Siamak Namazi, a U.S. citizen detained in Iran for more than seven years, appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden for help Monday after announcing a hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment.
In a missive sent to Biden, Namazi has urged Biden to «remember him every day.» «In the past, I implored you to help me in the transfer of U.S. prisoners. (…) Not only are we still imprisoned here, but you have not even met with our families,» he said.
Namazi is being held along with two other U.S. citizens, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, who have also been imprisoned for years. «All I want is a minute of your time to think about the lives of American hostages in Iran,» he wrote.
Thus, he has insisted that «it is only a minute of your time for face year that I have lost in Evin prison after the U.S. government, which could have been saved, did not do it,» as reported by CNN television network.
«All I can do is repay you for my suffering. That’s why I’m going to stop eating for a week, in the hope that this request will not be denied,» Namazi, who was unable to leave Iran in July 2015 after visiting the country, has asserted. He was subjected to numerous interrogations after his arrest three months later.
In addition, he was not included in a prisoner exchange conducted in January 2016 that led to the release of ‘Washington Post’ journalist Jason Rezaian, US Navy veteran Amir Hekmati and pastor Said Abedini.
«When the Obama Administration left me here and released the other citizens in January 2016, the government promised my family that I would get home in a matter of weeks and safely,» he has maintained before lamenting that, however, «seven years and two presidents later, I am still in Evin prison.»
A spokesman for the National Security Council said the Biden Administration «remains committed to securing Namazi’s release and is working hard to do so.»
In this regard, he has asserted that it is «outrageous» that Iran «continues to detain U.S. citizens as a measure of political revenge.» «Our priority is to bring all detainees home as soon as possible,» he said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
