Endangering public proceedings while trapped in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison tells a lot about the depth of my despair. I suffered quietly as nearly 2,500, which should have been the best and most productive day of my life, was lost behind these bars. But I believe that the Biden administration’s approach to saving Americans suffering in Iran has so far failed, so I’m now forced to break that silence.
I was imprisoned in October 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison after a private trial. Judges, speaking at university conferences, holding fellowships in Washington think tanks, and even connecting with the World Economic Forum, are equivalent to working with a hostile foreign government, the United States, to overthrow the regime. I decided. A UN investigation called my arrest “arbitrary.” The US government and countless human rights groups have declared my innocence, called me hostage, and demanded my immediate release.
But the ugly reality is that Iran will only release prisoners if sufficient incentives are provided. Critics reject this solution without providing a viable alternative. Nonetheless, it seems like the president is considering approving a deal for our liberation factor within the inevitable political costs of doing so. Indifferent to this political calculation, Tehran seems to demand our liberation more than the White House can get angry.
This devastating dynamics helped me earn the enviable title of the longest-held Iranian-American hostage in history. My father, Baker (a former UNICEF employee), is not too late, and conservationist Morad Tarbaz and businessman Emmad Shargi are still in custody.
A little over a year ago, the four of us had good reason to be optimistic that this tragedy was finally over. With widespread hopes for a successful negotiation to return Iran and the United States to a nuclear deal, the Biden administration said it would be difficult to imagine a nuclear deal without a hostage deal.
That was the right approach. But abandoning the opportunity to free us because of a deadlock in nuclear negotiations is not the case.
Last summer, Tehran claimed to have outlined an agreement with Washington on our release. The deal reportedly included releasing us in a prisoner exchange that ended with the unfreezing of Iran’s assets in South Korea. The Iranians have repeatedly expressed their willingness to carry out this “humanitarian exchange” immediately and accuse the White House of declining.
Iran’s account is definitely distorted. Washington says the deal never closed. But as I can guess from behind these bars, the Biden administration ignores the plight of American detainees and relies on our freedom to end the unpredictable nuclear debate.
As a general rule, arrangements to rescue endangered citizens should come first. Such a gambit also makes sense, as it desperately injects the necessary good intentions into nuclear negotiations. I can conclude that with the greater political will and courage from the White House, I was able to go home a year ago.
Instead, every time the world’s diplomats falsely predicted that they were about to reach an agreement on the nuclear issue, we and our family were virtually undisturbed. There is nothing more painful for prisoners than being fascinated by the imminent outlook for freedom that never happens. There is no greater pain than surrendering to hope.
But what if the United States fails to secure our release and the nuclear negotiations (now life-sustaining) collapse?
The administration may sincerely believe that in such a scenario Iran can accept different packages of incentives to free us. But that’s a big bet. As President Biden saw, especially for me, delayed freedoms are easily denied freedoms in these cases.
I was not included in the Obama administration’s hostage deal with Iran. In January 2016, other American prisoners were successfully returned to the United States. I was left behind to rot in a safe detention center.
Often stored in a bare closet-sized room, I slept on the floor and received food from under the door like a dog. During the 27 months I spent in that corner of hell, I endured an indescribable indignation and was then transferred to a general ward.
Secretary of State John Kerry at the time thought there was another opportunity to secure my release. But when the Iranians instead threw my then 79-year-old father into a cell, our hopes turned into horror.
We suffered only a few meters away, but were denied contact for a year. I only knew that the tension of those inhumane conditions caused his hospitalization many times. It took two years and more than two heart surgeries before he was admitted to the medical facility.
Sadly, the White House changes didn’t bring us relief. The Trump administration has also cut back on deals to release some American detainees, leaving us behind.
Mr. Biden, I urge you to prioritize the lives of innocent American detainees over Washington’s politics and make the rigorous decisions necessary to immediately release us all. .. Political backlash is inevitable, but long-term suffering and potential death of hostages is inevitable. It’s hard to imagine my now 85-year-old father surviving another opportunity.
End this nightmare.
Shamac Namazi is the longest-served Iranian-American prisoner in Iran. He was imprisoned in 2015 during a trip to Tehran to visit his family.
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