An Iranian-American businessman imprisoned in Iran for nearly seven years has been released from Evin prison in Tehran on a renewable week off, the United Nations announced on Saturday.
The release of detainee Siamak Namazi comes as his father, Baquer Namazi, is allowed to leave Iran for medical treatment, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“The [UN] The Secretary General is grateful that, following his appeals to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our former colleague Baquer Namazi has been allowed to leave Iran for treatment abroad,” said Dujarric.
Baquer Namazi is the former governor of Iran’s Khuzestan province and former representative of what was originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“The Secretary General is also pleased to learn that Baquer Namazi’s son, Siamak Namazi, has been released from detention,” Dujarric continued. “We will continue to engage with the Iranian authorities on a range of important issues, including the regional situation, sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights.”
Baquer Namazi was convicted in Iran of “collaborating with a hostile government” in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iranian authorities released him on medical grounds in 2018 and closed his case in 2020, commuting his sentence to time served but effectively banning him from leaving the country.
His son, Siamak, was convicted on the same charge and has been held in Evin prison since 2015. The US government has called the charges against them baseless.
It was unclear whether Siamak’s furlough could be a step towards his full release. It was also unclear whether this signaled the possibility of furlough or the release of other US citizens detained in Iran.
“I am delighted for the Namazi family that, for the first time in seven years, Siamak Namazi is sleeping at home with his family,” lawyer representing the Namazi family, Jared Genser, told Reuters.
Genser added that Siamak Namazi lives with his parents in their apartment in Tehran.
“This is a crucial first step, but of course we won’t rest until the whole family is able to return to the United States and their long nightmare is finally over,” Genser also said. .
Their release coincides with the climax of intense protests against the Iranian regime following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was allegedly beaten by Iranian vice police over headscarf laws.
Iran’s semi-official Nournews news agency reported on Saturday that a regional country helped Iran and the United States negotiate the “simultaneous release of prisoners”, shortly after Tehran cleared Siamak Namazi to get out of jail for a week off.
“In recent weeks, intensive talks, with the mediation of a country in the region, have taken place for the release of Iranian and American prisoners,” the news agency said, without specifying which country was the mediator.
The news agency also said billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen by US sanctions would be “released soon”.
Iran said in August it was ready to swap prisoners with the United States after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that “Siamak Namazi had now spent 2,500 days wrongfully detained” in Iran. According to Blinken, Washington was determined to guarantee the freedom of all Americans detained by its adversary in the Middle East.
Tehran has requested the release of a dozen Iranians detained in the United States, including seven Iranian-American nationals, two Iranians who are permanent residents of the United States and four Iranian citizens without legal status in the United States.
Reuters contributed reporting
