American Pastor Saeed Abedini spent his 34<sup>th birthday, May 7, in the Iranian hospital where he has been for more than two months.
Abedini has been held captive since September 2012, when he was arrested for allegedly trying to convert Iranians to Christianity. Evangelizing is illegal in Muslim country, and converting from Islam to another religion is punishable by death.
He was transferred to a hospital in the capital of Iran after suffering internal injuries from being beaten and tortured by prison guards and inmates.
Pastor Abedini, who became a Christian in 2000, maintains that he traveled to his native country to help build a state-run orphanage, not to convert Muslims to Christianity. In January 2013, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Naghmeh, Abedini's wife, lives in the couple's home in Boise, Idaho with their two children.
She stated that well-wishers have flooded her with messages for her husband.
"I have heard from thousands of people over the past couple of days wanting to wish Saeed a happy birthday," she told Fox News.
"I am grateful for the continued support and prayers from so many people. As Saeed remains in the hospital, we continue to pray for his well-being and freedom on his birthday."
Naghmeh fears she too will be arrested if she visits her husband in Iran. Saeed's family members in the country are able to visit him, report on his condition, and deliver his messages.
On Easter, Saeed penned a letter to encouraging Christians to resurrect their "dead faiths."
"We forget that in order to experience the Resurrection and Glory of Christ we first have to experience death with Christ and to die to ourselves and selfish desires," Abedini wrote.
In September, President Obama called for Abedini's release, but did not make his release, or the release of captive Americans Amir Hekmati and Robert Levinson, part of nuclear negotiations with Iran.
