An American pastor from Idaho has been sentenced to eight years in one of Iran's harshest prisons for preaching Christianity in Iranian homes

Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, has been held since September 2012 and charged with threatening the national security of Iran. The 32-year-old father of two says that he was in the Islamic country only to establish an orphanage and was not preaching Christianity.