centers, nor their leaders, religious, secular, financial or political open their mouths about this case, Abidini's, or others equally appalling.
Astounding that the U.S. is not publicly berating Iran, that U.S. Senators are not making some really angry noises about this, that Obama isn't demanding the release of this American citizen.
Astounding that the 'mother church', the Catholic, fails to speak up in every such case; just go along to get along eh.
Astounding.
Thank heavens Abidini has Christ, because he sure isn't get much succor from Christians.

duh_swami | February 24, 2013 4:44 AM | Reply

I wonder how many more Christians are getting the same treatment that we don't know about...
And Rasool Obama says nothing...

Thomas Pellow | February 24, 2013 7:00 AM | Reply

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/pastor-saeed-writes-to-world-from-his.html

RG | February 24, 2013 7:40 AM | Reply

"My eyes get blurry, my body does not have the strength to walk, and my steps become very weak and shaky"

He clearly is being sleep deprived to the point of total devastation.

LORD JESUS CHRIST--UNDERGIRD THIS TRUE SOLDIER OF THE CROSS BY THINE ALL-SUFFICIENT GRACE! SUSTAIN HIM WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH! PUT YOUR ALMIGHTY HAND OF MERCY UPON HIS FEVERED BROW AND GRANT HIM A REPOSE OF DIVINE ORIGIN! HEAL AND DELIVER HIM IN JESUS'NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES! AMEN AND AMEN!

Jan replied to comment from London Jim | February 24, 2013 9:04 AM | Reply

Brill, thanks, Jim.

Hope all is well with you, too.

LemonLime | February 24, 2013 12:06 PM | Reply

The silence of the vast majority of Christians on this -- and 1,001 other related atrocities Mohammedans are committing all over the world -- is appalling.

I do not feel anger or hatred against Muslims, because I regard them as what an old Yiddish dictionary from the 1940s I once stumbled across by accident in my university library defined for the word Nazi -- "robot murderer". It would be silly, and strange, to feel anything any longer concerning them. One must only make sure to defend our societies from them.

But I do feel anger -- hot anger -- at Christians for their inexcusable, maddening starry-eyed fear of being "bigoted" re-routed to an emotion that feels ethical about not being "bigoted"; an emotion that has ensnared and short-circuited the wiring in their brains on the problem of Islam.

Of course, unfortunately Christians are not the only myopics: the majority of Westerners -- whether Christians, Jews, Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists, Dabblers in New Age Nonsense, Wiccans, etc. -- are afflicted with this infuriating fashion of the mind called PC MC.

When I say infuriating, I mean the fury (...when I don't lapse into disgust).

LemonLime | February 24, 2013 12:16 PM | Reply

And, apropos of myopia and fury, take a look at this detail in the article directly downstairs from here, concerning Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has to go to the trouble of writing a letter to remind many of his Republican (i.e., non-"Leftist", right?) colleagues not to make a move that will surely ensure that Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Hagel, will be appointed:

Inhofe [in his letter to fellow Republicans] goes on to outline his top concerns regarding Hagel, which include his controversial comments about Israel, his desire to cut the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and his desire to increase outreach to Iran.

Fury... and disgust. Pepto-Bismol just doesn't cut it anymore.

duh_swami replied to comment from LemonLime | February 24, 2013 12:46 PM | Reply

Haha...I read somewhere that pure fury is a gift from Allah...

As far as low or no action from Christians, is because, it's happening over there and not over here...Gays have the same idea about gay killings in Muslimlands...They fail to consider that over there can become over here in the blink of an eye...In some ways, over there is already over here...

Champ ♥ | February 24, 2013 1:47 PM | Reply

"Save Saeed from Iranian Prison"

Here's Jay Sekulow's website of ACLJ:

http://aclj.org/

Please visit the website where you can either donate or sign the petition. Thank you!

Champ ♥ replied to comment from Champ ♥ | February 24, 2013 2:00 PM | Reply

ps ...

I signed the petition and donated to the cause of saving Saeed. My prayers are also with he and his family, as well.

gravenimage replied to comment from LemonLime | February 24, 2013 2:39 PM | Reply

LemomLime wrote:

When I say infuriating, I mean the fury (...when I don't lapse into disgust).
...............................

I share your anger, LemonLime.

This is not some point of stealth Jihad, say, where it might be expected that the poorly uninformed might be ambivalent or confused.

This is—or should be—absolutely morally clear to anyone. Here is a peaceful man, an American citizen, imprisoned, tortured, and threatened with death because he left Islam—why aren't Christians and other Westerners *outraged*?

Anyone who has heard about this case should be appalled—and very, very angry.

vnbushman | February 24, 2013 4:08 PM | Reply

Citizens of the free world must understand that this isn't a game. Under sharia it is the law to uphold the law called sharia. If you don't follow it you will be killed. Sharia Law demands it.

Islam is not like any civilization or culture in the world. We must stop think like kaffirs and start thinking like Muslims to fully understand the ideology of Sharia.

Muslims don't want to be anything else. They truly believe they are chosen by Allah to subjugate all non-Muslims. The truth of it is, they fear Allah's wrath more than they do western civilization and law.

gravenimage replied to comment from LemonLime | February 24, 2013 8:29 PM | Reply

LemonLime wrote:

I do not feel anger or hatred against Muslims, because I regard them as what an old Yiddish dictionary from the 1940s I once stumbled across by accident in my university library defined for the word Nazi -- "robot murderer". It would be silly, and strange, to feel anything any longer concerning them. One must only make sure to defend our societies from them.
..................................

With respect, LemonLime, I can't agree with either you or that Yiddish lexicographer here—I believe that both Fascists and Muslims, like any humans, are possessed of free will.

It's not as though a German born in, say, 1910 was a moral agent for over twenty-five years, then became—through no fault of his own—a "robot murderer" for a half dozen years, then mysteriously regained his agency somewhere around 1945.

That being said, I understand that the more deeply entrenched a vicious ideology is, the harder it is for those born into it to buck its insidious influence.

This is even more true of Islam, which is more pervasive than Nazism ever was.

But even so, the mere existence of ex-Muslims shows that it *is* possible for anyone to question their creed—even in the face of the death penalty for apostasy.

But I do very much agree with you that it is both foolish and futile for us to wait for Muslims to reform Islam—or for us to expect that they will ever do so in sufficient numbers for it to make a difference.

LemonLime replied to comment from gravenimage | February 24, 2013 9:31 PM | Reply

Hi gravenimage,

"With respect, LemonLime, I can't agree with either you or that Yiddish lexicographer here—I believe that both Fascists and Muslims, like any humans, are possessed of free will."

It's reasonable to assume Muslims are human and are possessed of free will. It's also reasonable to assume -- more or less figuratively speaking -- that they are possessed by something demonic. The former assumption has only an axiom, albeit an august one derived from the venerable tradition of our Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian heritage, to warrant it. And it may be warranted. The latter assumption, however, has veritable mountains of data and oceans of dots screaming for connection to warrant it.

Were there no ongoing clear and present danger of terrorism anywhere and anytime, likely to utilize weapons of mass destruction that would make 911 look like a picnic in the park, I would not be averse to considering that the former assumption must always temper the latter; but since there is this danger, and Muslims are only getting markedly worse, not better, all over the world, and millions have infiltrated deep into the fabric of our societies and no Western government is slowing down that ongoing infiltration, then it seems clear to me that the latter assumption is forced up on us, if only by sheer survival.

P.S.: I've encountered a few ex-Muslims who basically still defend Islam and refuse to criticize it, and then play the usual Tu Quoque game when pressed. In Islam, being an Ex doesn't necessarily mean you've cut the cord. Deprogramming a Muslim is not so simple, I'm afraid. And it's rendered more difficult by our tendency to superimpose our Western culture and psychology upon Muslims, and so we bracket out and are blind to cultural and psychological factors still operative (even in the Ex-Muslim), though invisible to us because we only see what we want to see, that a Muslim, somehow, must have an "Inner Westerner" like us. I.e., often our own Universalism with its humanitarian impulses is, ironically, a condescending parochial assumption, fit with a pair of rose-colored glasses that screens out all things utterly foreign (and inimical) to our ways. We thus tend to impute any recalcitrant behaviors in Muslims to extraneous causes we can perhaps, with anxious quasi-Wilsonianism, remedy.

It's really time to stop Kumbayaing and, rather, to assume, for the sake of the safety (if not existence) of our societies, that on the whole, Muslims are Other in the Kipling sense, and that the exceptions only prove the grim rule, they do not offer a way out.

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