With Pastor Abedini’s relaese, Heavy.com chose him as a topic for one of their 5 Fast Facts posts. Fast fact number three is:
3. His Wife Naghmeh Campaigned Relentlessly for His Release, But Then Quit After Saying He Had Abused Her
Unlike the Christian media, the Heavy.com author noted how strange this accusation really is (emphasis mine):
She said the abuse started early in their relationship and somehow worsened while he was in prison, when they communicated by phone and Skype.
Just before relaying the accusation that Saeed somehow abused his wife via phone and skype, the piece noted that the couple’s daughter had gone so long without hearing her father’s voice she was forgetting what he sounds like:
My daughter said she is forgetting Daddy’s voice and she asked me, ‘Do you think he has a beard now?’ I didn’t even think of that. She keeps playing the home videos over and over.
There are currently only two comments on the Heavy.com piece, the first is:
I hear he is a real bastard.
The second comment is a reply to the first one. It is not a reminder that all we have are bizarre whispers of accusations against a man incapable of defending himself, but a reminder that we are all sinners.
The Heavy.com article’s note of the strange accusations against Saeed contrasts with the Washington Post,* which received the modern Christian angle from Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore’s statement presumes the bizarre whispered accusations are true:
Details of her abuse will eventually have to be addressed within the evangelical community, where she has been a prominent spokesperson for international religious freedom, said Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
“I dont think today is the day to address that,” he said. “I was stunned and surprised by Naghmeh’s statement. I did not know any of that. It was and is very troubling.”
*H/T Dave
