Imprisoned Iranian American Siamak Namazi says he is going on a seven-day hunger strike — one day for every year left behind in a 2016 prisoner swap — to protest the Biden administration’s failure to release him and other Americans held in notorious Iran. the prison.
CBS News
Namazi, 51, informed President Biden of his hunger strike in a letter, noting that he now bears the “unenviable title of longest held Iranian-American hostage in history.”
“All I want, sir, is one minute of your days over the next seven days devoted to reflecting on the plight of the American hostages in Iran,” Namazi wrote. “Just one minute of your time for every year of my life that I lost in Evin Prison after the United States government could have saved me but didn’t. That’s it. Alas, being in this cage, all I have to offer is you in return.” is my further suffering. Therefore, I will deprive myself of food for the same seven days, in the hope that you will not deny me with that little request.”
Namazi’s attorney told CBS News that he turned the letter over to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday. Over the past two years, Team Biden has tried unsuccessfully to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, while at the same time also arranging prisoner releases. Both attempts have faltered, compounded by protests by the United States and the West over Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters and other human rights abuses.
The White House has not commented.
The Obama administration secured The release of four Iranian Americans On January 16, 2016, they included Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian. Namazi was not included, although the US officials who negotiated the deal were aware of his detention and requested his release. The United States continued the prisoner exchange process despite Namazi’s continued detention.
Siamak Namazi’s father, Bagher Namazi, who was a UN official at the time, was arrested in Iran shortly after the US exchange while trying to visit his detained son. Both Siamak and Bakir Namazi were later let go in two other prisoner exchanges carried out by the Trump administration. Finally, the Iranian authorities Bakir, now 86 years old, was allowed to leave Iran Last October for life-saving medical treatment in the UAE.
“How does one describe the feeling of being dehumanized and treated as some kind of overpriced item instead?” Siamak Namazi writes. How do I explain the devastation my family and I have left after so many half-hearted prisoner deals collapsed at the last minute?
Siamak Namazi is still imprisoned in Iran’s Evin prison, along with Americans Imad Sharqi and Morad Tahbaz. Al-Sharqi’s family confirmed to CBS News that the three Americans are now in the same prison wing, since a prison fire broke out last year as it swept the country. National protests which continues to this day. Shahab Dalili, a permanent resident of the United States, is also being held in Iran.
Siamak Namazi pleaded with the president to repatriate all Americans held in Iran. “In the past, I have implored you to reach your moral compass and find the resolve to bring home the American hostages in Iran,” he wrote. “In vain. Not only are we prisoners of Iran, but you haven’t given our families a meeting.”
He added, “Only the President of the United States has the authority to bring us home, if he decides to do so.”
In a recent interview withFace the nationSharqi’s wife and two daughters shared their frustration that the families of Americans held in Iran had not met with the president. Trevor Reed And Brittney GrinerBoth of them were released in the framework of a prisoner exchange with Russia last year. They were invited to meet the president before the deals that secured their release.
Chargy’s frustration boiled over recently when White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre indicated at two press briefings last year that she was unaware of his case. “I don’t understand how I should believe my father will come home, if the White House doesn’t know his name,” Hannah, Mr. Sharkey’s daughter, told Margaret Brennan, moderator of the “Face the Nation” episode.
Here is the text of Namazie’s letter to President Biden:
Dear President Biden,
When the Obama administration unscrupulously left me in peril and released other American citizens held hostage by Iran on January 16, 2016, the United States government promised my family to return me safely home within weeks. Yet, seven years and two presidents later, I am still held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, and I hold this long-awaited document along with the unenviable title of the longest held Iranian-American hostage in history.
My captors enjoy mocking this fact by saying things like: “How can beloved America be so heartless? Not one President of the United States freed others, they just left you behind!” However, my frank reply denies them any satisfaction. Tell them that while I remain deeply indignant about the abhorrent discrimination that the United States government can make among its vulnerable citizens, I never forget that it was not Obama or Trump who imprisoned me on trumped-up charges. Obviously, the despicable hostage diplomacy that blighted the lives of so many innocent men and women and their families.
Unfortunately, I find it difficult to honestly respond to a genuine, “How are you really?” question. I know no words to do justice to the indescribable pain I have endured since Iran took me hostage in October 2015. Nothing I can say can convey the pain of having to harden myself in this cruelty and lawlessness. How does one describe the feeling of being dehumanized and treated to some kind of overpriced item instead? How do I explain the devastation my family and I have left after so many half-hearted prisoner deals collapsed at the last minute, turning freedom into an illusion? How do I convey the aching terror of not knowing when or how this nightmare will end or even what comes next?
Day after day I ignore the intense pain that I always carry with me and do my best to fight this grave injustice. You certainly will not be surprised to hear that my persistence has not yielded positive results and that my repeated calls for the rule of law and a display of humanity have fallen on deaf ears here. Maybe I’m lucky. After all, today the world is witnessing how brutally this regime can respond to those who dare claim their basic rights.
How cruel my captors are isn’t the only thing I’ve learned a lot about during these unbearable years. I know now that I shouldn’t get my hopes up when senior American officials say that rescuing hostages in Iran is their top priority. Such well-intentioned statements can be repeated year after year without tangible results. Only the President of the United States has the authority to bring us home, if he decides to do so. That is why, Mr. Biden, on the seventh anniversary of leaving the Obama administration behind, I once again risk making a direct appeal to you.
I have implored you in the past to reach your moral compass and find the resolve to bring home the American hostages in Iran. but to no avail. Not only do we remain prisoners of Iran, but you did not grant our families a meeting.
So today I feel compelled to amend my application. All I want, sir, is one minute of your days over the next seven days devoted to reflecting on the plights of the American hostages in Iran. Just one minute of your time for every year of my life that I lost in Evin Prison after the US government could have saved me but didn’t. That’s it. Alas, since I am in this cage, all I have to offer you in return is my further suffering. Therefore, I will deprive myself of food for the same seven days, in the hope that you will not refuse me with that small request.
sincerely,
Siamak Namazi
Evin prison
January 16, 2023
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