The Iranian lawyer of a US citizen, whose son has been in custody in Iran for the past four months, says his client was detained upon returning from overseas.
Advertisement
Both the father and son are said to be dual U.S.-Iranian citizens. “This is a nightmare I can’t describe”, she said.
“I must share the shocking and sad news that Baquer was arrested in Tehran late evening of 22 February 2016 and as far as I have been told by those who took him taken to Evin prison”, Effie Namazi posted at about 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
At a Senate panel hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said he was aware of the situation, but couldn’t comment due to privacy reasons.
“I am extremely concerned and anxious sick for Baquer’s health since he is an 80-year-old man and has serious heart and other conditions which require him to take special heart and other medicine”.
“I personally get a call once every few days from an investment bank, a hedge fund, asset manager, an industrial company asking me about investment prospects in Iran and my response is usually the same, which is: Iran has enormous potential but it also has an enormous ability to shoot itself in the foot-and the jailing of Siamak Namazi and now the jailing of Baquer Namazi are examples of Iran shooting itself in the foot”, Mr. Molavi said.
The arrest would mark the first of a US citizen since last month’s prisoner swap between the two countries. She said she was told he is now in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman said this month that most of the detained dual nationals face espionage charges.
The family lived outside NY for a period after the Islamic Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah in 1979, though later returned to Iran, she said. It said Namazi was a governor of the oil-rich province of Khuzestan under the shah who was allowed to emigrate to the U.S.in 1983.
Iranian-American consultant Siamak Namazi is pictured in this photo taken in San Francisco, California in 2006, and provided by Ahmad Kiarostami.
A former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Robert Levinson, went missing in Iran in 2007, but his whereabouts have been a mystery, and Iran has denied holding him.
The younger Namazi had been specifically criticized in hard-line commentary ahead of his arrest as Iranian conservatives warned against easing hostilities with the U.S. A Lebanese information-technology specialist, Nizar Zakka, who lives in Washington and has permanent-resident status in the USA, also was detained in Iran last fall. He has worked to promote ties between the USA and Iran and his supporters have said he was a strong proponent of the nuclear accord between six world powers and Iran, which formally took effect last month.
Advertisement
Klapper reported from Washington.
