An Iranian-American imprisoned in Tehran announced on Monday January 23 the end of his end strike, which began seven days ago after losing 4.5 kg.
Siamak Namazi, detained since October 2015, said his hunger strike marked the seventh anniversary of Washington’s decision to exclude him from a process that freed five other Americans after signing a landmark agreement on Iran’s nuclear.
Joe Biden taken to task
A week ago, Siamak Namazi asked US President Joe Biden to think about the plight of American hostages in Iran for one minute a day.
“All I ask, sir, is that one minute of your time in the next seven days be devoted to the plight of the American hostages in Iran.Siamak Namazi wrote in an open letter. “Only the President of the United States has the power to bring us home, if he chooses to look into it“.
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“I started a hunger strike because I learned the hard way that American presidents tend to trust their political thermometer more than their moral compass when deciding whether or not to make a prisoner deal. with Iran“, he said in a press release released Monday by his lawyer. “I starved myself for a whole week hoping President Biden would recognize how desperate the situation for American hostages here has become.“, he adds.
A trying week
According to his lawyer, Siamak Namazi lost about 4.5 kg and his blood pressure shot up during his fast. He was also having trouble warming up.
Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-born businessman, was arrested in October 2015 in Iran on espionage charges which he continues to deny and which the United States considers to be baseless. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for collaborating with a foreign government.
Agreement “in a state of clinical death”
The Biden administration has attempted to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal, with previous US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) pulling out of it, stressing that the pact could not be implemented without the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran.
But Joe Biden admitted, after tough negotiations, that the deal was clinically dead, as attention turned to Tehran’s bloody crackdown on large protests sparked by the death of a woman. arrested by the morality police.
Tehran refuses to recognize dual nationality and announced in January the execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari, accused of spying for the United Kingdom, which he had always denied.
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