Saeed Abedini met with representatives of the US Congress in a private meeting
North Carolina Republican Representative Robert Pittenger held a hearing at the U.S. Congress in honor of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who was recently released from prison in Iran.
Mr. Pittenger arranged the meeting Thursday evening (February 25) at the request of Mr. Abedini, an Idaho pastor who had previously expressed a desire to personally thank members of Congress for their efforts in pressuring the Obama administration during the Iran nuclear talks.
Pastor Abedini, an American-Iranian citizen, was imprisoned in Iran for three and a half years and was released earlier in January as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between Tehran and Washington, along with Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and former US Army Marine Amir Hekmati, and returned to the United States.
Robert Pittenger, who worked hard to secure Abedini's release, had met him at the American military hospital in Germany when he and other American prisoners were transferred to Germany for medical examinations after their release.
Nosrat Ellah Khosravi Rudsari, another American citizen who was released under the US-Iran prisoner deal, chose to remain in Iran. Matthew Trevithick, an American student who said he had gone to Iran to learn Persian, was released in a separate agreement between the two sides at the same time as the four men.
