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Dear Friends,

In late November 2016, I began representing Baquer and Siamak Namazi, a father and son pair of American hostages in Iran. Babak Namazi, their son/brother has been in Washington this week to try and jump-start the Trump Administration's efforts to secure their release, resulting in an incredibly helpful double hit in the Washington Post -- an oped (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=438593dd7b&e=0afcca93e2) from Babak and a hard news story (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=5c468d6099&e=0afcca93e2) (both below). There was also an in depth piece (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=bc9d496df0&e=0afcca93e2) in Huffington Post (also below). And there are more stories to come. We also had high-level
meetings at the White House and State Department and with a range of others on Capitol Hill and beyond.
Siamak is a businessman who had advocated for sanctions relief to allow vital medicines in to Iran. He was arrested by the Government of Iran on October 15, 2015. In January 2016, the Obama Administration secured the release of four other American hostages, but Siamak was excluded from the deal. The Namazi family was told private assurances had been provided to Secretary Kerry that Siamak would be out in weeks. But on February 22, 2016, the Government of Iran arrested Siamak's 80-year-old father Baquer. He had been a senior official with UNICEF for several decades and had retired to Iran. On October 18, 2016, Siamak and Baquer were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for "collaborating with the enemy."

Interestingly, just a few days after the conviction, then candidate Donald Trump sent out the following tweet:
The situation facing the Namazis is now desperate. Baquer Namazi previously had a triple bypass surgery, needs a pacemaker, has lost 25 pounds in prison and was recently hospitalized for five days with no explanation to the family about what happened. And Siamak has been held for most of his time in prison in solitary confinement, he has no bed and sleeps on a concrete floor, and has lost all hope and is despondent.

The new Administration is developing its Iran policy and while I won't speak to any further specifics of our discussion, the Iranian Foreign Ministry in the last two days indicated there are no discussions underway between the Trump Administration and the Government of Iran. We hope that our efforts and those of friends on the Hill will expedite action to move meaningful discussions forward.

Best,

Jared
Freedom Now
March 3, 2017

Trump Promised to Not Let Iran Jail Americans. When Will He Help Free My Father and Brother?
By Babak Namazi

On Oct. 23, 2016, during the height of the American presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump made a promise to the American people that I hope he can keep. He tweeted (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=c3ebc77ae4&e=0afcca93e2) , “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.” He was talking about my father, Baquer Namazi, and my brother, Siamak Namazi, who had each been sentenced to 10 years in prison days earlier for allegedly “collaborating with the enemy,” the United States. A month into the new administration, I was in Washington to tell President Trump that I am counting on him to make good on his word.

Both my father and my brother are dual Iranian American citizens who have committed no crimes. My family had remained silent for close to a year about this injustice, hoping that Baquer and Siamak would be quietly released once Iran acknowledged their obvious innocence. In fact, in private negotiations with the Obama administration, Iran had actually promised to release Siamak, but instead arrested my father, too. Our hopes were crushed when, in a perversion of justice, both were given extraordinary sentences. Their baseless convictions and the horrific conditions of detention force me to speak out on their behalf.

My father is a retired UNICEF official who devoted his career to under-served populations around the world. Upon retirement, he returned to Iran to dedicate his remaining years to volunteering with projects on poverty eradication. Siamak worked globally as a business consultant. In 2013, he devoted several months to researching the humanitarian impact of sanctions on Iran and presented his report at the Woodrow Wilson Center. His report contributed to targeted changes in U.S. policies to allow for more lifesaving medical supplies to reach the people of Iran.

There is no rational explanation for why the Iranian authorities targeted Siamak and Baquer — their humanitarian work only stood to benefit the Iranian people. Yet on July 18, 2015, after a weekend visit to see our parents, Siamak was stopped at Tehran Airport by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and his passport was confiscated. Over the next three months, Siamak was interrogated daily. Then on Oct. 13, 2015, Siamak was arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. My father was arrested a few months later by the IRGC on Feb. 22, 2016, and also brought to Evin Prison. There were never any formal charges, though the authorities and some media outlets have spawned lies accusing them of being saboteurs. The allegations are not true.

On the day they were summarily convicted, the trial was over in just a few hours, and they were allowed to meet with a defense lawyer once in preparation. We still have not been informed of the precise charges or the evidence against them — and I suspect we never will.

It causes me great anguish knowing of their suffering in prison. Both have been subjected to periods of extended solitary confinement and, despite the proximity of their prison cells, have never been allowed to see each other. Siamak sleeps on the concrete floor because he has no bed, and his cell is freezing cold. He continues to be interrogated even after his conviction. My father is in fragile health with a serious heart condition, and he has been hospitalized twice without explanation. I worry every day that he is not getting access to vital medications. Both have lost considerable weight, and I am increasingly concerned for their mental health. Iranian officials seem to be trying to break their will to live.

This ordeal has been hard for my family, especially my mother, who remains in Iran. We have no answers, no comfort, and soon, I fear, no hope. My father’s 10-year conviction at age 80 is a death sentence, and Siamak’s daily abuse by prison officials threatens to push him over the edge.

On behalf of my family, I urge Iranian authorities to immediately release Baquer and Siamak on humanitarian grounds. UNICEF (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=19948d4b7f&e=0afcca93e2) , U.N. human rights experts (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=39e05f0a6b&e=0afcca93e2) and even former U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=de522f0c2e&e=0afcca93e2) have made similar humanitarian appeals. It is not too late for the Iranian authorities to show compassion.

I am deeply concerned about what the deteriorating relationship between the Iranian government and the new U.S. administration means for Americans held in Iran. The cases of my father and brother are not political, but humanitarian, and thus, they should not have to suffer the repercussions of two feuding nations. Regardless of the challenging relationship, I implore Trump to deliver upon his campaign promise and do what is necessary to free my father and brother.

Baquer and Siamak were relentless advocates for the vulnerable and the voiceless. Now that they are the ones without a voice, let us be relentless advocates for them.

Babak Namazi lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
March 2, 2017

Can Trump Bring American Hostages and Prisoners Home?
By Carol Morello

Few people have watched the deteriorating relations between Iran and the United States with as much concern as Babak Namazi (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=20e645ffb7&e=0afcca93e2) .

The stakes are intensely personal. His elderly father and his younger brother, both U.S. citizens, are imprisoned in Iran after being convicted of espionage and collaborating with the U.S. government. They had an appeals hearing Wednesday, but there is little hope the verdict will be overturned.

The Obama administration had pushed Iran to free Siamak and Baquer Namazi (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=3d86bb3ba1&e=0afcca93e2) , and other Americans detained or missing in Iran, until talks collapsed in President Barack Obama’s final days in office. Since then, there has been no contact between Washington and Tehran, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

So Babak Namazi came to Washington this week to urge the Trump administration to restart efforts to gain his family members’ freedom after more than a year in custody.

“I was hopeful it would have been resolved ages ago,” said Namazi, in an interview before he met Tuesday with a senior official from the National Security Council. “With a new administration in place, we hope it draws the attention we need. My father is running out of time. When he talks to my mom, he complains that he’s dizzy. And he says something he’s never said before: "Pray for me."

When President Trump took office, he inherited responsibility for the fate of Americans taken hostage or held for questionable reasons in foreign prisons.

At least six Americans are in the hands of militants, including a Pennsylvania woman, her Canadian husband and their two children born in captivity after their kidnapping near the Afghan-Pakistan border. At least four U.S. citizens with dual nationality and two green-card holders are behind bars in Iran, and a former FBI agent who disappeared there a decade ago may still be alive.

The total number of American hostages is a tightly guarded secret. In 2015, when U.S. hostage policy changed to not seek prosecution of Americans who negotiate ransoms for loved ones held abroad, President Obama put the number at more than 30.

Efforts to bring hostages home continue through the work of career employees in the FBI’s Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and the office of the Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs in the State Department, both of which were created in 2015.

“The communication with us is as strong as it has been,” said Debra Tice, who recently spoke with homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert about her son. Austin Tice was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012 and is believed to be alive. “A lot of our team remains and was unaffected by the [presidential] transition.”

The change in administrations has created two voids, however. When he was secretary of state, John F. Kerry pushed for prisoner releases during his regular conversations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the Iran nuclear deal. No one from the Trump administration has the same relationship.

And the hostage envoy position has not been filled since James O’Brien resigned on Jan. 20. A deputy is filling in, and it is not clear whether the job will be filled or have the same mandate to find new approaches to negotiations.

“My thesis in the job was that getting Americans home is right and shows that our government is effective, because it changes the behavior of people on the other side even before other, difficult parts of our relationship are addressed,” O’Brien said. “I hope that’s the same approach that the administration is using now.”

The White House insists it is fully engaged in the effort, even with Tehran.

“The Trump administration is truly, unwaveringly committed to the return of all U.S. citizens held in captivity in Iran, or anywhere in world,” said an official with the National Security Council, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House. “Specifically, the Iranian cases continue be a high priority for the U.S. government.”

The Americans imprisoned in Iran have all been accused of spying for the United States. It is widely believed that the charges are baseless and that the prisoners are pawns for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Recently, the deputy head of the Corps bragged that the United States had paid ransom to free Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian a year ago, a payment U.S. officials insisted was an out-of-court settlement of an old lawsuit. But the boast suggests the powerful group is angling for a deal.

“What the Revolutionary Guards have done to Siamak and others has reached a point of diminishing returns,” said Reza Marashi of the National Iranian American Council. “Before, their strategy was to prevent further progress in U.S.-Iran relations. Nobody argues Trump is trying to improve on Obama’s progress. So the prisoners have become a liability. The Revolutionary Guards have backed themselves into a corner, and they are looking for a face-saving way out.”

For the families, a way out cannot come soon enough.

Fatemeh Shahini, a San Diego woman whose brother, Robin (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=f7469df907&e=0afcca93e2) , was convicted of espionage last year, said he is on a hunger strike that has caused him to lose 40 pounds and be beaten by prison guards.

Babak Namazi worries about the health of his 80-year-old father, Baquer, who has had triple bypass heart surgery. He was recently hospitalized in Iran, suggesting his captors do not want him to die on their watch.

“Siamak (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=d190801702&e=0afcca93e2) is under relentless pressure,” Babak Namazi said of his brother. “Interrogations have continued, even after his conviction, to the point he is despondent and has no hope.”

His attorney, Jared Genser, of Freedom Now, said a senior Iranian official vowed to Kerry that the Namazis would be released “soon” after Rezaian and four other U.S. citizens were freed in January 2016.

“High-level discussions between both sides included detailed requests of what each might need,” Genser said. “But ultimately, the differences from the Iranian side far exceeded what the U.S. government would ever be capable of delivering.”

Now, their hopes lie in Trump, despite his sometimes bellicose attitude toward Iran and the nuclear deal. They quoted a Trump tweet two weeks before the election, in reaction to the Namazis being sentenced: “This doesn’t happen if I’m president.”
March 2, 2017

Obama Administration Made Latch-Ditch Attempt to Free Americans From Iranian Prison
The Negotiations Collapsed Days Before Donald Trump's Inauguration

By Jessica Schulberg

WASHINGTON ― In the final weeks of Barack Obama’s (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=0f7c42b4fa&e=0afcca93e2) presidency, administration representatives held secret negotiations with Iranian officials, aimed at securing the release of American citizens imprisoned in Tehran.

The talks, described publicly for the first time by a lawyer working on behalf of two of the prisoners, began in mid-December and collapsed days before President Donald Trump’s (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=00017ff4e7&e=0afcca93e2) inauguration in January. Iranian negotiators, aware that the Obama administration was eager to strike a deal before leaving office, made unmeetable demands, said Jared Genser, a human rights attorney who has been in frequent contact with U.S. government officials about the effort to free the prisoners.

The Iranians “were not serious,” a State Department official told Genser, who declined to characterize Tehran’s demands in more detail. Genser represents Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer ― both of whom are dual American-Iranian citizens and have been held in Evin prison for more than one year.

In addition to the Namazis, the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is holding U.S. citizens Reza “Robin” Shahini and Karan Vafadari, as well as U.S. lawful permanent residents Afarin Niasari and Nizar Zakka.

Babak Namazi, Siamak’s older brother and Baquer’s son, traveled to Washington, D.C., from Dubai this week to press the Trump administration to prioritize the release of his family members and highlight their deteriorating mental and physical condition in prison. State Department and White House officials said “all the right things” in meetings, Genser said, but emphasized that they were still developing a broader policy on Iran.

“The sole mission I have in life right now is to get the freedom of Siamak and my dad,” Babak told a small group of reporters on Thursday, after meeting with government officials and lawmakers. “I spend restless nights thinking, ‘Will I see my dad again? Will I see Siamak again? Are they cold? Are they hungry?’”

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on specific cases, citing privacy restrictions.

“The safety and security of U.S. citizens remains a top priority and we make all appropriate efforts to work for the release of any unjustly detained U.S. citizens held overseas,” she said in a statement. “We call for the immediate release of all U.S. citizens unjustly detained in Iran so they can return to their families.”

Siamak Namazi was apprehended (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=920ed3d517&e=0afcca93e2) at the airport in Tehran in July 2015, during what was supposed to be a short visit. Plainclothes members of the Revolutionary Guards confiscated his passport and interrogated him in a car outside the airport, Babak said. They let him go, but he could not leave the country and return home to Dubai. They repeatedly called him in for interrogations over the next several months, before finally arresting him in October 2015.

When the Obama administration reached an agreement with Iran in January 2016 to free four American citizens in exchange for seven Iranians held in the U.S., Iranian news outlets initially mistakenly identified Siamak (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=f166a73c41&e=0afcca93e2) as one of the Americans who would be released in the swap. Subsequent reports clarified that he was not included in the deal.

“We got blindsided in January,” Babak said of Siamak being left behind as other Americans returned home. Initial joy at seeing Siamak’s name in the incorrect media reports turned to horror, he said.

The Obama administration never gave the Namazi family a clear explanation of why Siamak was not included in the swap, according to Babak. Senior administration officials told reporters that the family asked for him to be left out, believing that Siamak, who hadn’t lived in the U.S. for years, had a better chance of getting out than some of the other Americans. Babak disputes those reports and is adamant that he made clear to the State Department that he wanted U.S. officials to negotiate his brother’s release.

Baquer traveled from Iran to Dubai to visit Babak in February. Once there, he received a call from Iranian officials. If he returned to Iran immediately, he would be granted a visit to Siamak. He jumped at the offer. But once landed in the Tehran airport, he was also arrested and taken to Evin. Last week marked the one-year anniversary of his imprisonment.

Siamak and Baquer were sentenced last October to 10 years in prison on charges of collaborating with the U.S. It is “practically a death sentence” for 80-year-old Baquer, Babak said (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=70515eb7ec&e=0afcca93e2) when they were sentenced. Baquer, who has had triple-bypass surgery, was hospitalized several weeks ago, his son said. Siamak has spent much of his imprisonment in solitary confinement without a mattress to sleep on, according to Babak.

After the Namazis were sentenced, then-presidential candidate Trump tweeted about their case, indicating he would take a tough approach to Iran’s practice of arresting American citizens and holding them as bargaining chips. (There is no public record of Tehran asking for money in return for the Namazis’ release.)

Although Trump is aware of the Namazis’ situation, there is no indication of whether — or how — he will work to bring them home. Trump criticized (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=75289cce95&e=0afcca93e2) the last prisoner swap as uneven and took an aggressive tone on Iran throughout the campaign. But since his inauguration, he has backtracked on a previous promise to scrap the nuclear agreement with Iran that paved the way for the prisoner agreement.

Even if Trump is willing to strike a deal with Iran, it is unclear how his administration would go about negotiating it. Six weeks into his presidency, several top-level State Department positions are still vacant (http://perseus-strategies.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c39107cbeb21c5a0e6a367404&id=66f9ad710f&e=0afcca93e2) . Genser said a National Security Council official told him that Siamak and Baquer’s cases are “very high priority,” but also said that the administration’s policy on American hostages will have to be factored into their still-developing policy on Iran.

At this point, there is no communication between the Trump administration and the government of Iran, Genser said.

“We have no information to suggest that anything active is happening right now, and that has to change,” he added, urging the Trump administration to at least reach out to traditional intermediaries in Switzerland and Oman.

With Baquer’s deteriorating health, the two governments do not have much time to act. If the elderly American citizen were to die in an Iranian prison, it could precipitate an international crisis. Genser doesn’t want that to happen.

“The death of an American hostage in Iran,” he said, “would force decisions to be made by the [Trump] administration that would not be in the interests of the government of Iran ― or, frankly, the government of the United States.”

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