Conditions Worsen for Pastor Saeed Abedini

A little over 13 months after being imprisoned in Iran for being a Christian, Boise, Idaho's Pastor Saeed Abedini was moved from the horrid Evin Prison to the horrendous Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. With a capacity for 5000 inmates, Rajai Shahr currently holds 22,000 prisoners. Several human rights groups report that prisoners lack access to fresh air, proper nutrition, and that louse and communicable diseases are rampant.

Shortly after the move, which came on the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Iran and came with no explanation from Iranian officials, Saeed's father tried to visit him and take blankets and medication that he had been prescribed to treat internal bleeding he sustained while locked up in Tehran's infamous Evin prison. His father says that he was turned away and told that prisoners are not allowed to have any personal items.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) described the new prison as a "place where political prisoners who are seen as a nuisance, are stowed away. Going to Karaj is a severe punishment. Once in there one stops to be a human being. One is put out of sight, even of human rights activists and the press. In Rajaï Shahr, political prisoners have to share cells with dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists and drug addicts who don't hesitate to attack their cell mates. They have nothing to lose: many of them are condemned to death anyway. Murders or unexplained deaths are a regular occurrence." Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ executive director, reports that Abedini is in a cell with murderers. "He is in Ward 9, which is the murders' ward. So he's sharing a 10x10 cell with five people who have been convicted of violent crimes, these are people who are basically on death row."

On Thursday, the Huffington Post reported that a group of two dozen U.S. senators sent a bipartisan letter asking Obama to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Iran. The letter calls the prison transfer a de facto death sentence, The State Department has also reasserted its call to release Pastor Abedini, or at least allow him to be visited by officials from the Swiss Embassy to check on his health.

Over 212,000 people have signed a petition to President Obama, asking him to take immediate and decisive diplomatic action for his freedom. Will you add your voice to theirs?

Tags : Pastor Saeed Abedini