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The battle is just beginning for the wife of a Boise pastor held in Iran.
Naghmeh Abedini found out yesterday her husband was sentenced to eight years for allegedly promoting Christianity.

We take a look at the effort to get Saeed Abedini released and how his situation compares to other recent american detainees.

Saeed Abedini may know his fate,
But in Iran, his wife knows, nothing is for certain.
"We just need to fight harder and get the word out more aand fight for him and get him out. he's there because of human rights violations not because of anything illegal he's done."
Naghmeh Abedini says she was shocked by her husband's sentence.
She thought he might be freed.
Now she's worried that he may not make it out alive.
"I can't imagine him surviving eight years."

Abedini's case is unique, but perhaps no less trumped up than the arrest of three hikers in 2009, two of whom were also sentenced to 8 years for espionage. After 14 months of negotiations, the two male hikers were released after paying 465 thousand dollars each.

So far, Naghmeh says she's not received much help from the feds. But...
"Our governor wrote a letter to Hilary Clinton so I'm happy about our government in Idaho and what it's done to get him out."
Abedini says she's working through local churches to create a letter writing campaign.

She's hoping to inundate Iranian officials with letters to Saeed so they know the case hasn't been forgotten.