Several Iranian-Americans held in USA prisons after being charged or convicted for sanctions violations have been released, their lawyers told Reuters on Sunday, as part of a deal between Iran and the United States that also won the release of four Americans imprisoned in Iran.
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The Washington Post said early Sunday that Rezaian was “now a free man” and had safely left Iran with his wife.
A statement by the prosecutor said that “based on an approval of the Supreme National Security Council and the general interests of the Islamic Republic, four Iranian prisoners with dual-nationality were freed today within the framework of a prisoner swap deal”, Fars reported.
“The release procedure is ongoing”, he said, as it remained unclear if Rezaian and the other prisoners had left Iran. Trevithick had traveled to Iran in September for a four-month, intensive language programme at the Dehkhoda Institute, a language centre affiliated with Tehran University.
The Washington Post says they have not received official confirmation of Rezaian’s release.
It took nearly a year of negotiations, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gholam Ali Khoshroo, told state television, with Switzerland playing an intermediary role.
The Republican front-runner said while he’s happy the prisoners are coming back, “it’s a disgrace they’ve been there for so long”. “When Americans are freed and returned to their families, that’s something we can all celebrate”.
Iran had initially insisted Jason Rezaian’s fate could only be decided by Tehran’s judicial system rather than through political accommodation with the U.S. But the nuclear deal, reached previous year, held out hope for increased dialogue about Rezaian and the other Americans.
Naghmeh Abedini said she woke her children up first thing Saturday morning to tell them the news. Of course, some of those same critics would say the same about the nuclear deal itself.
Little was known about why they had been taken into custody until Iranian media published reports saying the journalist was accused of spying and providing information to USA diplomats in Dubai.
The exchange did not cover Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who advocated better ties between Iran and the US and who reportedly was arrested in October, or former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 on an unauthorized Central Intelligence Agency mission.
At the same time the announcement was being prepared, word got out that the US and Iran had agreed to a prisoner swap. The swap also comes days after Iran briefly detained 10 US sailors who drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters.
The men allegedly had been involved in exporting products and services to Iran in violation of trade sanctions against the country.
Six of the seven are dual citizens. The U.S. and Iran broke off diplomatic relations after the 1979 hostage-taking of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
MARTIN: Let’s start with the prisoner swap.
The 39-year-old Rezaian, a dual US-Iranian citizen born in California, was detained in Iran on July 22, 2014 on espionage charges.
Seven Iranian prisoners were also released by the US and Obama said the two sides had also put to rest a financial dispute dating back to the early 1980s that will see Iran recoup around $1 billion in cash.
He was later sentenced to death. So, that is an additional individual who was not a part of this negotiation given how longstanding the negotiation was, but we did indicate to Foreign Minister Zarif that it’d be important for them to try to resolve some of the other cases of Americans detained in the context of this.
Levinson’s case was aggressively pursued, the officials said, adding that Iran has committed to continue cooperating in trying to determine Levinson’s whereabouts.
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The seven Iranians freed by the United States are Nader Modanlou, Baharam Mechanic, Khosrow Afghahi, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh, and Ali Saboonchi, according to IRNA and the state broadcaster.
