An American citizen of Iranian origin, Siamak Namazi, who has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison for seven years, has beseeched US President Joe Biden for his release and two other American nationals.
51-year-old Namazi, was speaking in an unprecedented interview with CNN on behalf of himself, 58-year-old businessman Emad Shargi, and 67-year-old environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.
“I implore you, sir, to put the lives and liberty of innocent Americans above all the politics involved and to just do what is necessary to end this nightmare and bring us home,” Siamak Namazi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Namazi continued that he was “deprived of many of his rights as a prisoner,” as he is treated as a “hostage,” stressing that many criminals have more rights than him.
He pointed out that in his more than seven years of imprisonment, he spent months caged in a cell, sleeping on the floor.
“I remain very concerned that the White House does not realize the seriousness of our situation,” he said adding, Tahbaz, and Shargi are now being held at the same prison.
Namazi made a similar request to Joe Biden in January 2023, seven years after the release of five American citizens in a prisoner swap negotiated to coincide with the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama.
Namazi said it was “painful and upsetting” that Biden had not met with his family “just to give them some words of reassurance.”
Siamak Namazi, an oil executive, was arrested in October 2015 on charges of attempting to overthrow the country’s powerful clerics, an allegation he has denied.
In January 2023, Siamak Namazi went on a seven-day hunger strike in Evin prison.
His father, Baquer Namazi was also detained in 2016 when he attempted to help his son, but he was freed on medical grounds in 2022.
