Iran continues to live up to its anti-Christian reputation, recently arresting 8 Christians and sentencing them to prison. The believers plan on appealing, but as it stands, their convictions of “action against national security” and “propaganda against the system” came with sentences ranging from 1 to 6 years, and bail amounts ranging from $80,000 to $200,000.

These arrests occur against the backdrop of Pastor Saeed Abedini’s 300th day in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. His imprisonment came as a result of his Christian faith and prior involvement in an underground house church network in Iran. Abedini, a dual citizen of Iran and the US, was in Iran helping orphans at the time of his arrest. His wife and 2 children remain at their home in the US, making appeals to the government and fighting for increased attention on Saeed’s plight.

Below is a brief and helpful video summary of Abedini’s current situation. The encouragement is simple: follow through. Keep praying, keep telling people, keep writing letters… keep the pressure on. Iran seems to be making positive steps, but only because of the negative international attention. It looks as though this pressure must continue if Abedini is to be released.

Video from SaveSaeed.org (HT: ACLJ)

Pray for Pastor Saeed. Pray for the 8 Christians who were recently arrested. And pray for the countless number of suffering Iranian believers whose stories haven’t been told.

This post was originally published on the Secret Church blog.