Saeed Abedini is an American citizen jailed in Iran for his Christian faith. September 26 marks the one year anniversary of his imprisonment in “Evin University,” a prison infamous for physical and psychological torture.
At 2:00 p.m. Thursday a prayer vigil will be held on the White House step — more than 1,000 vigils are expected to take place worldwide.
While President Obama remains mute on the case, Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, traveled to New York to present a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations General Assembly.
Saeed Abedini penned the note from his jail cell pleading for release:
Please take immediate action in this regard and do not let me and a lot of other people in my ward become victims of the fire that extremists have made, those who have turned Iran into a vortex of crisis.
Considering the fact that I came to Iran to serve the orphans, please do not let them make my children orphans and my wife without a guardian.
Naghmeh and Saeed have two young children. Rebekkah Abedini celebrated her seventh birthday on September 12, without her father.
President Rouhani seems unlikely to listen to the requests of the Abedini family. He told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Wednesday he has “no right to interfere in the judicial process":
Not even the head of the judiciary can interfere in the decision of a court...there's a process, a due process that has to be completed.
Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Iranian Government in August to allow for the safe return of Saeed Abedini and two other American citizens, Robert Levinson and Amir Hekmati.
Naghmeh told Fox News Wednesday:
This is not a liberal or conservative issue. It is not a Christian or non-Christian issue. This is a human issue. We cannot afford to remain silent.