Saeed Abedini Met with US Congressional Representatives in Private Meeting

Robert Pittenger, Republican representative from North Carolina, held a session in the United States Congress in honor of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who was recently released from an Iranian prison.

Mr. Pittenger arranged this meeting on Thursday evening (February 25) at the request of Mr. Abedini. Abedini, pastor from Idaho, had previously expressed a desire to personally thank members of Congress for their efforts in pressuring the Obama administration during nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Pastor Abedini, an American-Iranian citizen, was imprisoned in Iran for three and a half years and was previously released in January as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between Tehran and Washington, along with Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post journalist, and Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Army serviceman, and returned to the United States.

Robert Pittenger, who made significant efforts for Abedini’s release, had met with him at an American military hospital in that country when he and other American detainees were transferred to Germany for medical examinations following their release.

Nasrollah‌Khosravi Rudsar, another American citizen who was released under the prisoner exchange agreement between the United States and Iran, preferred to remain in Iran. Matthew Trevithick, an American student who stated he had gone to Iran to learn Persian, was released under a separate agreement between the two sides, simultaneously with the four aforementioned individuals.