Iran Continues To Hold Hostages Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

New York, N.Y.) – Amid a serious outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran, the regime continues to hold foreigners and dual-nationals hostage as a means of extorting the international community. In recent days, the regime offered Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe a temporary furlough following reports the British government was engaged in talks with the Islamic Republic over repayment of a decades-old £400 million arms debt. The French government recently negotiated a prisoner exchange of Iranian engineer Jalal Ruhollahnejad—who was due to be extradited to the United States over attempts to illicitly export high-power industrial microwave systems to Iran—for French academic Roland Marchal. The Iranian judiciary granted U.S. Navy veteran Michael White—who has been imprisoned while suffering from cancer—a temporary medical release last week as well.

Yet Iran continues to jail countless others, including hostages with severe underlying health conditions. U.S. citizen Baquer Namazi remains behind bars even while suffering in the past from heart problems and epilepsy. French-Iranian dual national Fariba Adelkhah languishes inside Iran’s Evin Prison as she deals with a kidney condition. That’s not to mention the plight of Robert Levinson, who has been missing since 2007.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource, American and Western Hostages, documents the cases of dual-nationals and foreigners who have been caught in Tehran’s dragnet. It details their stories and struggles inside the Islamic Republic’s justice system.

To explore UANI’s resource American and Western Hostages, please click here.

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