abedini's human rights and release him.here's a war of words over the controversial nuclear program and the rogue nation vowing to continue the research that they claim is for peaceful purposes. and holding war games as a warning to the rest of the world. and shannon bream has the latest from washington. >> reporter: family and friends of pastor abedini has now become a matter of life and death. an eight years sentence in one of iran's most brutal prisons. abedini born in iran, but has american citizenship was doing work with an orphanage, according to the group trying to get his release. he had a warning because of his work with christian houses in iran and the lcj has been representing the family and the pastor rec disturbing letter from jail. >> first, that they pass out pain medication toss prisoners there every day and second they won't give that to them because the nurse for the hospital for national security criminals, says he's the not clean, and there's a caste system. >> his wife says, with today's development i a

abedini.se contact with the family actively engaged in this case. >> bill: that's nice i don't think iran is quaking in proverbial boots. with us now is a member of the group human rights watch iranian expert. they don't care what cash carney says, do they? >> i think international pressure does wind up helping in several cases. we have a case of a christian pastor niewmed yousef who was actually sentenced to i had i had. he was sentenced to death initially for the crime. this is about two years ago. because of international pressure, partly from human rights watch and other organizations, including christian organizations, in the united states, and in europe and elsewhere: his conviction actually was changed, he spent a little bit of time in prison and he has since been released. he -- so you think you can bring some pressure to bear. >> yes. >> abe -- abedini. is he american citizen. is he persian by descent. lives in the u.s.a. goes back to persia, iran, and they grab him, for what? >> you

abedini. as you know the state department is in close contact with the abedini family.tively engaged on this case. martha: interesting. that is not what we've heard when we've spoken with the family but the pastor's wife says the statent do, as i said is really not doing everything they can. she said every day counts. he is being tortured. they could do so much more. i have been so heart-broken. as low we're letting the iranian government lead with their interpretation what he has done wrong instead of protecting our american ideals. at the very least secretary clinton should publicly call for the unequivocal release of saeed abedini. in her opinion, obviously she wants her husband back. she feels that her country can do more to help. joined by christian whitten, a former state department senior advisor. welcome. good to have you here this morning. >> great to be here, martha, thanks. martha: what you think? what is your take how involved the state department has been? you heard jay carney. he said they're closely involved in this situation. abedini's wife says that is

abedini.porters say he had been beaten and tortured and there are serious questions about his medical condition. in washington shannon breem, fox news. >>> ice and snow hitting the midwest hard maybe bea for a dangerous winter storm road in the windy city covered in ice making for a number of crashes, pat patti hah patti ann. >> in iowa cops respond to go dozens of calls for help. the storm is not over yet. update from maria molina. >> unfortunately the storm is packing a punch with ice. current temperatures, this is why we are seeing the ice. when it's cold you get snow when it's warm you get rain around 32 degrees or a little warmer that's when you start to see ice possibly accumulating across places leashing new york city and raleigh. that's what we are seeing now. we have winter weather advisories and freezing rain advisories because that's what we are expecting to see around the area. in raleigh you see ice accumulating on roadways. it is around the mid atlantic and dc area in up state ne

saeed abedini facing the death penalty for trying to open upchurches. his family yesterday tried to visit him. we're told he is not there. where is he today? peter doocy on this in washington and does his family have any idea where he is? >> no, bill. pastor saeed even from prison in iran every wednesday and they're allowed to voice i am in jail every other thursday. two days ago there was no call. when she showed up yesterday the guards told them that pastor saeed was not there. they should come back saturday when the main office is open. the pastor's whereabouts are unknown and his wife in idaho is very worried. >> every day is a big deal. every day counts. every day my hope is that we can get the word out and we can get him home, get him back to the u.s. soon, and, it been too long since he has been gone from our family and we're desperately wanting him back. >> reporter: pastor saeed has been in prison since september 26th. tomorrow makes 4:00 months behind bars in iran, bill. bill: we'll talk to his wife next hour too. what are the hopes for a rele

september has now been sentenced by a man who iranians call the hanging judge. 30-year-old saeed abedining a threat to their national security and he denies the charges and saying his only crime is being a christian. and his attorney talked to me. >> the pastor is in a new ward of the prison, this is one of the toughest prisons in the world and especially inside of iran. people don't survive there. >> harris: the state department condemning what it calls iran's continued violation of universal right and freedom of religion and calling on iran to respect abedini's rights and release him immediately. more on foxnews.com your other source for news, now back to huckabee. >> if you'd like to contact us, e-mail us at huck mail@foxnews.com. >> outgoing secretary of state hillary clinton finally testified on capitol hill about the attacks that killed four americans in benghazi, libya, last september 11th. clinton responded angrily when senator johnson questioned her on whether the public was m led on cause of the attacks. >> the fact is we had four dead americans, was it because of protests or g

saeed abedini, sentenced to eight years in iran's most brutal jail. after getting the news his wife, living in boise, idaho, says quote, with today's developments i'm devastated for my husband and my family. we must now pursue every effort, turn every rock and not stop until he is safely on american soil. amy kellogg on the story. is the u.s. state department getting involved, amy? >> reporter: the u.s. state department is, bill. they say they're actively engaged in this case and in close contact with the family. it is such a sensitive situation right now they are not going to divulge exactly what they are doing. all of this complicated by the fact that the u.s. and iran do not have diplomatic relations. what is very puzzling to christian groups following this case it is not clear were abedini was arrested over the summer and sentenced now? he had converted to islam back in 2000. he had apparently involved in the network of house churches but he had sort of agreement with the iranian authorities that if he didn't evangelize he would be able to travel

the iranians claim saeed abedini threatened iran's national security by trying to convert islamic to christianity. and he's sentence today one of the most brutal prisons and the pastor's attorney calling it a mockery of justice and the wife who lives in idaho says the family is devastated. a mother vanishes in turkey. she told her houusband she was on the way home, she never got on the plane, and her passport and belongings. and the friend who was supposed to be travelling with the missing woman. and a woman abdicating her throne, the latest from across the pond. >> an american the mother of two disappears in turkey. she traveled alone to instand bull january 7th and she was supposed to come home january 22nd and never boarded the plane and tonight, police and relatives are frantically searching for her. lisa, what do they know about it? the last time they spoke to her what do they know she was going to do. >> they thought she was going to get on the plane last tuesday, greta. the last time she had communication was monday, the day before of her husband could not find her on the flig

the family's lawyer coming out saying that's tar abedini's life is in grave danger. >> eight years iniranian jail is a death sentence. we know lots of cases there and they never let you out. don't think like the united states or western word. this is the beginning of the fight, though. this is not a court that operates on normal policy. if the ayatollah wants them to do something they do it. they do not have a criminal procedure. he gets an appeal in the revolutionary court. >> and a fox news contributor and middle east expert joins us now. thank you, lisa, for joining us. what are the chances he will ever make it back home safely? >> there has to be an enormous effort on the part of the state department, the white house, the media, to keep pressure on this case and help him out. we did it before with the iranian pastor from iran held for being a christian and here is one of our own. we have to double the effort and keep the pressure on this case. we know it has worked. they are afraid of the media attention on these types of cases. they kind of are willing to back down and change the

and joining us is his wife naghmeh abedini.. and naghmeh, let me start with you. what is the update on your husband's whereabouts and conditions? >> good morning, this morning his family in iran was able to go and to the different office that is register the prisoners and they were able to find out that he was in ward 3, hall 1 of the prison. he was on that list. they haven't specifically seen him yet. they were told that visitations are on mondays, but that's the location they were told he's at. >> tucker: jordan, the pastor is an american citizen. how is our state department responding to this? >> you know, two kinds of breaking news, and a third part of the story we haven't got to yet. yesterday after fox news has been covering this since the day we went public, you have to make that decision when you represent families like this because it can add more pressure. miss his family in tehran is under house arrest and they have to tell the police and get an okay from them. the state department, following the white house, interes

abedini's human rights and release him. >>> the husband and brother of a woman missing in turkey for week are on the way to istanbul to find her. the woman was traveling alone to fulfill her photography dream. she was to fly back to the u.s. on january 22 know. her passport and medical documents were found in the istanbul hotel room. friends and family created this website to help tracking her down. >>> some of hollywood's biggest names can add s.a.g. award winner to their impressive resumes. screen actors guild awards saved one of the biggest surprises for last. michelle turner joins us now it's all about "argo." >> a lot of people thousand "linco "lincoln" wod take home the best picture trophy. but ben affleck and his cast of "argo" said not so fast. actors, actors, everywhere. it was about union in every way. both lead actress winner, jennifer lawrence and anne hathaway who won supporting actors honors talked about getting their s.a.g. cards at age 14. >> it felt like the beginning of the world. i loved every single minute of plif as an actor. >> lots of love for "30 rock." tina f

one thing that became very clear in the trial yesterday, the actual charge against pastor saeed abediniurity because he started house churches. that is actually the charge that they had this man in jail for in iran right now, and they've acknowledged that. the problem is we are dealing with the rev news airy guard, so we are having to get all of the resources that we can muster around the globe to put pressure on the iranian regime to let him out. bill: what is your motivation here? you've watched some of these stories play out. how do they usually end, jay? >> well, you know, hundreds of them end and we don't know how they ended, which means either the people literally disappear, or they died, die in prison or if he are killed. a story fox news covered so well around the globe with all your networks, he was out, his lawyer ended up in jail for a season, is not in jail right now. but he was able to get out of jail. this particular case is unique because not only is this man iranian by nationality, haoes a u.s. citizen, and we've get to get the kind of statement we want. the white house

citizen saeed abedini arrested three months ago on charges relating to his religious beliefs.is a christian now, conversion. we call upon iranian authorities to release him immediately. this is something we've been watching for several weeks as it develops because the word from tehran this week, his case will be handed to a judge who has a very tough reputation inside of tehran. we're watching that story. we'll see whether or not the white house statement can move anything. martha: some brand new numbers that show a major drop in cancer deaths in the united states. the american cancer society releasing the new statistics. rick leventhal is live here with more on this. rick, what are we seeing? how remarkable is this? >> reporter: pretty remarkable according to the head of the american cancer society who cause it, reason to cheer. steady progress in battling the disease and declines in some common forms. according to the latest national data, overall canser death rates dropped from 2002,000 nine. meaning more than a million lives have been spared including more than 150,000 in