American leaders are pressuring Iran to free Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who faces trial Monday.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers arrested Abedini, 32, in September, while he was in Iran to visit his family and work on a project for an orphanage.

The head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has now denounced his imprisonment and prosecution.

Katrina Lantos Swett said Iran may be making an example of Abedini for his contacts with the underground Christian church.

This week, 12 U.S. senators and 37 congressmen urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to take a more active role in seeking Abedini's release.

Abedini married an American woman and became a U.S. citizen in 2010

The American Center for Law & Justice has also been working on Abedini's case.

Sign the petition to free American Pastor Saeed in Iran.