Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., has organized a private congressional reception honoring Saeed Abedini, the Christian pastor who spent three-and-a-half years imprisoned in Iran before his release last month.
The private reception for members of Congress will take place in the Lincoln Room of the U.S. Capitol late Thursday afternoon. Pittenger organized the event at Abedini’s request so the Idaho pastor could meet and personally thank members of Congress who pressed the Obama administration about his case during negotiations to roll back Iran’s nuclear program.
Abedini, along with Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and Marine veteran Amir Hekmati, were released in January as part of a prisoner swap in the wake of the nuclear deal.
A fourth prisoner, Nosratallah Khosravi-Roodsari, reportedly chose to remain in Iran, and a fifth American, a student named Matthew Trevithick, also was released, but his release was considered part of a separate arrangement, and he left Iran on a commercial flight.
Pittenger, who has long advocated for Abedini’s release, visited Abedini just days after his release when he was at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl Germany, where he was receiving medical treatment and evaluation.
During that visit, Abedini told Pittenger that he was tortured and feared for his life during his imprisonment.
