Iran says 3 dual nationals, Lebanese citizen indicted, cases sent to court
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 11 July 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Iran says 3 dual nationals, Lebanese citizen indicted, cases sent to court, 11 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57a43c641e.html [accessed 4 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
July 11, 2016
Iran says three dual nationals and a Lebanese citizen held in Iran have been indicted on unspecified charges and their cases have been sent to court.
Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted by Iranian news agencies on July 11 as saying that the cases of Iranian-Canadian academic Homa Hoodfar, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Lebanese IT expert Nizar Zakka have been referred to court in the past two weeks.
Dolatabadi did not provide details about the indictment or the charges against the four.
Hoodfar, Namazi, and Zaghari-Ratcliffe were detained while visiting relatives in Iran.
Dolatabadi did not mention the case of Namazi's father, Baquer Namazi, another dual U.S.-Iranian national who according to his family was detained in February.
Zakka, who holds permanent U.S. residency and has done work for the U.S. government, was arrested last year after attending a conference in Tehran.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said on July 11 that if the reports of indictments by Iran against a U.S. citizen and U.S. legal resident were true, both were "unjustly detained" and should be released.
The arrests of dual nationals and others comes amid a hard-line backlash against the nuclear deal reached last year with world powers under which Iran has significantly limited its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Based on reporting by ISNA, Tasnim, AP, and Reuters
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
