[5]
By Christian News Northwest [6]
Subscribe [7]
Across America, about 70 prayer rallies took place Sept. 26 in support of Pastor Saeed Abedinim an American citizen imprisoned for a year in his native country of Iran. One such rally (above) drew about 50 to the Oregon State Capitol steps in Salem.
Abedini, who now lives in Idaho, was arrested while visiting Iran on an orphanage project and later convicted of undermining that nation’s security by working with Christian house churches from 2000 to 2005. Sentenced to eight years in a brutal prison, he has undergone beatings and torture in what American Center for Law and Justice terms a “virtual death sentence.”
Evangelist Billy Graham on Sept. 23 appealed to Iran President Hassan Rouhani to release Abedini.
The Salem rally was organized by Lissa Bales, whose husband Dwight is pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Aumsville.