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Chairman frank criticized the obama administration for not running, for turning down the invitation to testify. abedini s u.s. citizenship is not recognized by iran. he has been sentenced to eight years being criticized and accused of evangelizing and threatening national security. he was in the country building an orphannage. a state department spokes certain said earlier this month the administration is concerned iranians are not granting access it him and by our swiss protecting power and he should be released immediately. i got off the phone with a spokesperson said they re meeting with the family. jenna: we saw pictures of the family on our screen, elizabeth. what did we hear from the family today? reporter: we did. we heard from his wife. it was incredible emotional. nagmeh abedini held a picture of their children rebecca and jacob. her son turning five says nights are simply the hardest. her husband is amazing father and she recount his very dramatic arrest. ....
You know what the united states did? absolutely nothing. martha: why? iranian blogger. martha: why are we not seeing the new secretary of state john kerry, john remember the president, saying this pastor is a christian. he was starting an orphannage. he deserves to be back home with his family. why is that so difficult to articulate for these people? australia even showed up for pastor saeed. they spoke out. european union, australia, the governments have done more than the united states government. i say that the congressman have done a great job here, members of the u.s. house and senate. that s why we re having this hearing on friday to get to this answer. why site an iranian blogger beaten to death in a prison but forget the american citizen sitting in that same prison today? exactly. martha: one more point before we go. the numbers on this are tough but i know that your ....
reporter: the u.s. state department is, bill. they say they re actively engaged in this case and in close contact with the family. it is such a sensitive situation right now they are not going to divulge exactly what they are doing. all of this complicated by the fact that the u.s. and iran do not have diplomatic relations. what is very puzzling to christian groups following this case it is not clear were abedini was arrested over the summer and sentenced now? he had converted to islam back in 2000. he had apparently involved in the network of house churches but he had sort of agreement with the iranian authorities that if he didn t evangelize he would be able to travel back and forth. he now lives in boise, idaho, back and forth to iran to visit family and do work with an orphannage as long as he did not evan gellize. apparently did not been doing that but was picked up anyway. christian solidarity worldwide which is based here in london, bill, is concerned about the charge is a pol ....
Attention they called his wife, okay, now we ll try to help. except, it is thursday, and his trial is on monday. and we didn t find out that until last monday. we heard nothing else from them. we don t know what they re doing. whether it is back channel, it would be nice to know if they re actually trying. martha: you make a great point. time is running out. just by way the background on his story, he was in iran, had been back and forth all the time over the years. has family there. his wife and children as you see. we showed pictures of them at disneyland. they re here in the united states. he is an american citizen. but he was leading house churches which they didn t like in iran. i won t do that anymore but setting up an orphannage in iran. that was his mission as he went back and forth. why, why did they take him in all of sudden for no apparent reason? well, they have now decided in iran to let the revolutionary guard treat christians, all christians as enemies of state. regard ....
Now. it is very emotional time for these families who are waiting for kids. harris: i toggle between anger and tears as you re describing this, amy. thank you very much. let s now be joined on the phone for more on this but lauren kotch. director at national council for adoption. lauren are you with us. thank you, harris absolutely for having me. harris: our colleague, am amy kellogg laid this out for us. what are the conditions in russia for those orphans? like many or fannages around the world this is not the place for children who really need to thrive in loving you can permanent families. an orphannage is a place where children do not get a lot of touch. they don t get the emotional or mental support that children desperately need at a young age. really the best place for these children is in a loving permanent family. as amy said, there are ....