September 01, 2017
An Iranian-American businessman and his father, Siamak and Baquer Namazi, who were sentenced to 10-year prison terms for their ties to the US, have lost their appeals, their lawyer said Monday.
Washington-based lawyer Jared Genser said the court’s decision comes as both men suffer health problems related to their incarceration at Evin prison. Siamak Namazi, 45, has spent much of his time in solitary confinement and “has been interrogated relentlessly, beaten and tased,” the lawyer said.
“I am deeply worried about the health of both of the Namazis, which has rapidly deteriorated,” Genser told The Associated Press.
The Namazi family fled after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The younger Namazi later moved back in the 1990s to work as a consultant promoting foreign investment in Iran. Siamak Namazi was arrested in October 2015.
His now 81-year-old father, a former UNICEF representative who served as governor of Khuzestan province under the Shah, was arrested in February 2016 in Tehran, to which he had returned in retirement.
In October, authorities said the Namazis had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for “cooperating with the hostile American government.”
The Namazis are among at least five American dual nationals detained in Iran.
The others are Chinese-American graduate student Xiyue Wang, who was sentenced to 10 years, Iranian-American Robin Shahini, who was released on bail last year after staging a hunger strike but is not allowed to leave Iran, and Karan Vafadari, who has been questioned about parties held at his Tehran home at which alcohol was served. He is a Zoroastrian and says the alcohol ban does not apply to them.
Altogether, the Iran Times has found 20 dual nationals from 10 countries believed currently detained in Iran.
Some analysts and family members of those detained have suggested Iran wants to negotiate prisoner trade with the US. “The signal has been sent very, very clearly that this is what they want to do,” Genser said.