A Christian pastor imprisoned in Iran for his faith who had been feared executed because of his three week disappearance has been found at an Iranian prison.
Pastor Behnam Irani, who went missing on June 7, was found in Ghezal Hezar Prison in Karaj, Iran.
“He was unable to say where he had been taken or what they did to him,” Present Truth Ministries reported. “He was missing since June 7, 2014 without any information being given to his family regarding his whereabouts. The fear was that he was taken and executed without any notice. Thank you for praying and taking action on his behalf.”
Pastor Irani has been imprisoned since 2011 on charges of “action against the state.” He is serving a six year sentence on the charges.
He has suffered severe beatings from authorities during his imprisonment and is suffering from internal bleeding. Supporters say that just like imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini, Iranian authorities are denying much needed health care to Irani.
Iranian authorities would still not reveal where Irani was taken or why he was kept from family and legal counsel.
Islamic terrorists attempting to take over Iraq are showing their blood lust by posting videos online of their extreme violence against Christians and others who do not follow their extremist views.
The U.S. State Department has taken note that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has committed a mass murder of Iraqi troops.
“The claim by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that it has massacred 1,700 Iraqi Shia air force recruits in Tikrit is horrifying and a true depiction of the blood lust that these terrorists represent,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. “While we cannot confirm these reports, one of the primary goals of ISIL is to set fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people.”
The United Nations has said that a half million people have fled the city of Mosul after last week’s capture by the Islamic extremists.
President Obama informed Congress on Monday that approximately 275 U.S. troops will be deployed to support U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy located in Baghdad. Iran reportedly has sent 500 Revolutionary Guard troops into the country to help the Iraqi government.
The family of wrongly imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini says that he has been beaten while in an Iranian hospital and then taken back to prison.
Iranian family members have reported that Pastor Abedini was beaten by Iranian jailers while shackled to his hospital bed and then rushed back to Rajai Shahr prison. No explanation was given to the family or hospital staff for the immediate removal of Abedini.
Abedini had been hospitalized because of beatings taken at the hands of jailers and prisoners at both Evin and Rajai Shahr prisons. Untreated internal bleeding had caused massive complications and heavy pain for Abedini and he had been scheduled for surgery until the Iranian government stopped it.
“It is a very disturbing development that underscores what we have known from the very beginning. There is much upheaveal and uncertainty in Iran,” Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice said. “This unexpected move raises great concern.”
The Obama Administration has not yet made any comment regarding this sudden reversal in treatment of American citizen Abedini by the Iranian government.
A Hollywood film producer joined forces with a church that has been raising funds to support the family of wrongly imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini for a huge event that is providing funds for the family to purchase a home.
Daniel Lusko, who has written and directed the still unreleased film “Persecuted”, held a special private screening of the movie with all proceeds benefitting the Abedini family’s fund with Joshua Springs Calvary Chapel.
The church has been actively taking care of the family during Abedini’s imprisonment.
Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh, attended the screening and told attendees that her husband is still in an Iranian hospital being treated for internal bleeding because of the beatings at the hands of guards and other prisoners. He is still be denied much needed surgery.
Lusko said that he is planning two more sneak previews of the film with all ticket sales going to the Abedini family.
“Movies come and go and filmmakers like me don’t face much persecution. But men and women like the Abedinis face persecution and death every single day,” Lusko said.
The highest-ranking member of the Iranian government says that western leaders are “stupid” if they think that Iran will do anything to curb their nuclear missile weapons program.
“They expect us to limit our missile program while they constantly threaten Iran with military action,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iran’s state-owned news agency. “This is a stupid, idiotic expectation. The revolutionary guards should definitely carry out their program and not be satisfied with the current level. They should mass produce.”
Khamenei also said that western countries were working to bring the Iranian people to their knees with a list of sanctions but that they would never be able to stop Iran.
The “Supreme Leader” also said that he wants political leaders to find ways to end sanctions against Iran without giving up any of the country’s nuclear program.
No western nations are currently threatening military action against Iran.
The Muslim guards at Iran’s Evin Prison used the excuse of inmates resisting an inspection as a reason to brutally beat a Christian pastor located in another part of the prison.
Pastor Farshid Fathi, who is serving six years after being convicted on the same kind of false charges used to keep American pastor Saeed Abedini in custody.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide told the Christian Post that the pastor suffered broken bones in the brutal assault.
“Today I celebrate our Lord’s resurrection in a mixed feeling of joy and pain in a different way and in a different place,” Pastor Fathi wrote from his cell. “My left foot is in a cast after they broke it last Thursday in violations they applied against helpless prisoners under the excuse of inspections. After three days of pain, finally they took me chained and shackled to a hospital on Easter morning. Though I was in a dire pain, I took it as a gift from our Lord to get out of prison even for few hours.”
Pastor Fathi has been subjected to extreme mental torture during this imprisonment.
Saeed Abedini, the 33-year-old American pastor imprisoned in Iran because of his faith, has been able to have an Easter message smuggled out to the world.
Abedini reportedly passed the message to family members who were allowed to visit him at the Tehran hospital where he has been held for the last five weeks.
The letter begins with wishing all a Happy Resurrection Day and then says that while he was praying in his hospital room, the Holy Spirit impressed upon him the massive number of Christians around the world today with a dead faith. That so many Christians around the world are not able to reach their spiritual potential because of their lack of faith.
Abedini goes on to say that most Christians want to experience the good things in life but don’t realize to experience the resurrection and glory of Christ we have to first experience death with Christ and die to ourselves and selfish desires.
Abedini was sentenced to 8 years in prison in January 2013 on charges that have no basis in fact. He had previously been harassed when living in Iran because he was helping home churches in worship and growth.
As the Obama Administration ramps up negotiations with Iran to ease international sanctions in return for permanent reductions in their nuclear program, the United Nations has released a report showing that Iran’s persecution of Christians is worse than at any level in the country’s history.
UN investigators found that Iran continues to imprison Christians strictly because of their faith and has designated house churches and evangelical Christians as “threats to national security.” At least 49 Christians were found by the investigators to be held in Iranian jails only because of their Christian faith.
“These are indicators that President Rouhani has no influence over hard-liners, who remain fully in charge of the judiciary and security apparatus, government entities that are responsible for the most severe abuses against religious minorities,” Dwight Bashir, Deputy Director for Policy at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom told Fox News.
“The situation of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran is very dire because the Iranian regime is a Sharia state. This dictatorship oppresses viciously all these precious groups with the abhorrent justification of Islamic law and by that it violates Iran’s constitution and a long-lasting tradition within Persian culture of peaceful tolerance and respect towards fellow Iranians with diverse religious backgrounds,” Saba Farzan of the Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy added.
Christians arrested for their faith have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.
Wrongly imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini was shackled by prison guards at an Iranian hospital and then refused potentially life saving surgery.
The American Center for Law and Justice, who has been trying to obtain Abedini’s release, said that while the pastor was awaiting surgery with an elderly relative, the guards came in and shackled him to the bed. His relative was then forcibly removed from the room by the Iranian guards.
Abedini has been in need of abdominal surgery because of multiple beatings during his time in Iranian prisons. The ACLJ says he was sent back to the prison with only some medication to help him with pain.
The ACLJ has noted the questionable timing of Abedini’s hospital transfer and return to prison. The pastor was taken to the hospital when the High Representative of the European Union arrived in Iran. The EU has been much more active in raising the issue about Pastor Abedini than the American government. The moment that Representative Catherine Ashton departed the country, Abedini was seized and returned to the prison.
“This disturbing turn of events reiterates the need to keep pressure on Iran,” the ACLJ said in a statement.
Malaysian military says that a Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared on Saturday night could have been miles off course over the Strait of Malacca rather than over the open ocean.
The military also says that it appears the two men who boarded the flight using stolen passports were not terrorists but men fleeing Iran to ask for asylum in Europe. Officials would not say if terrorism was still a focus of the investigation.
The last day has proven to cause more questions than answers as searchers discovered the oil slicks found in the ocean were not connected to the flight. They also discovered that some of the debris that was thought to be parts of the aircraft is nothing more than flotsam that had gathered together.
The U.S. Navy has sent ships and at least three search and rescue helicopters into the area to try and find debris or survivors.
The airline has reportedly offered $3,000 to the family members of everyone on the flight while saying they were not going to stop rescue efforts.
