By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 12:53 EST, 26 August 2013 | UPDATED: 12:53 EST, 26 August 2013 An American pastor from Idaho who was sentenced to eight years in one of Iran's harshest prisons for preaching Christianity in Iranian homes had his appeal to reduce the sentence rejected on Sunday. Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, has been held since September 2012 and was charged with 'threatening the national security of Iran'. The 33-year-old father-of-two says he was in the country only to establish an orphanage and was not preaching Christianity. Jailed: Pastor Saeed Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that he preached Christianity in the Islamic nation. His attempt to appeal the sentence was rejected today by Iran
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Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, has been held since September 2012 at an Iranian prison
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Abedini suffered internal bleeding after being beaten by guards at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran
She added her disappointment at the lack of intervention by the @placeholder government on her husband's case.