The Iranian-American pastor from Idaho, held for more than three years, was exchanged as part of a prisoner swap in which Iran released four people and the United States released seven.
“It is confirmed,” his wife Naghmeh announced on Twitter. “Saeed is released from Iranian prison.”
“This has been an answer to prayer,” she said in a press release from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), one of Abedini’s leading advocates. “This is a critical time for me and my family. We look forward to Saeed’s return and want to thank the millions of people who have stood with us in prayer during this most difficult time.”
More than 1.1 million people had joined ACLJ’s “Save Saeed” campaign. President Obama personally told Naghmeh last year that freeing her husband was “a top priority.” This past October, she wrote to the president in The Washington Post that it was “past time” to bring him (and the other hostages) home. “Thankfully I do not put my trust in governments or the rulers of nations,” she wrote. “Instead I put my trust in God.”
Supporters flocked to Naghmeh’s Facebook post confirming the good news, which she received after nearly two weeks of Daniel-inspired prayer and fasting for his release.
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but I felt the Lord saying, ‘Let it go—don’t touch the situation with Saeed, and I will take care of it,’” said Naghmeh in an interview with Morning Star News. “So I let go. I stopped my travels. I stopped speaking. Interestingly enough, it happened when I let it go.”
The exchange happened on the same day that America observes Religious Freedom Day, though the timing was related to ongoing diplomacy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.
As CT previously reported, the now 35-year-old Abedini made frequent trips to Iran. A convert from Islam to Christianity, he had been warned by the Muslim nation against his involvement with house churches.
So in 2012, he returned instead to continue building a government-approved orphanage. While there, Abedini was pulled off a bus, charged with undermining national security, and sentenced to eight years in prison.
The sentence has resulted in torture and beatings and pressure to recant for Abedini, whose wife and two children live in Boise, Idaho. His release had been requested by Billy Graham, the White House, President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and the United Nations.
