The family says they are incredibly happy for the families of the four prisoners that were returned in the Iran prisoner swaps; however, they want to know what happened to their father Bob.
Advertisement
The journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Saturday, “We are thrilled to see Jason finally free, but he should have never been imprisoned in the first place”.
“We expect those to be completed as soon as possible”.
A fourth freed USA citizen, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, apparently was not on the Swiss flight that arrived in Geneva, though it was not immediately clear why.
A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, was released separately his family and White House officials said.
Negotiations over detainees grew out of the Iran nuclear talks.
“Through a diplomatic channel that was established with the focus of getting our detained USA citizens home, we can confirm Iran has released from imprisonment four Americans detained in Iran”, one of the USA officials said.
The indictment alleges that over the past five years, the pair arrested in Houston had sent at least $24 million worth of USA technologies to Iran.
“They were given every opportunity to save face”, an intelligence official said Saturday.
The new sanctions also came a day after the nuclear deal between Tehran and six world leaders went into effect Saturday, effectively lifting decades-long economic sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran’s commitment to a civilian nuclear program.
While the State Department said that “Iran has also committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson”, it is unclear if Levinson is even in Iran or still alive as unconfirmed reports suggested he may have been taken to Baluchistan, a volatile area in Pakistan which borders Iran. Namazi immigrated to the U.S.in 1983 and returned to Iran after graduating college to serve in Iran’s military.
“Based on an approval of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) 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 quoted the office of the Tehran prosecutor as saying. It said he was held for 40 days in Evin Prison, but gave no reason for his detention.
The seven Iranian detainees in US were named by Iran’s state news agency as Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghani, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Saboun.
Amir Hekmati, a former US Marine who faced a death sentence as an alleged spy, also was released, his family said, adding that they were officially told he was on a plane leaving Iran. “But we remain in hopeful anticipation until Amir is in our arms”. The former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent was working as a private investigator on a cigarette smuggling case when he disappeared on Kish Island off Iran’s coast, NBC News reported. “Before I left last night and got onto the plane, we had complete clarity that she was going to leave, no issue, it just was a glitch”.
Advertisement
A photograph of him speaking with Zarif and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s brother, Hossein Fereydoun, captured the moment.
