Families of American and dual-citizen prisoners call for pressure on the Islamic Republic to release their relatives
The families of Bob Levinson, Nazanin Zaghari, Siamak, and Bagher Namazi announced during a meeting in Washington that their concerns about the situation of their relatives in Iran have deepened during the protests.
According to the Associated Press, family members of Mr. Levinson and two dual-national prisoners held in Iran once again called for the release of their relatives at a joint news conference in Washington on Tuesday, December 3.
The daughter of Bob Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared at 12 after a trip to Kish Island, Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari, who was imprisoned in Tehran on security charges, and Babak Namazi, brother of Siamak Namazi, and son of Baqer Namazi, who are also imprisoned in Tehran on security charges, expressed concern about the negative impact of these events on the conditions of their relatives in Iran, referring to the "brutal" repression of the people following the recent protests in Iran, mass arrests, and internet shutdowns.
Sarah Moriarty, one of Bob Levinson's daughters, said she believes Iranian authorities know where her father is and are in a position to return him to the United States, citing conflicting statements from Islamic Republic officials about her father's disappearance. She pointed to the recent news that the Islamic Republic acknowledged to the United Nations that Levinson's case was open in Iran and that he had once been detained in Iran.
Twenty-one members of Robert (Bob) Levinson's family are set to file a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Washington with Federal Judge Timothy Kelly on Wednesday, demanding that the Iranian government pay them $1.5 billion in damages for their losses.
Mr. Levinson's daughter said that a large part of our lawsuit is for compensation because we want to stop them from doing this to other people.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari, a Thompson Reuters charity employee who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than three years, also referred to efforts to negotiate the release of these hostages and said that all avenues have so far been fruitless.
Stating that hostage-taking should have a real and clear cost, he said that sanctions could be an option to punish hostage-taking.
Western analysts say the Islamic Republic uses dual nationals as hostages to extract money and privileges from Western governments.
In addition to Nazanin Zaghari, several other American and non-American citizens—including Siamak and Bagher Namazi, Michael White, Zhiyu Wang, Aras Amiri, and Kamran Ghaderi—are currently imprisoned in Iran. The fate of Robert Levinson, another American citizen who disappeared in Iran more than twelve years ago, is also unknown.
The United States Department of State has repeatedly condemned the Islamic Republic's regime's arbitrary and unjustified detention of American and other citizens, including dual-national Iranians, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.
Source: Voice of America
