Subject: Vienna, Austria: Press Conference With Babak Namazi at Iran Nuclear Talks
From: "Jared Genser" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2017 11:01:14 +0000
List-Id: c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404mc list <c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404.137.list-id.mcsv.net>

Dear Friends,

I've been in Vienna, Austria this week with Babak Namazi, the brother/son of American citizens Siamak & Baquer Namazi, who are imprisoned in Iran. We were here because the Trump Administration and Iranian government held their first direct discussions on any topic since the Inauguration as part of the Iran nuclear talks. We are pleased that U.S. officials directly pressed for the release of the Namazis during the bilateral discussions with Iranian officials, although this is only a small step forward on the road to securing their freedom.

To keep the the U.S. and Iran focused on the Namazis' plight, we held a press conference (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=113671e7c3&e=0afcca93e2) [Video Below] before the talks began. Babak had an oped (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c9a954072d&e=0afcca93e2) published by U.S. News & World Report. [Reprinted Below]. And we had great coverage of our press conference and UN submission by Associated Press (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=b483ea41e2&e=0afcca93e2) , Reuters (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=1b72d24e3a&e=0afcca93e2) , Wall Street Journal (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0ade03415e&e=0afcca93e2) , Huffington Post
(http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=aef6892776&e=0afcca93e2) , and Iran Wire (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=2cd8463748&e=0afcca93e2) , among others. [All Reprinted Below]. In addition, Politico had a strong piece entitled "Trump's Prisoner Dilemma," (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=a471197fcb&e=0afcca93e2) which looked at the Administration's efforts to secure the release of American hostages abroad, with substantial discussion of our efforts on the Namazi cases. You can also see a great piece (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=085e60d3d2&e=0afcca93e2) that we had on Fox News.

Babak discussed the terrible conditions in which his father and brother were being held and their rapidly declining health. And I spoke about the detailed petition (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0423449049&e=0afcca93e2) that we filed before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which detailed the facts of their cases and Iran's flagrant violations of international law in its arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment of the Namazis. We emphasized that it would not just be a enormous tragedy for the Namazis if Siamak or Baquer were to die in Iranian custody, but that it would be a major failure of diplomacy that both the U.S. and Iran should want to avoid.

Best,

Jared
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Freedom Now Press Conference, Vienna, Austria, April 25, 2017
http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=4636e6e56b&e=0afcca93e2
Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News, April 20, 2017
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April 24, 2017

Will Trump Keep His Word?

President Trump Should Make Good on His Vow to Negotiate the Release of Americans Held by Iran.

By Babak Namazi

Of the many issues President Donald Trump has to confront, relations with Iran are among the thorniest. In recent months, Iran has been testing its ballistic missiles (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0d4bfbe517&e=0afcca93e2)  and has conducted a number of military drills (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=a51989ddce&e=0afcca93e2) . Meanwhile, Trump's travel ban on Iranian nationals has angered the Iranian government, and the Trump administration has already imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies in response to Iran's missile testing (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=e6385f2f85&e=0afcca93e2)  and human rights abuses (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=99e8f07816&e=0afcca93e2) . Moreover, the U.S. and Iran are also on opposite sides of the war in Syria.

On April 25 (x-apple-data-detectors://5) , talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the nuclear deal, will take place in Vienna, and the two governments will meet face-to-face for the first time along with other partners. The world will be watching as U.S. and Iranian officials come to discuss implementation of what Trump has previously referred to as "the worst deal ever negotiated (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0c71707038&e=0afcca93e2) ." The international community will be following the talks closely to discern the nascent Trump administration's policy towards Iran. The stakes are high, and tensions between our governments are even higher.

Irrespective of the geopolitics, for me the high-stakes political drama that is about to unfold is deeply personal. The fate and lives of my father and brother, who are both American hostages in Iran, could well be determined by how the U.S.-Iran relationship develops from these meetings.

To my family's horror, in October 2015, following three months of relentless interrogations after preventing his departure from a weekend family visit, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unjustly arrested my brother, Siamak Namazi, a business consultant and U.S.-educated scholar. He was taken to the notorious Evin Prison and subject to relentless interrogations about his scholarly affiliations with Western institutions and his efforts in enabling lifesaving medicine to reach the Iranian people. We would eventually come to understand that Siamak was a hostage as none of the allegations make sense by any standard: He was in prison because he was an American and to be used as a bargaining chip as evidenced by the video of his arrest that was released and how it was used as propaganda by the Iranian government.

On Jan. 16, 2016, the nuclear deal came into effect and Iran released five American hostages (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=6c741e713b&e=0afcca93e2) . Inexplicably, Siamak was not among them – a fact that devastated my family. I was told that by the previous administration that Secretary of State John Kerry had obtained a promise from his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif that Siamak would be released within weeks of the release of the other hostages.

That promise was broken. Far from releasing my brother, the IRGC increased my family's suffering exponentially by then imprisoning my father, Baquer Namazi, in February 2016. My father is an 80-year-old retired UNICEF officer who, like Siamak, has never committed a crime in his life. To the contrary, my father dedicated his entire life helping improve the lives of the most vulnerable in the most challenging parts of the world and did the same in Iran upon his retirement from UNICEF.

Yet, in October 2016, in a perversion of justice, my father and brother were each unjustly convicted of "collaboration with a hostile government" – code, in this case, for the U.S. – and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

While terrible prison conditions and inhumane treatment by the IRGC had already been wearing away at my father and brother for months, their conditions have rapidly deteriorated in the wake of their wrongful convictions. They had been sustained by hope, and suddenly that hope was gone. My father has serious heart conditions, suffers from heart arrhythmia and may require a pacemaker at any time. In a highly unusual move that evidences the severity of his condition and further elevating my desperation for his well-being, the IRGC has twice rushed him to an intensive care unit outside of the prison for treatment. I fear every second of every day that the worst will happen.

Even still, my father insists it is Siamak for whom we should be most concerned. Siamak has undergone physical and psychological mistreatment and has been denied even a bed to sleep on, and he's spending much of his detention in solitary confinement. Threats and interrogations continue even after the unjust convictions. Facing daily and mounting pressures, he began talking of "taking things into his own hands." Siamak feels he has nothing left to lose. I am terrified for Siamak's well-being.

Iran's continuing detention and mistreatment of my family represents the worst of human cruelty, but it also represents a diplomatic failure of the Obama administration: The Iranian government was never forced to deliver on its promises.

It is my great hope and expectation that where the Obama administration failed, the Trump administration will succeed. I am in Vienna because I know that my brother and father's case will be raised at the nuclear talks. The U.S. administration should be adamant in demanding Siamak and Baquer's release – and Iran should see the wisdom in releasing them on humanitarian grounds, before it is too late.

Trump has proven himself to be a great deal-maker in the business world. I urge him to use those negotiating abilities to reach a deal that will bring my family home. Even in my darkest moments, I'm emboldened by the fact that, when my father and brother's sentences were first reported in October 2016, then candidate Donald Trump took to Twitter and vowed "Well Iran has done it again. Taken two of our people and asking for a fortune for their release. This doesn't happen if I'm President!"

I cling to those words, and I pray and desperately need for my father and brother's sake that the president will be good to his word; otherwise, I may never see them again.

Babak Namazi is the son and brother, respectively, of Baquer and Siamak Namazi, American hostages in Iran. He lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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April 25, 2017

Trump Asked to Work for Release of Two Jailed By Iran

VIENNA (AP) — A relative of two Iranian-American citizens imprisoned in Iran says their health is failing rapidly due to inhumane conditions and is urging U.S. President Donald Trump to take "personal responsibility" for their lives.

Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer Namazi, were sentenced to 10-year prison terms last year for "collusion with an enemy state" — the United States. Babak Namazi has been working behind the scenes since then, seeking the release of his father and brother.

Their supporters deny the charges and say the two are being held as leverage on the U.S. Their supporters went public with their campaign Tuesday, appealing to Trump and formally asking the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention for "urgent action" to secure their release.

Babak Namazi and Jared Genser of the Washington-based Freedom-Now human rights group said Trump should assume responsibility for the two imprisoned dual citizens.

Namazi said he is "counting on the president to take personal responsibility" for his relatives' lives. Genser cited Trump as declaring "this doesn't happen if I'm president" after the Namazi convictions in October and said the U.S. president now needs to be "good to his word and do whatever is necessary to secure their release."

The Namazi family fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but appears to have kept business ties in Iran. Siamak Namazi's arrest in late 2015 followed criticism by hardliners over his advocacy for improved Iran-U.S. ties.

His 80-year old father is a former UNICEF representative who served as governor of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province under the U.S.-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was arrested after traveling to Iran, apparently in efforts seeking his son's release.

Both Namazis appear to be ensnared by hard-liners within Iran's security services who oppose the moderate administration of President Hassan Rouhani and the nuclear deal it struck with world powers.

Dual nationals in detention have been used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, and Genser said U.S. officials in Vienna planned to bring up the case later in the day in what is the first U.S.-Iran meeting on the nuclear deal since Trump took office.

Babak Namazi said both his father and brother are in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, out of reach for Iran's judiciary and under control of the Revolutionary Guard.

He told reporters his brother sleeps on the concrete floor of a "dark, humid cell," mostly in solitary confinement; he has been physically "tortured, beaten" and subjected to "psychological torture" and has lost 12 kilograms (over 26 pounds).

"He feels that he has nothing left to live for and (is considering) the taking of matters in his own hands," Namazi said.

He said that his father is "completely cut off from his doctor" despite serious health problems following triple bypass surgery and needing medication for various other ailments,

While doctors in Iran refused to disclose his condition after several hospital visits, "we know from his own rapidly expanding list of self-observed symptoms including severe weight loss, dizziness, exhaustion, confusion, lightheadedness and shortness of breath, that time is not on his side," Bakak Namazi said.
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April 25, 2017

Lawyer Urges Trump to Press Iran on Jailed U.S. Father and Son at Nuclear Talks

VIENNA (Reuters) - The lawyer of an American-Iranian father and son jailed in Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump to get his officials to press for the men's release at nuclear talks with Tehran on Tuesday.

An Iranian court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each in October on charges of spying and cooperating with the United States.

The Namazis' lawyer, Jared Genser, said he had traveled to the nuclear talks venue in Vienna with Siamak's brother, Babak, to encourage Washington's delegation to press the case, adding that he was worried about the detained men's health.

The lawyer said a senior administration official in the U.S. delegation had told him on Monday that the case would be raised directly during the talks on the implementation of a deal reached in 2015 to shrink Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

A State Department spokeswoman did not comment directly on the case, but said: "We continue to use all the means at our disposal to advocate for U.S. citizens who need our assistance overseas.”

Iran has not commented on the Namazis' prison conditions but has repeatedly said that political prisoners are kept under standard condition in Evin prison with full access to medical care.

"In our view, something happening to the Namazis would be devastating not just to one side but to both sides," Genser told reporters in a hotel near the venue.

"For either or both of the Namazis to die on (Trump's) watch would be a public and catastrophic failure of his negotiating skills,"

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak Namazi, a businessman, in October 2015 while he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said.
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April 25, 2017

** Relative of Imprisoned Iranian-Americans Appeals to Trump for Help
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Family urges moves to secure release as administration officials huddle with Iranian counterparts this week.

By Felicia Schwartz

The family of an Iranian-American father and son imprisoned in Iran are urging President Donald Trump to take personal responsibility to secure their release as administration officials huddle with Iranian counterparts for the first time (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=ea76800a29&e=0afcca93e2)  in meetings in Vienna this week.

Siamak Namazi, 45, is being held along with his father (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=806df86a9b&e=0afcca93e2) , Baquer Namazi, 80, in Iran’s Evin prison. Siamak’s brother, Babak Namazi, said Tuesday that he flew to the site of the U.S.-Iranian meetings in Vienna to press the case of his imprisoned family members, who have been held since October 2015 and February 2016, respectively.

In a news conference in Vienna, Babak Namazi said the Trump administration had assured him that it would raise Siamak and Baquer’s cases with the Iranian delegation.

“I am counting on the president to take personal responsibility for the lives of my father and brother and to act urgently in the face of their rapidly declining health and welfare,” he said.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday declined to discuss their cases in detail, but said the U.S. calls for the immediate release of all U.S. citizens unjustly detained in Iran.

“It’s something we raise in every possible venue with the Iranians,” Mr. Toner said.

The Namazi family’s U.S. lawyer, Jared Genser, founder of a nonprofit group that works to free political prisoners (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=b7502656c3&e=0afcca93e2) , said he had received assurances from Trump officials shortly before the trip.

“A senior administration official who was going to be part of the U.S. delegation confirmed to us just before the beginning of the talks that the United States would press Iran hard to release the Namazis,” Mr. Genser said, adding that he and Babak didn’t have contacts with the American or Iranian delegations while in Vienna.

The Trump administration’s delegation is headed by Stephen Mull, a career State Department official tapped by President Barack Obama to lead implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal reached between six world powers and Iran in 2015.

On the day that the nuclear deal was implemented, in January 2016, the U.S. and Iran exchanged prisoners (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=13a9298ae9&e=0afcca93e2) . Babak Namazi said Tuesday that his brother Siamak was left out of the exchange, even though Babak had received assurances from the Obama administration that Iran had agreed to release Siamak separately.

Babak Namazi noted that Mr. Trump spoke about his father and brother’s plight several times last year while campaigning. He said he hoped the Trump administration would open “an appropriate channel” with the Iranian government for direct talks to secure Siamak and Baquer’s release.

There are at least four U.S. citizens and two holders of U.S. green cards being held in Iran. Former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared off of Iran’s Kish Island in 2007 (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=aca1c12c9d&e=0afcca93e2) , remains missing.

Mr. Trump took an interest in the release of Aya Hijazi (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=6ce5d54a7c&e=0afcca93e2) , a 30-year-old Egyptian-American aid worker who had been held for three years in Cairo on what U.S. officials said were unjust human trafficking and child abuse charges.

Mr. Trump personally raised her case with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during Mr. Sisi’s visit to the White House, and she was cleared of all charges and released last week. The Trump administration considered her return to the U.S. to be a victory and an example of its success in raising human rights concerns.
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April 25, 2017

** Relative of Imprisoned Iranian-Americans Appeals to Trump for Help
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The family of U.S. citizens Siamak and Baquer Namazi is ramping up the pressure on the Trump administration.

By Jessica Schulberg

WASHINGTON ― A lawyer representing two American citizens imprisoned in Iran appealed to the United Nations on Tuesday to intervene on behalf of his clients.

In a 27-page petition submitted to the U.N. Working Group On Arbitrary Detention, Jared Genser argued that the Iranian government is arbitrarily depriving Siamak Namazi, 45, and his father Baquer, 80, of their liberty. Their treatment in Evin Prison amounts to torture, and risks causing “irreversible damage to their physical and mental health, or even death,” wrote Genser, the founder of Freedom Now, a nonprofit that works to free prisoners of conscience.

The U.N. working group, established in 1991, can issue opinions on individual cases and urge countries to free prisoners who are being detained unlawfully. It has little ability to compel countries to abide by its recommendations, but a statement on the Namazis from the group could help apply pressure on Tehran.

The decision by the Namazi family to make a public appeal to the U.N. group is part of a broader strategy meant to increase public awareness of Siamak and Baquer’s plight and to urge the Trump administration to strike a deal with Tehran to secure their release.

Genser released his submission to the U.N. just before a delegation from the U.S. was scheduled to meet in Vienna with counterparts from Iran and the five other countries that helped negotiate a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. He and Babak Namazi, Siamak’s brother and Baquer’s son, plan to hold a press conference in Vienna just before the world powers meet to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.

“This will be the first face-to-face discussions between the U.S. and Iran since the inauguration of President Trump,” Genser wrote in an email. “We have been informed that the U.S. delegation will raise the Namazi cases directly to the Iranian delegation.”

The State Department declined to comment on the Namazis specifically but a spokesman said the agency “continue[s] to use all the means at our disposal to advocate for U.S. citizens who need our assistance overseas.”

Until recently, the Namazi family took a very different approach to getting Siamak and Baquer out of prison. When Siamak was arrested in October 2015, his family stayed quiet, hoping to give the previous administration room to negotiate. But when the Obama administration finalized a prisoner swap with Iran last year, Siamak was left behind (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c355b07bbc&e=0afcca93e2) . The month after the prisoner swap, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Forces arrested Baquer (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c9e3e6e181&e=0afcca93e2)  too. In their final days in office, Obama administration officials made a last-ditch effort to negotiate the Namazis’ release, but they were unsuccessful.

After quiet patience proved ineffective, the Namazis decided to speak out. Last month, Babak Namazi briefed a group of reporters and human rights activists in Washington on Siamak and Baquer’s condition. He gave a detailed narrative (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=743b351edc&e=0afcca93e2)  of the family’s saga since Siamak was arrested in 2015 and said he hoped President Donald Trump would be able to accomplish what his predecessor could not.

According to the petition filed by Genser, Siamak’s physical and mental state has deteriorated dramatically since he was first imprisoned. He is often kept in solitary confinement in a cell without a bed, forcing him to sleep on the concrete floor. He has been tortured by guards, beaten, hit with stun guns, and forced to watch government propaganda with images of him and his father in prison, Genser wrote. He has lost 26 pounds in prison as a result of a hunger strike.

Baquer’s physical health conditions are even more serious. He has a heart condition that caused him to undergo triple bypass surgery before he was imprisoned. He has been hospitalized at least twice since his arrest but has not been allowed to see his heart specialist while in prison.

Tehran’s denial of “medically appropriate detention conditions for the Namazis constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” Genser wrote in the petition.

Despite being held in the same prison, Siamak and Baquer first saw each other in February, more than a year since Baquer entered Evin, Genser alleged in the petition.

Siamak and Baquer have both been convicted of cooperating with a “foreign state” against Iran ― a reference to the U.S. ― and have been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

They were only allowed to meet with the attorneys in Iran for a half-hour several days before the hearing, which was closed to the public and the media. According to Genser, they were not allowed to present evidence, call witnesses, or meaningfully challenge charges or evidence against them.

The case against the Namazis appears to rely heavily on their past affiliation with Western organizations. Siamak held fellowships with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the National Endowment for Democracy ― both of which receive funding from Congress. Baquer worked with the humanitarian relief organization UNICEF for over 10 years. At the time of their arrests, Siamak was working at an oil and gas company in Dubai and Baquer was retired and living Iran.

Genser’s petition to the U.N. group is just as much an appeal to the U.S. government to focus on getting Siamak and Baquer released. He is conveying a message to the Trump administration that because of their deteriorating health and Baquer’s age, they don’t have much time to negotiate a deal.

During the presidential campaign last year, Trump tweeted that he wouldn’t let Iran imprison Americans and demand money for their release if he became president.

Earlier this month, the Treasury Department sanctioned (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c20ddbf5e2&e=0afcca93e2)  the Tehran Prisons Organization and senior prison official Sohrab Soleimani for human rights abuses. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer mentioned (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c919e80aba&e=0afcca93e2)  Siamak and Baquer by name when he discussed the sanctions.

Last week, an American imprisoned for three years in Egypt returned home (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=ea4110296f&e=0afcca93e2)  after the Trump administration negotiated her release. Her release was possible, in part, because of the Trump administration’s willingness to drop pressure on Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to improve the country’s human rights record.

But it’s not clear what leverage the Trump administration will have with Tehran. Unlike in Egypt, where he was eager to patch up relations, Trump has vowed to take a tougher stance in Iran. And he repeatedly criticized the Obama administration for giving up too much in last year’s prisoner swap, which means it would be hard for him to accept significant American concessions to bring Siamak and Baquer home.
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April 25, 2017

** UN Urged to Take Immediate Action on Namazis Case
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Freedom Now, an organization representing prisoners of conscience and people in arbitrary detention, has urged the United Nations to take immediate action in the cases of Baquer and Siamak Namazi, the Iranian-American father and son who have been illegally held in Iran for over a year.

The Namazis' lawyer Jared Genser and Babak Namazi, the son of Baquer and brother to Siamak, told the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on April 25 that they were increasingly concerned about the health of the Namazis, especially considering the poor conditions in Iranian prisons, and interrogators' regular use of humiliation and torture against prisoners of conscience. They called on the working group to adopt its “urgent action process” to help secure the Namazis’ release.

The submission to the UN coincides with talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the nuclear deal. Iranian and US officials will meet in Vienna to discuss the JCPOA amid renewed tensions between the countries following the Trump administration’s executive order to restrict travel on citizens from Muslim-majorty countries including Iran, and retaliatory statements from Tehran. In an op-ed for US News and World Report (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=a3c092a6ba&e=0afcca93e2)  Babak Namazi said “the high-stakes political drama that is about to unfold is deeply personal. The fate and lives of my father and brother, who are both American hostages in Iran, could well be determined by how the US-Iran relationship develops from these meetings.”

Namazi described the heartbreak his family experienced when they realized his brother was not included in the group of prisoners released as the nuclear deal came into effect on January 16, 2016.  “I was told that by the previous administration that Secretary of State John Kerry had obtained a promise from his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif that Siamak would be released within weeks of the release of the other hostages. That promise was broken.”

In October 2016, President Trump tweeted about the Namazis' case: “Well, Iran has done it again. Taken two of our people and asking for a fortune for their release. This doesn't happen if I'm president!” Babak Namazi is now hopeful that the Trump administration can help bring about his brother and father’s freedom.

Freedom Now’s legal team Jared Genser, Nicole Santiago, and Elise Baranouski submitted the petition (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=2804165009&e=0afcca93e2)  to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, part of the Human Rights Council. It outlines the cases of the Namazis, and in particular points out fears for their health and safety, the illegal nature of their arrests, and the fact that they have been denied urgent medical care, regular family visits, and reading materials. It emphasizes that prisoners are regularly subjected to intimidation and torture, often with the aim of extracting forced confessions.

“Both Siamak’s and Baquer’s current detention conditions clearly constitute clear, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and may very well rise to the level of torture,” the submission reads. “Without intervention, it is unclear how much longer the Namazis can withstand the physical and psychological distress imposed by the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards]. There is a great risk that the suffering inflicted on the Namazis may cause irreversible damage to their physical and mental health, or even death.” It also says that Siamak’s health in particular has deteriorated and that his family fears that he may be suicidal.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has set up an "urgent action" procedure for cases that indicate a life-threatening situation. According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner  (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=6fa1389101&e=0afcca93e2) for (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0f591ffd6c&e=0afcca93e2)  Human Rights (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=f1e89cc44f&e=0afcca93e2) , as part of this procedure, an urgent appeal can be sent to the government of the country concerned via diplomatic channels. This appeal requests that the government take “appropriate measures" to ensure the rights of a detained person are upheld and that they have access to "fair proceedings before an independent and impartial tribunal as well as the right to life and to physical and mental integrity.”

The Revolutionary Guards arrested Siamak Namazi on October 13, 2015 while he was in Iran on business. Prior to his arrest, he had been reporting to interrogators on a regular basis for a period of three months. The Guards arrested Baquer Namazi (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=a42dfce79b&e=0afcca93e2)  on February 22, 2016 after he flew into the country from Dubai to visit his son. Agents did not provide arrest warrants in either case.

The Namazis are known for their humanitarian work, and in particular, their efforts to improve the lives of Iranians. Baquer Namazi worked for UNICEF for many years, and Siamak Namazi’s work focused on bringing business to Iran to boost the country's economy.

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