By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter
November 7, 2013|2:50 pm
Pastor Saeed Abedini has been placed in a single cell with five death row inmates in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and is prevented from having any visitors, the American Center for Law and Justice said, raising further concerns that officials placed him there to "disappear."
"Rajai Shahr is a murders' jail. It's a violent criminals' jail," said ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow on Fox News following news that the U.S. pastor was abruptly transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran on Monday."He is not allowed any visitors, and he is under quarantine. He is in Ward 9, which is the murders' ward. So he's sharing a 10x10 cell with five people who have been convicted of violent crimes, these are people who are basically on death row. So unlike being in a prison that is horrendous and you may face torture, you are now imprisoned with people who are just as violent as maybe those prison guards."
Sekulow noted that recent protests in Iran against the U.S. government are evidence that certain elements in the Iranian regime are trying to undermine any change in relationship, or any negotiations between the United States and Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been described as a "moderate" in a number of reports, and in September held the first communication between U.S. and Iran leaders since 1979 when he spoke with President Barack Obama over the phone regarding Abedini's imprisonment.
The ACLJ, which represents the pastor's wife, Naghmeh, and two children in the U.S., has led an international campaign calling for his release, insisting that he was arrested during a trip in Iran and later sentenced to eight years in prison because of his Christian faith. Despite these efforts, however, Iranian authorities have refused to release Abedini, and fears are that moving him to Rajai Shahr Prison may be a way to have him murdered by other prisoners.
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