Obama calls on Iran to release 'unjustly detained' Americans

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/21/obama-iran-three-americans-rezaian-levinson

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President Barack Obama on Tuesday listed Americans held in Iran by name and said the United States will not give up until they are returned.

“We are not going to relent until we bring home our Americans who are unjustly detained in Iran,” Obama said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars group.

“Journalist Jason Rezaian should be released. Pastor Saeed Abedini should be released. Amir Hekmati, a former sergeant in the US marine corps, should be released. Iran needs to help us find Robert Levinson,” Obama said.

The Obama administration has been accused by some critics of missing an opportunity to leverage the recent Iranian negotiations to secure the release of former US marine Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and retired FBI agent Robert Levinson.

Levinson, disappeared on Kish Island, Iran, in 2007, while working as a contract employee for the CIA.

Saeed Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison for conducting Bible-study gatherings, while Arizona-born Amir Hekmati was given a 15-minute trial on accusations he spied for the CIA, before being handed a death sentence, since commuted on appeal to 10 years.

The secretary of state, John Kerry, said last week, there was “not one meeting that took place” during the recent Iranian nuclear talks at which the US didn’t raise the issue of four Americans.

Related: Iran trial of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian resumes

Rezaian, the Washington Post bureau chief, has been held for almost a year and has faced three closed-door hearings in its trial in a revolutionary court in Tehran, even as Iran recently struck a deal in Vienna with world powers over its contested nuclear program. He faces charges that include espionage and distributing propaganda against the Islamic Republic. US officials, the Post and rights groups have criticized his trial and pressed for his release.

Rezaian is a dual US-Iranian citizen who was born and spent most of his life in the United States. Iran does not recognize other nationalities for its citizens.

His wife, Yeganeh Salehi, a journalist for the National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, and two photographers were detained along with Rezaian on 22 July 2014 in Tehran. All except Rezaian were later released. The Post has said Rezaian faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted. His detention, as well as those of other Americans, came up during negotiations over Iran’s contested nuclear program. However, while the talks successfully ended last week with a proposed permanent deal to end sanctions and cap Iran’s atomic program,Rezaian remains held.