WASHINGTON - Iran appears to have shown little public or private support for 12 Iranians under prosecution or convicted of crimes in the U.S., despite pledging to work for the release of such citizens four months ago in another potential prisoner swap with Washington.
The last, rare prisoner exchange between the two longtime foes happened December 7, when Iran freed Chinese American academic Xiyue Wang in return for the U.S. releasing Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani. The swap happened in Zurich through Swiss mediation.
Two days later, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that Tehran was ready for a further “comprehensive prisoner exchange” with Washington. A day after that, his aide Mohsen Baharvand told Iranian state news agency that there were “around 20” other Iranians whom Tehran was seeking to release from U.S. custody.
U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, told a December 10th forum in Washington that he viewed Baharvand’s comments as a “positive … first step” that could lead to the release of “all innocent Americans” detained in Iran.
In the four months since then, Hook has said U.S. officials are working continuously for the release of four Americans whom Washington has accused Tehran of unjustly jailing on trumped up charges: Navy veteran Michael R. White and three Iranian-American dual nationals — father and son Siamak and Baquer Namazi and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.
As Iran’s coronavirus pandemic worsened and spread to its prison system in March, U.S. officials added urgency to their calls for the Americans to be released to safeguard their health. Iranian authorities granted White a prison furlough on March 19 after he exhibited coronavirus symptoms, but they have refused to let him leave the country or free the other Americans.
U.S. officials also have been pressing Iran to resolve the case of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in Iran on a 2007 visit that U.S. media later revealed was part of a rogue CIA mission. Last month, the Trump administration said it believed that Levinson may have died “some time ago.”
Iran, by contrast, has said little publicly since early December about the Iranians whom it wants to be freed from U.S. prisons or prosecution. Nor has it named the individuals.
In the only recent comment by an Iranian official, Zarif posted a March 27 tweet in which he shared a news article about Sirous Asgari, an Iranian scientist acquitted by a U.S. court last November of stealing U.S. trade secrets. Without mentioning names, Zarif added a note accusing the U.S. of taking “several Iranian scientists hostage without charge or on spurious sanctions charges” and called for their release. It was not clear whom Zarif may have been referring to besides Asgari.
US has taken several Iranian scientists hostage—without charge or on spurious sanctions charges—& not releasing them; even when its OWN courts reject the absurd charges
US even refuses medical furlough—amid —for innocent men jailed in horrific facilities
Release our men
Since his November acquittal, Asgari has been held by U.S. immigration authorities and flown between different detention facilities pending deportation to Iran. U.S. officials have not disclosed a date for Asgari’s deportation, which news site said appears to have been delayed by coronavirus-linked disruptions to international air travel. In an April 26 letter to a U.S. judge, Asgari’s lawyer Matthew Vogel appealed for his client to be released immediately from a facility in Winnfield, Louisiana, saying Asgari’s past health problems make him vulnerable to the virus, which already has been detected at the site.
As for the 12 other Iranians who are in U.S. prisons or on conditional release from prison, VOA Persian compiled their names through conversations with lawyers representing some of the individuals and through a review of U.S. Justice Department databases.
They include seven Iranian-American dual nationals and five Iranian citizens, three of them with permanent U.S. residency. The Iranian-Americans include , , , , . The other Iranians are , and U.S. permanent residents , and .
Of the 12 Iranians, five were serving sentences in federal prisons after being convicted of various crimes, namely Arbabsiar, Behroozian, Kalantari, Mohammadi-Doostdar and Pourghannad; while one, Hasanzadeh, was in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service pending trial.
