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Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Reporter Freed From Iran, Departs for U.S. Jason Rezaian Travels to U.S. on Washington Post Owner’s Plane
(about 7 hours later)
Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who, with three other Americans, was freed from prison in Iran last week, left an American military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, headed for the United States, he said in a statement on Friday. Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who was among the American citizens freed by Iran last weekend in a prisoner deal, left an American military hospital in Germany on Friday bound for the United States, accompanied by his wife and mother aboard his boss’s personal jetliner.
A last-minute complication had delayed Mr. Rezaian’s departure from Iran when his wife and mother were held for hours in a separate room at a Tehran airport on Sunday. “At some point, I will be ready to discuss my ordeal, but for now, I just want to express my profound appreciation for the tremendous support I have received,” Mr. Rezaian said in a statement distributed by the Washington Post as he left the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
The Iranian authorities finally agreed under American pressure to let the family members leave for Europe along with the freed Americans. Referring to the prisoner swap, Mr. Rezaian said that he had been “humbled by all I have learned about the efforts undertaken on my behalf.”
In the statement, Mr. Rezaian expressed gratitude, but he said he was not ready to talk publicly. Washington Post officials declined to specify where and when Mr. Rezaian, his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, and mother, Mary Rezaian, would be arriving in the United States. Mr. Rezaian was born and raised in Marin County, Calif., where his brother, Ali, still lives.
“At some point, I will be ready to discuss my ordeal, but for now, I just want to express my profound appreciation for the tremendous support I have received,” Mr. Rezaian said. But Washington Post officials confirmed a CNN report that the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com founder, had escorted them home in his private jet.
Referring to the carefully negotiated prisoner swap between the United States and Iran, he said that he was “humbled by all I have learned about the efforts undertaken on my behalf.” Mr. Rezaian, 39, was the last of the three Americans who had been medically evaluated at the Landstuhl facility to leave. The others, Amir Hekmati, 32, a Marine veteran from Flint, Mich., and Saeed Abedini, 35, a pastor from Boise, Idaho, flew to the United States on Thursday. All three were dual citizens of the United States and Iran.
A fourth American, Matthew Trevithick, 30 — whose arrest in December had not been previously disclosed — flew home to Hingham, Mass., shortly after he was released, and a fifth, Nosratollah Khosravi, apparently chose to stay in Iran. Little is known about Mr. Khosravi, whose imprisonment in Iran had not been reported before news of his release.
The United States released seven prisoners as part of the deal — six of them dual American citizens of Iranian descent and one Iranian citizen — and rescinded international arrest warrants for 14 others.
Mr. Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief since 2012, was seized in July 2014 and held for months on unspecified accusations in Tehran’s Evin Prison. He was tried in a closed Revolutionary Court proceeding that started last April on charges that included espionage and was convicted in September, but the government never disclosed the details or punishment.
Mr. Rezaian repeatedly asserted his innocence. The Washington Post and other supporters described the prosecution as a farce, as international calls intensified for the release of Mr. Rezaian and the others known to be held.
Mr. Hekmati, seized in August 2011 while visiting relatives in Tehran, returned home to Flint, where many viewed the news as a welcome distraction from the water crisis that has plagued that city.
Initially accused of spying and sentenced to death, Mr. Hekmati’s conviction was later changed to aiding a hostile power, with a 10-year prison sentence. He repeatedly asserted his innocence and described himself as a political pawn in Iranian-American relations.
“I’m happy to finally be home,” he told reporters after landing in Flint. “It’s been a very long road. A very long journey.”
Mr. Abedini, who in 2012 was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of undermining national security by organizing home-church services in Iran, on Thursday flew to Asheville, N.C., where he was reunited with his parents and entered the Cove, a Christian support and training center started by the Rev. Billy Graham.
Mr. Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, said in a telephone interview that shehad planned to reunite with him in Germany but decided to wait until he returned to the United States. She said she intended to travel to Asheville on Monday with their two children, aged 7 and 9, who she said remember little about their father.
“They still can’t fully grasp it until they see him,” she said.
The prisoner deal was announced as a historic agreement on Iran’s disputed nuclear activities took effect, easing economic sanctions on Iran and freeing tens of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in exchange for steps meant to ensure that the country does not make nuclear weapons.
While the prisoner deal partly resolved one of the bitter side issues that have shaped the strained relationship between Iran and the United States, it also acquired political overtones in the United States and underscored the high levels of mutual mistrust that endure. Some Obama administration critics said the deal would encourage other countries to seize Americans as hostages.
New details on the high drama and tension surrounding the final hours of the prisoner deal have been slowly emerging after all of the prisoners involved — in both countries — gained their freedom.
In Iran, an official balking at allowing Mr. Rezaian’s wife and mother to leave with him on a Swiss military aircraft nearly scuttled the deal, American officials said earlier this week. Mr. Rezaian’s wife is an Iranian citizen.
The problem delayed the departures of Mr. Rezaian, Mr. Hekmati and Mr. Abedini by more than a day, which then delayed the release of the prisoners held by the United States, who all had been notified that their freedom was imminent.
The Washington Post added new details about the Rezaian family’s experience on Thursday night in interviews with Ms. Salehi and Mr. Rezaian’s mother. Both said they had been shuttled for hours between ornate reception halls and conference rooms at Tehran’s international airport while diplomats haggled over whether they could leave on the Swiss plane.