Secretary of the Iranian Human Rights Headquarters claims: We do not have any prisoners with dual nationality

Kazem Gharibabadi, Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, stated that "we do not legally recognize dual citizenship," and claimed, "We do not have prisoners with dual citizenship."

These statements come at a time when some dual citizens, including Siamak and Bagher Namazi, Nazanin Zaghari, Anousheh Ashouri, Jamshid Sharmehed, Ahmadreza Jalali, and Nahid Taghavi, are imprisoned or banned from leaving Iran.

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari, a dual-national prisoner in Iran, told VOA that the Islamic Republic has taken more dual-national citizens hostage in recent years than in the past in order to receive privileges and money from European governments.

According to the IRNA news agency, citing the Judiciary Media Center, on Wednesday, December 1, Gharibabadi also called for the release of Iranians who have been arrested abroad for violating US sanctions.

He said some Iranians imprisoned abroad are in a "deplorable situation" and "we will intervene immediately."

The United States and its allies say the Islamic Republic is using detained foreign citizens or dual-national Iranians as leverage in negotiations with Western countries.

The US State Department has repeatedly condemned the unjustified and arbitrary detention of US citizens and citizens of other countries, including dual Iranian nationals, by the Islamic Republic government with the aim of extorting and obtaining concessions from other countries, and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.

Source: Voice of America