Iran Remains Silent on 12 Detained Iranians in US Despite Prisoner Exchange Promises
Iran appears to have shown little overt or covert support for 12 Iranians accused or convicted of crimes in the United States. Islamic Republic officials promised four months ago to pursue another prisoner exchange with Washington.
The latest prisoner exchange between the two longtime adversaries took place on December 7 when Iran released Zhiou Weng, a Chinese-American university researcher, in exchange for freeing Masoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist. The exchange took place in Zurich with Swiss mediation.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, tweeted two days later that Tehran is ready for a “comprehensive prisoner exchange” with Washington. One day later, Mohsen Baharvand, an assistant to Iran’s Foreign Minister, said there are approximately 20 other Iranians whom Tehran seeks to free from prisons in America.
Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for Iran Affairs, says that over the past four months there have been continuous efforts to free Americans who have been unjustly imprisoned on baseless charges: these individuals include Michael White, a retired U.S. Navy officer, and three Iranian-Americans with dual nationality—Siamak and Baquer Namazi and Morad Tahbaz, an environmental activist.
U.S. government officials have intensified their demands for the release of Americans amid the severity of the coronavirus pandemic in Iran and its spread to that country’s prisons. Iranian officials released Michael White on furlough from prison on March 19 after showing symptoms of coronavirus, but do not allow him and other Americans to leave Iran.
Washington has also pressured Iran to clarify the status of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI officer who disappeared in Iran in 2007. The Trump administration said last month that Levinson is believed to have died long ago.
Since early December, Iran has not spoken about freeing Iranian prisoners in America nor mentioned any names.
The Persian Service of Voice of America has compiled the names of 12 Iranians who are either imprisoned in America or are on parole through attorney requests or review of Department of Justice records.
Seven of these individuals are Iranian-American (holding dual citizenship), and five others hold Iranian nationality, three of whom have permanent resident status in the United States. The Iranian-Americans include Mansour Arbabsiar, Behrouz Behroozian, Mehdi (Eddie) Hashemi, Ahmadrez Mohammadi Doostdar, Hassan Ali Meshirifatemmi, and a couple named Sedar Emad Vazesh and Pouran Azad. Milad Rezaei Kalantari, Behzad Pourghnad, and three individuals with permanent resident status in America named Majid Ghorbani, Amin Hassanzadeh, and Ali Sadr Hasheminejad are the five Iranians in this case.
Of these 12 Iranians, five—namely Arbabsiar, Behroozian, Kalantari, Mohammadi Doostdar, and Pourghnad—are serving their sentences in federal prisons after being convicted of various crimes, and Hassanzadeh is in detention and awaiting trial.
Five others, including Azad, Emad Vazesh, Hashemi, Hasheminejad, and Meshir Fatemi, are free on bond with restricted movement orders and awaiting court verdicts. Majid Ghorbani was released on parole early this month due to illness and transferred to his daughter’s house in Orange County, California. The court has restricted his movement until February of next year through an order.
Attorneys for some of these 12 people told Voice of America they have heard nothing from officials of either country about their clients.
James Newman, attorney for Behzad Pourghnad, wrote in an email: “I have heard nothing about Pourghnad being part of a prisoner exchange.”
Jim Slattery, a former U.S. Congressman from Kansas, who spent months helping the U.S. government’s prisoner exchange efforts with Bill Richardson, the former Governor of New Mexico, on December 7, told Voice of America he has heard nothing new from his Iranian contacts.
Slattery had multiple conversations with Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, before the latest prisoner exchange and met with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, at UN headquarters in New York last September.
The former Governor of New Mexico said in a statement in response to Voice of America that he and the “Richardson Center for Global Engagement” have been working for more than a year and a half to bring back Michael White. But he provided no explanation about Iranians who might be part of an exchange.
The Swiss Embassy in Washington, whose country protects American interests in Iran, was also unwilling to comment on the matter.
According to Slattery, the Islamic Republic shows no interest in efforts to free Iranian-Americans. In recent years, Zardad Zardari, an imprisoned Iranian-American, after his release, preferred to remain in the United States.
Source: Voice of America
