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LINK It's horrifying to hear how Franklin Graham dismissed domestic violence

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham told a victim of domestic violence that she ought to return to her husband and downplayed her allegations of abuse, according to a jaw-dropping story in the Washington Post.

The story revolves around Naghmeh Panahi, the wife of Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor who was imprisoned in Iran in 2012 in a textbook case of religious discrimination. Graham was among the many conservative Christians calling for Abedini’s release—and they had the support of the Obama administration and elected officials as well. In early 2016, Abedini was finally released.

But the story around Panahi received far less attention. In 2015, after years of advocating for her husband’s released from Iran, she began telling a very different story: Abedini had abused her. In fact, the Washington Post‘s Sarah Pulliam Bailey put it this way just after Abedini was released:

In November, Naghmeh Abedini began to back away from her high-profile role in the campaign, telling supporters by email that her husband had been abusive to her and she can “no longer live a lie.” Christianity Today published two emails Naghmeh Abedini sent to supporters about her troubled marriage, which began in 2004.

She confirmed that she had experienced “physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse through her husband’s addiction to pornography.” She wrote at the time, “The abuse started early in their marriage and has worsened during Saeed’s imprisonment,” which she confirmed on Saturday. The two had been speaking by phone and through Skype, but she said she has not spoken with him since October.

She said the timing of those emails, which were leaked to media, was unfortunate.

“When he gets home, we can address the serious issues that have happened and continued,” she said.

In essence, she said her husband had abused her, but also, he didn’t deserve to be locked up in an Iranian prison. Once he was free, they could deal with their other issues. And now he was freed.

That’s the backdrop for this latest revelation published by Bailey yesterday.

snytiger6 9 June 21
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