Pastor Saeed Talks about Imprisonment, Says He Witnessed Others Executed for their Faith

The American pastor freed this month from an Iranian prison is speaking out about his experience.

Pastor Saeed Abedini told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren about the moment he went before an Iranian judge on charges of setting up home churches in the Islamic nation.

"He said you are here because you want to use Christianity to remove government and it was like no, I don't want to do that, I just came here to start an orphanage, loving people and share the gospel with people and just that," said Abedini.

He said the judge yelled at him after saying he would pray for the judge.

Abedini told Fox News that while in Tehran's Evin prison he was beaten by interrogators, was left with an al-Qaida prisoner who tried to kill him and was taken to watch several executions.

"The worst thing that I saw was when they took some Sunnis for execution. … Most of them were Sunnis, some of them were political prisoners. … I can say most were executed for their faith," said Abedini.

Abedini is at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove for a time of recovery and readjustment.

It is uncertain when his family will meet him there. Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, told Reuters last week the couple would work on their marriage.

Before Abedini's release, Naghmeh sent out a message to supporters saying she would be taking some time away from the public eye to deal with emotional stress.

She said she had faced physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse through her husbands addiction to pornography that started early in their marriage and got worse during his time in prison - they were able to speak at times by phone or by skype.

After Naghmeh's initial email about the abuse, she said she regretted sending it. Since her husband's release she has written on her Facebook page that she believes God can redeem the entire situation, heal her marriage and use their experience to help others.

"That's how God works. The worst things in our life turn out to be the best blessing," she wrote.