A newly released video by hard-liners in Iran shows an Iranian-American businessman for the first time since he was arrested back in October of 2015. On Monday, Iran’s judiciary news agency posted a minute long video from the hard-liners, a political group in Iran that supports the 1979 Iranian revolution and declares themselves to be very anti-West and call American “the Great Satan.” The video includes a montage of clips, some of which featured the arrested businessman Siamak Namazi. The other clips featured on the video include an Iranian drone flying over a U.S. aircraft carrier, President Obama speaking, and footage of the American sailors on their knees from their capture in January. The video features no audio from the specific clips and only has a dramatic instrumental song playing over the montage.
The video underscores the tensions between the United States and Iran, and highlights the warning that the U.S. State Department issued to Iranian-Americans in August that they’re most at risk for being detained while in the Islamic Republic.
In the video you can see Namazi sitting in a conference room being examined, and getting searched. Images of his passport and ID are also flashed on the screen.
Siamak Namazi is the son of Baquer Namazi who is also currently being held in Iran. Baquer Namazi was a former UNICEF representative who once served as governor of Khuzestan, an oil-rich province in Iran. A State Department State Department spokesperson said in July that the agency believes that the both the Namazis are being held “unjustly” and “should be released as soon as possible.” Namazi family members have not been speaking publicly about their efforts to free to two men for fear they could make matters worse.
The video also shows clips of Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist who was based out of Iran when he got arrested for suspicion of espionage in 2014. In 2015 he was sentenced to “prison” during a trail, but little else was known at the time. In January of 2016, Rezaian was released back to the United States as one of the three Americans freed after the Obama Administration gave $1.7 billion dollars in cash to Iran in exchange for. Rezaian’s release and the pallets of cash are also shown on the video.
[revad2]
