Five Iranian American dual nationals who were previously detained in Iran’s Evin Prison, have been shifted to house arrest by Iranian authorities, the White House announced on Thursday.
Although the White House deemed Iran’s actions as encouraging it maintained its repeated demands that those imprisoned be freed completely.
“While this is an encouraging step, these US citizens… should have never been detained in the first place,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
“Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States,” she added.
Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, along with a fourth unidentified man, were released, according to one of the men’s lawyers while a US national security council official revealed that a fifth American was already released.
According to Jared Genser, a lawyer for Namazi, four of the dual nationals have been visually confirmed to have departed Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Additionally, Namazi’s brother Babak said: “While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home; we continue to count the days until this can happen. “
Namazi was first arrested in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on security charges, the BBC reported.
The sister of Shargi, 58, said she “has faith in the work of President Biden and government officials” to secure his release following his detention in April 2018.
Furthermore, Tahbaz, a 67-year-old businessman and wildlife conservationist, was first detained in January 2018 following a campaign against environmental activists.
Previously, Iran has detained and imprisoned dual nationals on national security charges. Negotiations between the US and Iran aim to secure their release through a prisoner swap with Iranians in the US and Western prisons, and the easing of US sanctions on Iran.
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