October 14, 2022
The Islamic Republic has freed one of the eight Americans it has been detaining, but the reason for the release has been obscure, to say the least.
Eighty-five-year-old Baquer Namazi, a former staffer with the UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and a naturalized American, was freed October 1 and later flew out of the country.
Namazi was arrested in 2016 after flying to Iran to try to free his son, Siamak, now 51, who had been jailed by the regime. Subsequently, both men were tried together and sentenced to 10 years for “cooperating” with the United States.
The elder Namazi was released from Evin Prison in 2019 but not allowed to leave the country until now. The younger Namazi was given a one-week furlough the same day his father was allowed to leave the country. The two were together for five days before the elder Namazi was flown out of Iran by the Omani government and then flew on to Abu Dhabi for surgery.
A lawyer for the Namazi family, Jared Genser, said in a statement that Namazi would “undergo a carotid endarterectomy at the Cleveland Clinic [in Abu Dhabi] to clear out a severe blockage to his left internal carotid artery, which puts him at very high risk for a stroke.” But, later, his family said the Abu Dhabi medical team recommended alternative treatments rather than surgery and the family agreed.
In Tehran, the prison authorities extended Siamak Namazi’s seven-day furlough by an additional three days. Then they sent him back to Evin prison.
But what prompted the release of Baquer Namazi? The regime said the release was a purely humanitarian matter. But the regime does not normally release prisoners for that reason.
The same day the elder Namazi was freed, state media in Tehran reported that South Korea was about to unfreeze all $7 billion of Iranian funds frozen in that country as a result of US sanctions. The Iranian government confirmed that the funds would soon be unfrozen, but denied there was any connection between the funds and Namazi’s release.
However, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said October 4, “There has been no facilitation of any funds transfer. That is absolutely false.” He said the elder Namazi was allowed to leave Iran and the younger Namazi was furloughed, but “they were not part of any deal or anything like that.” The Iranian media continues to report the upcoming unfreezing of Iranian funds, but South Korea has said nothing and no funds have been unfrozen in the weeks since the first report of the unfreezing was published October 1 by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Another theory held that the the actions on the Namazis were a favor for Venezuela, to expedite freedom for some Venezuelans imprisoned in the US on drug charges. But that prisoner exchange appeared to be a bilateral agreement between the US and Venezuela. The Venezuelans freed six Americans from jail in exchange for two Venezuelans who are nephews of the wife of Venezuela’s president.
A third theory held that the actions on the Namazis was in exchange for Saudi Arabia’s release of an Iranian, Khalil Dardmand, detained during the hajj, reportedly for carrying a poster of the late Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleymani while circumambulating the Kaaba. Dardmand was freed October 2, the day after the Namazis were freed. This link was a distinct possibility. Iran had been pushing more and more insistently for Dardmand’s release, and the releases of the Namazis and Dardmand were negotiated primarily by Oman, Iranian officials indicated.
A fourth theory held that the elder Namazi was allowed to leave Iran because the regime feared he would soon die and it would be blamed for the death. That could also be true.
The American media usually says that there are two other Americans detained in Iran besides the Namazi father and son. Actually, there were at least six other Iranian-American dual citizens and green card holders detained before the elder Namazi left the country. The others are dual citizens Marad Tahbaz, jailed since January 2018, and Emad Shargi, jailed since November 2020, and green card holders Shahab Dalili, held since March 2016, and Afshin Vatani, held since February 2019. In addition, Karan Vafadari, a dual citizen, and his wife, Afarin Neyssari, a green card holder, were arrested in July 2018 and later freed from prison but have not been allowed to leave Iran. While international law does make the host country of a non-citizen permanent resident responsible for them, the US Congress passed a law several years ago making the US responsible for green card holders detained abroad.