Alexandra Ferguson

(CNN) During an unprecedented interview with CNN from inside Iran’s infamous Evin prison, Iran’s longest-serving American made an emotional plea to US President Joe Biden to put the “freedom of innocent Americans above politics” and intensified efforts you to win their release.

“I continue to be very concerned that the White House does not realize how dire our situation is,” Siamak Namazi said in a telephone conversation with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

His voice breaking at times, Namazi added: “The fact that I have decided to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin Prison should tell you how dire my situation is right now.”

Namazi, 51, was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip in Iran, in what the United Nations has called “arbitrary detention”. He was accused of having “relationships with a hostile country”, referring to the United States, because Namazi holds dual Iranian and American citizenship.

The United States accuses Iran of taking Namazi and other foreigners imprisoned in Iran as “hostages.”

Addressing Biden directly, he said: “I beg you, sir, to put the lives and freedoms of innocent Americans above all the politics involved and do what it takes to end this nightmare and bring us home.”

Namazi is one of three US citizens being held at Evin prison in Tehran, which is known for its long record of human rights abuses and is considered a symbol of Iran’s authoritarian regime.

The other two Iranian Americans in Evin prison are Emad Sharghi, a businessman, and Morad Tahbaz, a 66-year-old environmentalist. The two were first arrested in 2018.

The longest-serving US prisoner in Iran, Siamak Namazi, 51, has appealed to US President Joe Biden for his release. With the kindness of the Namazi family

Last June, The New York Times published an op-ed by Namazi criticizing Biden’s attempt to save American prisoners in Iran as a “complete failure”. Last January, he went on a seven-day hunger strike and wrote an open letter to Biden asking him to keep his promise to bring them home.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Namazi accused the Barack Obama administration of “abandoning” him in negotiations in 2016, when the government guaranteed the release of four other US prisoners being held in Iran – including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian – following the signing of the agreement. the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“When I was in that closet-sized room, alone, there was one thing I was sure was true, and that was that the United States government was fighting to free me,” she told CNN, reflecting on those first weeks. his detention.

He claimed that former Secretary of State John Kerry promised to release him within “weeks”.

“I only know that they abandoned me. I know they promised me the US government would release me a few weeks later,” he said. “I’m always three weeks away from permanently elusive freedom.”

A White House spokesman on Thursday condemned Iran’s imprisonment of US prisoners, calling it inhumane and against international standards. The spokesperson stated that the United States is committed to ensuring the release of US citizens unlawfully detained abroad, and that he is in regular contact with the Namazi family.

At press time, the Iranian government had not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

The United States and other Western nations regularly accuse Tehran of holding dual nationals as political pawns in negotiations with the West. In March 2022, British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released after six years in detention in Iran. The release comes as Britain paid off a £400 million debt owed to Iran decades ago, although Tehran has denied any connection to the dam’s release.

Hopes for the release of US-Iranian prisoners have faltered in recent months as negotiations between Tehran and Washington over the revival of the nuclear deal, which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, reached an impasse.

Under the deal, Iran halted its uranium enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.

View of the entrance to the famous Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, October 17, 2022. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters

The negotiating teams of Tehran and Washington have not met for indirect multilateral talks in nearly a year. The regime’s bloody crackdown on the protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last year, also appears to have dealt the talks a heavy blow.

Last October, Namazi’s father, Baquer Namazi, 85, was allowed to leave Iran for medical reasons, after the government lifted a years-long travel ban. Namazi is a former UNICEF employee who has a heart problem. The father and son were accused of collaborating with the US government in 2015.

Namazi received 10 days of leave to see his father before the 85-year-old returns to the United States.

“They let him out, join the rest of our family and get him the treatment he needs for his life-threatening illness,” Siamak Namazi told CNN. “I can only hope that they summon that kindred spirit of humanity to do whatever it takes in the end, so that all of us – Morad, Emad and I – too can be reunited with our families and start to forget this dark past. .”

Addressing Biden directly, he said: “I beg you, sir, to put the lives and freedoms of innocent Americans above all the politics involved and do what it takes to end this nightmare and bring us home.”

— Ben Kirby, Claire Calzonetti, and Ana Bickford contributed reporting.

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