American citizen detained in Iran for six years flies out of country for surgery

Judy Woodruff:

An American citizen and former U.N. official wrongfully held in Iran for more than six-and-a-half years has been allowed to travel abroad today to seek medical treatment. His son has been released from prison a temporary furlough, but still cannot leave Iran.

Amna Nawaz has the story.

Amna Nawaz:

Judy, 85-year-old Baquer Namazi is one of four Iranian Americans who have been detained by Iran or barred from leaving the country, including his son, Siamak Namazi, who has been held in prison since 2015.

Both father and son had been sentenced to what U.S. and U.N. officials called baseless espionage charges. Baquer Namazi traveled to Oman today and recently landed in Abu Dhabi, where he will undergo surgery.

Jared Genser is a human rights attorney and pro bono counsel for the Namazi family. And he joins me now.

Jared, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thank you for joining us.

Baquer has been in Iranian custody since 2016. This surgery he will get could save his life. Have you talked to him today? How is he doing?

Jared Genser, Human Rights Attorney:

I spoke to him yesterday. He's been traveling today.

It's been a long ordeal to get from Tehran to UAE, as you can imagine, especially when you're talking about a recovery of an American hostage. But I spoke to him yesterday and the day before. I mean, he is, on one hand, excited and grateful for the fact that so many people, the U.N., the United States, Oman, UAE, have all come together to get him out.

But, at the same time, this is a very bittersweet day because his son Siamak Namazi remains a hostage in Iran, who's out on a one-week renewable furlough. He spent seven years and counting and could be sent back to jail at any time.

Amna Nawaz:

What can you tell us, Jared, about the negotiations that went into this? I mean, he's been there since 2016, held and detained, right? His sentence was commuted in 2020. But he hasn't been allowed to leave. Why now?

Jared Genser:

Well, I think that the Iranians must have come to believe that, given the next major surgery he needs to have, which is to unblock one of the main arteries to his brain, that it was a great risk to keep him in Iran, where he could die on the operating table.

The reality is that, he has been subjected to a totally arbitrary travel ban for more than two years. Even under Iranian law, there's no justification for keeping him in Iran, yet they still hoped to trade him for something of value. And I think they finally let them go, realizing that there was really nothing left, except for downside, for them if they tried to keep on and if something went wrong in the operation.

Amna Nawaz:

So, as you mentioned, one of his sons, Siamak, has been imprisoned for seven years, is now out on a temporary furlough.

But what can you tell us about him and how he's doing and whether this means it's a step towards his release?

Jared Genser:

Yes, I mean, well, look, the bottom line is, having worked on behalf of the Namazis for years myself, today can be nothing other than a good day.

It's a bittersweet day because Siamak is still behind. Our hope is that this humanitarian gesture by Iran of both lifting the travel ban on Baquer Namazi and letting him go and letting Siamak out on a one-week furlough, which hopefully will be renewed, is a clear sign to the United States and will be taken as such as a reason to finally come to a negotiated settlement on all of the outstanding hostage cases, because there are, of course, two other American hostages in Iran as well.

And all of them need to come home to their families, and their nightmare needs to be brought to an end.

Amna Nawaz:

Does he have to go back to Iran after the surgery, or does this mean he's free?

Jared Genser:

No, no, he's free. And he was free as of 2020. And this was the bizarre thing about what the government of Iran had been doing in his case.

They themselves community his sentence to time served. Their own courts did. And yet they refused to give him a passport to be able to leave the country.

Amna Nawaz:

You mentioned the other Americans who are held there. Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz remain detained in Iran.

We have been in touch with the family of Emad Sharghi. They sent us this statement today, saying, in part, that: "We wish the U.S. could have secured Emad's freedom as well. Instead, he remains an innocent American wrongfully imprisoned in Iran. We urge the U.S. government to do everything it can to bring him home to us."

Jared, you have worked for years on these kinds of cases. Hundreds of people have been freed because of your work. Do you believe the U.S. government is doing everything it can?

Jared Genser:

Right now, I think the answer to that question is yes.

Having represented the Namazis myself since November of 2016, there have been long periods of time where the answer was no. But we need a renewed sense of urgency to come to a final deal and to resolve this outstanding group of cases.

And, ultimately, we also need to get to the broader question of how does the United States as a country deal with these kinds of situations around the world, because our policies have been consistently inconsistent. We don't negotiate with terrorists, except when we do. We don't pay a ransom, except when we do, right?

And we need a multilateral approach to this problem, because it is not just an American problem. There are hostages that Iran has from many other countries around the world. And many other countries in the world take foreigners hostage as a matter of state practice.

Amna Nawaz:

Jared, does this moment in Iran, though, present a window for negotiations in some way? The regime is under pressure, right? They're facing these protests after the death of Mahsa Amini. They're trying to follow through on the nuclear deal talks.

There's a pressure there. Is that a window of opportunity for the U.S.?

Jared Genser:

I think it definitely is. And I'm more hopeful today than I have been really at all over the some six years that I have been involved in these cases, not only because Baquer is free, but they didn't have to let Siamak out on a furlough, even though he had a right to a furlough, having served half of his sentence of five years, and he's been in for seven.

They didn't have to let him out on the furlough. And the fact that he did alongside letting his father leave says to me that they're trying to send a pretty clear signal, which I hope the U.S. will take up immediately and I believe that the U.S. is in fact taking up immediately.

And so I am hopeful that we can finally resolve all these outstanding cases and turn back to the broader policy question of, how do we stop hostages being taken from the United States around the world as a broader question?

Amna Nawaz:

That is Jared Genser, human rights attorney and pro bono counsel for the Namazi family, as Baquer Namazi is allowed to leave Iran for the first time in six years.

Jared, thank you for your time.

Jared Genser:

Thank you.