On September 18, Iran released five US citizens as part
of a prisoner swap. The four men and one woman had been imprisoned. One had
been held since 2015. In return, the Biden administration released five
Iranian men imprisoned in the United States, including two who had been held
since 2019.
The United States also issued a waiver so South Korea
could transfer US$6 billion of frozen Iranian oil revenues to Qatar, which will
oversee limited Iranian purchases of humanitarian goods, including medical,
education and agricultural goods.
Four of the Iranians had allegedly violated US sanctions,
and another had acted as an unregistered foreign agent of the Islamic Republic.
Only two of the Iranians were going to return to Iran. “One of them, as he has
family in another country, will be moved to join them in that third country,
and apparently two of our citizens imprisoned in the US have said they wish to
remain there due to their history of staying there,” foreign ministry
spokesperson Nasser Kanani said.
The following are profiles of the prisoners.
US citizens released by Iran
Three of the five US citizens released by Iran are Siamak
Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi, no details are available for the two prisoners.
Siamak
Namazi, a Dubai-based businessman was arrested during a trip
to Iran in October 2015. In October 2016, he was sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment for collaborating with an enemy state. Namazi had primarily
worked for consultancies focused on energy before his detention. In 2005, he
was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars. He also did a stint at the National Endowment for Democracy in 2006.
Baquer Namazi, Siamak’s father, traveled to Iran to secure his son’s release
but was also sentenced to 10 years for espionage in 2016. In October 2022, Iran
released the elder Namazi so that he could seek medical treatment abroad.
Emad
Shargi also a businessman was detained in April 2018, while working for
a venture capital fund involved in technology. After being interrogated and
held in solitary confinement, he was released on bail in December 2018. A year
later, he was cleared of all spying and national security charges. But his
passport was withheld, and he was not permitted to leave Iran. In November
2020, Shargi was summoned to court and convicted of espionage without a trial.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Morad
Tahbaz and eight other environmental activists were detained In
January 2018. In November 2019, Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for espionage. Tahbaz and his colleagues had been using cameras to track
endangered Asiatic cheetahs and were accused of using that work as a cover for
collecting “classified information.”
Iranian citizens released by the United States
Mehrdad
Moein Ansari, an Iranian citizen and resident of the United Arab
Emirates and Germany was arrested in 2019, for plotting to
secure dual-use materials with potential military and nuclear applications for
the Islamic Republic. In September 2021, he was sentenced to more than
five years in prison.
Kambiz
Attar Kashani, a US-Iranian citizen was arrested in January 2022, for
conspiring to export goods and technology to the Central Bank of Iran. He had
used two front companies based in the United Arab Emirates to procure equipment
and software for Iran. In February 2023, he was sentenced to 30
months in prison.
Reza
Sarhangpour Kafrani, an Iranian and resident of Canada was arrested
for sending laboratory materials to the Islamic Republic. He
had shipped the equipment—controlled for nuclear nonproliferation
purposes—to Iran through Canada and the United Arab Emirates. He was indicted
in July 2021 with 10 crimes, some of which carried maximum prison sentences of
20 years.
Amin
Hasanzadeh, an Iranian and permanent US resident was arrested in
November 2019 on charges of fraud and interstate transportation of
stolen property. Federal prosecutors accused Hasanzadeh of stealing sensitive
technical data from his employer and sending it to his brother, who is
connected to the Iranian military. He was indicted in December 2020.
Kaveh
Afrasiabi, the US-based Iranian was arrested in January 2021, for
failing to report his status as a foreign agent in the United States. He
had lobbied the State Department and a congressman for policies
favorable to Iran while on the payroll of Iran’s UN mission since around 2007.
His alleged crimes carried a maximum of 10 years in prison.
