FREEDOM?

Iranian American Detained in Tehran for 6 Years Released for Emergency Surgery

Baquer Namazi, 85, was released for urgent medical surgery, scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi.

An 85-year-old Iranian American held captive in Iran for years over espionage charges derided as baseless by U.S. officials was on Wednesday allowed to leave the country for an emergency medical procedure. Baquer Namazi landed in Muscat, Oman, where “after a short layover” he planned to leave for Abu Dhabi, where a surgery to clear a “severe” artery blockage would be performed, according to Jared Genser, a lawyer for the family. Namazi, a former UNICEF official, was detained by Iranian authorities while visiting his son, Siamak Namazi, in 2016. Siamak, who was arrested on a 2015 business trip, remains in Iran. He was granted a one-week furlough from prison—his first in seven years—as his father departed on the flight. “It is impossible to articulate and describe sufficiently how I am feeling,” another of Namazi’s children, Babak Namazi, said through Genser. “I am just so grateful that after so long, I will shortly be able to embrace my father again.”