Wife of pastor freed from Iran files legal separation,claims he abused her for years

The wife of an American pastor who was imprisoned for nearly four years in Iran filed court documents to legally separate from him the same day he returned home to Idaho - claiming that she has been abused for years.
Saeed Abedini, 35, was one of four Americans released in Iran under a negotiated prisoner exchange on January 16 after being sentenced by an Iranian court in 2013 to eight years in prison. The U.S. agreed to free seven Iranians as part of the exchange.


Abedini returned to Boise on Tuesday and court documents indicate his wife, Naghmeh Panahi, filed a petition for separation the same day.

Naghmeh Abedini was a tireless advocate for her husband's release until November, when she told supporters that he had been an abusive husband and that she planned to step out of the public eye for prayer, fasting and more time with her children.

She also claimed that Abedini, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, suffered from a pornography addiction, Reuters reported.

In a statement on Facebook, Naghmeh Abedini wrote Wednesday that she had taken 'temporary legal action to make sure our children will stay in Idaho'.

Naghmeh Abedini said that her husband demanded three months ago that she do certain things in order to promote him in the public's eye and threatened to end the marriage if she didn't. 

She would not reveal what it was that he allegedly wanted her to do.  

'I love my husband, but as some might understand, there are times when love must stop enabling something that has become a growing cancer,' she wrote on Facebook.

Her full post read:

 

Saeed Abedini has yet to release a statement or comment about his wife's claims.