Babak Namazi: My brother and father are American hostages in Iran, when will they be released?
As Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American, begins his sixth year in prison in Iran, his brother Bank Namazi, in an article published in the opinion section of the Washington Post on Wednesday, October 13, called on the US government to continue to pressure Iran to release his brother and his father, Bagher Namazi.
Siamak Namazi was imprisoned in Iran in October 2015. In March of the same year, his father, Bagher Namazi, who had gone to Iran to pursue his son's work, was also arrested by the Islamic Republic. Siamak and Bagher Namazi were each sentenced to ten years in prison.
Babak Namazi wrote in this article: "Iran's strategic and brutal campaign of imprisoning and torturing foreign citizens and dual nationals has affected countries around the world."
In this article, he expressed concern about the risk of increasing tensions between the United States and Iran, writing: "I live in constant fear that Iran will use the most vulnerable and accessible pawns at its disposal - namely American hostages."
Babak Namazi expressed his appreciation for 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, expressing hope that President Trump and his administration will follow through on their promises so that "my brother and father will soon join us again."
Mr. Namazi wrote: “The world should have sent a clear message to Iran long ago that its [regime] hostage-taking is not an effective tool in foreign policy and [the Iranian regime's] efforts to use [hostage-taking] for this purpose will not be tolerated.”
On Tuesday, October 12, coinciding with the end of the fifth anniversary of Siamak Namazi's imprisonment, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as a number of members of the US Congress, called on the Islamic Republic to immediately release Siamak and Baqer Namazi.
US officials and Western experts say that by arresting and imprisoning dual-national citizens, the Islamic Republic is effectively holding them hostage in order to extort money from Western countries and achieve its own political goals.
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
