The wife of an American pastor imprisoned in Iran pleaded with a House subcommittee on foreign affairs Thursday to do something to free her husband. Naghmeh Abedini said that her husband, Saeed Abedini, went to Iran to build an orphanage but was imprisoned unjustly because of his Christian beliefs. She said that when her family's "nightmare" began, she anticipated having to fight the Iranian government. But she feels shocked and deeply disappointed because she's had "to battle my own government." U.S. President Barack Obama pushed for the release of Abedini and two other detained Americans --  Robert Levinson and Amir Hekmati -- when he spoke on the phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in September.
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Naghmeh Abedini says she felt she's had to fight Iran, and also her own government
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Her husband's case was not brought up during recent nuclear deal talks with Iran
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She said her husband has been tortured in prison and has been imprisoned for his faith
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Iran's detention and torture of her 33-year-old husband constitutes an assault against @placeholder national security, she said.
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The detention is "an experiment" because officials there are "curious" to see how strong @placeholder is, and whether he would take action immediately to free the pastor.
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Between 2000 and 2005, her husband had previously gotten into trouble with @placeholder's government because he was talking about his Christian faith with Iranian Christians in their homes, she said.
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"And until we stand up as one -- as @placeholder, as political leaders, and government officials, as people who have been endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights -- we will not truly embrace the responsibility that comes with that freedom."