Babak Namazi: My Brother and Father Are American Hostages in Iran, When Will They Be Released?
As Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American, enters the sixth year of his imprisonment in Iran, his brother Babak Namazi wrote on Wednesday, October 14, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, urging the U.S. government to continue pressuring Iran for the release of his brother and their father, Baquer Namazi.
Siamak Namazi was imprisoned in Iran in October 2015. That same March, Baquer Namazi, his father, who had traveled to Iran to follow up on his son’s case, was also detained by the Islamic Republic. Both Siamak and Baquer Namazi were sentenced to ten years in prison each.
In this article, Babak Namazi wrote: “Iran’s strategic and brutal campaign of imprisoning and torturing foreign and dual-national citizens has affected countries around the world.”
In the piece, while expressing concern about the danger of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, he wrote: “I live in constant fear that Iran will use the most vulnerable and accessible pawns it has at its disposal—American hostages.”
Babak Namazi, while appreciating President Trump’s recent action in meeting with a group of former American hostages and his promise to quickly return other American hostages to the country, expressed hope that President Trump and his administration will follow through on their words so that “my brother and father will soon be reunited with us.”
Mr. Namazi wrote: “The world should have long ago sent Iran a clear message that hostage-taking is not an effective tool in foreign policy and that the regime’s efforts to use it for that purpose will not be tolerated.”
Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, and several members of the United States Congress, on Tuesday, October 13, coinciding with the end of the fifth anniversary of Siamak Namazi’s imprisonment, called on the Islamic Republic to immediately release Siamak and Baquer Namazi.
U.S. officials and Western experts say that the Islamic Republic, by detaining and imprisoning dual-national citizens, is effectively taking them hostage in order to extort Western countries and achieve its political goals.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned the unjustified and arbitrary detention of American citizens and citizens of other countries, including dual-national Iranians, by the Islamic Republic regime, and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.
Source: Voice of America
