Saeed Abedini at UN Rally for Free Iran: 'God Sees All the Bloodshed, He Never Forgets'
Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini spoke out against mass executions before a Free Iran rally at the U.N. in New York on Tuesday, preaching that God sees all the bloodshed, and He never forgets the cries of the victims.
Abedini said in his speech, posted online, that for the last 40 years in Iran "we have seen that freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech have been abused."
He recounted his three and-a-half years spent in Iranian prison for his Christian faith, and noted that every Wednesday in Rajaeeshar prison, where he was kept, government officials would execute his fellow prisoners.
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"We are here to be a voice for people who don't have any voice," Abedini told the rally.
He then told imprisoned victims directly: "You are alive in our hearts, and we are standing with you."
The pastor, who has been speaking out against the ongoing mass executions by the government of Iran, said that God never forgets the victims.
"God always stands with the victims. God sees all the tears, he sees all the bloodshed, and He never forgets any cry," he told the crowd in New York City.
"God is watching, He is seeing the brokenhearted," Abedini continued. "God is in control of everything. He is the one who is going to do His justice."
The rally also took aim at the visit of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to the U.N. this week, and looked to raise awareness for what his regime is doing to prisoners in its system.
Abedini criticized the United States, the European Union and the U.N. for failing to put significant pressure on Iran to stop the mass executions, which several human rights groups have reported on throughout the years, including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
He has made the accusation on several occasions, and back in August wrote on Facebook: "The saddest part of [this] horrible story is U.N., EU and U.S. don't have any active plan to STOP [these] executions."
The pastor has shared accounts and videos of some of the executed prisoners, including one Christian man by the name of Ali Asadi, who shortly before his execution warned Iran's leaders that they should fear God's judgments for killing hundreds of people every year.
Abedini said in another Facebook post about his speech at the Free Iran rally that he hoped world leaders would start paying serious attention to the grave abuses that are happening in Iran.
"We prayed with thousands and asked God's plan and act for people of Iran and Middle East. I shared the Gospel and gave message of hope to people who lost their families in non-stop executions in Iran by Islamic Republic of Iran, [sic]" he wrote.
