CNN
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The longest-held US prisoner in Iran has made a moving plea to US President Joe Biden to put the “freedom of innocent Americans above politics” and step up his efforts to secure his release, in an interview without precedent with CNN from Iran’s infamous Evin prison.
“I remain deeply concerned that the White House simply does not realize how serious our situation has become,” said Siamak Namazi, speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour over the phone.
His voice choking from time to time, Namazi added, “The very fact that I chose to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin prison should tell you how serious my situation has become. at this stage.
CNN
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US prisoner describes conditions inside Iranian prison
Namazi, 51, was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip to Iran in what the UN called “arbitrary detention”. He was accused of having “relations with a hostile state”, referring to the United States, where Namazi is an Iranian-American dual national.
The United States has accused Iran of holding Namazi and other foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran hostage.
Speaking directly to Biden, he said, “I implore you, sir, to put the lives and liberty of innocent Americans above all politics involved and to do just what is necessary to end this nightmare and take us home.”
Namazi is one of three American citizens detained in Evin prison in Tehran, known for its long history of human rights abuses and considered the emblem of the authoritarian regime in Iran.
The other two Iranian-American prisoners in Evin prison are Emad Sharghi, a businessman, and Morad Tahbaz, a 66-year-old environmentalist. Both were first arrested in 2018.
Last June, the New York Times published an opinion piece by Namazi lambasting that Biden’s attempt to rescue American prisoners in Iran had “failed spectacularly.” He went on a seven-day hunger strike in January and wrote an open letter to Biden calling on him to keep his promise to bring them home.
In the CNN interview on Thursday, Namazi accused the former US administration of President Barack Obama of “abandoning” him during negotiations in 2016, when the administration secured the release of four other US prisoners held in Iran – including Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post – after signing the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“When I was there in that closet-sized room, all alone, there was one thing that I held to be true, and that was that the United States government was fighting to free me,” he said. he told CNN, looking back on the first weeks of his detention.
He claimed former Secretary of State John Kerry had promised to release him within “weeks”.
“I just know that I was abandoned. I know I was promised that the US government would release me weeks later,” he said. “I am perpetually three weeks away from a freedom that constantly eludes me.”
CNN
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In an unprecedented interview from Tehran prison, an American prisoner speaks to CNN
A White House spokesman on Thursday condemned Iran’s imprisonment of American prisoners, saying it was inhumane and contrary to international standards. The spokesperson said the United States was committed to securing the freedom of American citizens wrongfully detained abroad and was in regular contact with Namazi’s family.
The Iranian government had not responded to CNN’s request for comment at the time of publication.
The United States and other Western countries regularly accuse Tehran of detaining dual nationals as political pawns in negotiations with the West. Last March, British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released after six years in detention in Iran. It came as the UK settled a £400million debt owed to Iran for decades – Tehran denied it was linked to the release of the prisoners.
Hopes for the release of US-Iranian prisoners have crumbled in recent months as talks between Tehran and Washington over reviving the nuclear deal – from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 – stalled. are stopped.
As part of the deal, Iran curtailed its uranium enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Negotiating teams from Tehran and Washington have not met for multilateral indirect talks for nearly a year. A bloody regime crackdown on protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last year also appears to have dealt a crippling blow to the talks.
Last October, Namazi’s father, Baquer Namazi, 85, was allowed to leave Iran on medical grounds, after the government lifted its years-old travel ban. Baquer Namazi is a former UNICEF staff member who suffers from heart disease. Both father and son were charged with collaborating with the US government in 2015.
Siamak Namazi was granted 10 days leave to see his father before the 85-year-old returned to the United States.
“They allowed him to leave, join the rest of our family and receive the care he needed for his life-threatening condition,” Siamak Namazi told CNN. “I can only hope that they will summon that same spirit of humanity to do what is necessary of theirs, so that the rest of us – Morad, Emad and I – can also be reunited with our families, and start putting that dark past behind us.”
Speaking directly to Biden, he said, “I implore you, sir, to put the lives and liberty of innocent Americans above all politics involved and to do just what is necessary to end this nightmare and take us home.”