American pastor Saeed Abedini has been moved to a less dangerous ward in an Iranian prison but still faces life-threatening conditions, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) reports.
Abedini was transferred from the murderer ward to the political prisoner ward at Iran’s notorious Rajai Shahr Prison, the facility that houses the country’s most violent criminals. He was detained last year for starting Christian house churches in Iran and was later sentenced to eight years in prison for "undermining the national security" of the country’s Islamic theocracy.
Abedini’s Iranian family was able to visit him for the first time in six weeks on Wednesday. His medical condition continues to worsen:
He continues throwing up on a regular basis and is still experiencing significant pain in his abdomen. Since being moved within the prison, Pastor Saeed was able to see a prison doctor who was very concerned about his internal injuries. The prison doctor recommended that he receive surgery and provided him medication to ease his pain.
Pastor Saeed sustained internal injuries from beatings he endured in Evin prison early in his imprisonment. Those injuries have gone largely untreated, and when Pastor Saeed was transferred to Rajai Shahr, Iranian authorities refused to give him the medication he had been prescribed. Though Saeed was provided pain medication recently, Saeed has still been denied the medication that was previously prescribed for his internal injuries.
His family has formally petitioned the Iranian government to allow him to receive the surgery at a private hospital.
Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, also commented on the move of her husband:
There is a glimmer of comfort to know that my husband has been transferred out of the murderers’ ward, but my heart aches to know the pain he continually suffers and that his injuries necessitate surgery. As a family, it is difficult to be so far away and unable to comfort him in his pain. Though we are encouraged by the transfer to the new ward, such a small step is far from an unconditional release where Saeed is reunited with our family. While this development is welcomed, we desperately await his return home.
Naghmeh previously said the U.S. government had abandoned her husband after only discussing his release with Iranian officials "on the margins" at recent nuclear talks.
A petition at beheardproject.com demands that the U.S. Senate approve sanctions on Iran to bring them back to the negotiating table and secure Abedini’s release.