Abedini: 'God saved me' from death in Iran

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) -- American pastor Saeed Abedini prayed hours at times to survive years of abuse and unjust imprisonment in Iran for his Christian faith, and described his prayers as a "wonderful time with the Lord" which he enjoyed.

In his first media interview since his release from an Iranian prison was announced Jan. 16, Abedini told FOX News' Greta Van Susteren of the brutal physical and psychological torture he suffered in Iran for three and half years.

The 35-year-old Abedini described three harsh beatings in particular, including a beating by an al Qaeda prisoner that nearly took his life.

"I was beaten within to death kind of," he told Van Susteren in broken English. "God saved me over there." During a botched trial, the judge closed him in a room where guards beat him so badly with their fists that he suffered internal bleeding in his stomach. And at another time, he said, he was beaten on the face and body with a heavy metal chair.

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