As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, U.S. officials are expressing concern about the safety of American citizens held abroad, especially in countries that are hostile to the U.S, such as Iran and Syria.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad is a high priority for the U.S. government, particularly during these challenging times.
“In light of threats posed by COVID-19, the United States calls for both Syria and Iran to take concrete steps to protect the civilians, including U.S. citizens, being held there,” the spokesperson told VOA, adding that “we are closely monitoring these cases and will continue to raise them at every opportunity.”
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Iran to immediately release on humanitarian grounds all Americans detained in Iran, saying that Iranian authorities would be directly responsible for any American deaths.
“Reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens. Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions defies basic human decency,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Rights groups say that Americans held in Iran and Syria, along with the tens of thousands of others in detention, have been facing the danger of lack of access to health care, the threat of torture and overall lack of due process that makes Middle Eastern prisons notorious for abuse.
Iran is considered the focus of the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. It has reported more than 85,000 confirmed cases and more than 5,000 deaths.
Iran says it has granted temporary release to 100,000 prisoners because of the COVID-19 outbreak. But U.N. experts charge Iran should expand its temporary release of detainees to include prisoners of conscience, dual and foreign nationals who are still behind bars despite serious risk of contracting the deadly virus.
Michael White, 47, a U.S. Navy veteran, was released from an Iranian prison last month after showing symptoms of coronavirus infection. He was hospitalized in a crowded ward for COVID-19 patients in Iran and has experienced fever, fatigue and shortness of breath since his furlough, according to local reports.
White was arrested in July 2018 in Iran. He reportedly has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges related to insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting a private photo of Khamenei on social media. He is currently in the custody of the Swiss Embassy where he continues to receive medical treatment, reports said.
Siamak Namazi, an American detained in Iran since 2015, is also at risk of being infected with the coronavirus. Namazi’s attorney, Jared Genser, said in a statement last month that a detainee held in the same prison ward with his client had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and had been removed.
U.S. officials have called on Iran to release White, Namazi and other U.S. citizens, such as Morad Tahbaz, Baquer Namazi and Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in 2007.
Nizar Zakka is a U.S. citizen who was released last year after 1,395 days in Iranian detention since 2015. He believes Iran won’t free American prisoners without getting something in return.
“There should be a lucrative deal before Tehran releases its American hostages,” he told VOA. “Iranian authorities use these hostages as a leverage to get something in return.
“Tehran is probably anticipating a move from Washington in terms of its opposition with Iran’s loan request" to the International Monetary Fund, added Zakka, who was a U.S. permanent resident at the time of his arrest.
The White House has reportedly blocked an Iranian request for $5 billion from the IMF to fight the coronavirus.
Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini, a human rights activist and former member of Iran’s parliament, echoed Zakka’s views.
“Iranian authorities, like their international counterparts, are willing to get as much as possible from any circumstances, and it is not limited to financial benefits or profits,” he told VOA.
Khoeini, who during his tenure at the Iranian parliament was involved in releasing foreign political prisoners, said holding foreigners in Iran could also be exploited for “saving face, getting a status or gaining a prestige … as well as winning a fight or an argument against an archenemy as in the ongoing IMF conflict.”
U.S. officials have also urged the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release Syrians and U.S. citizens as fears mount that the coronavirus could spread quickly in overcrowded prisons in the war-torn country.