An Iranian-American businessman and his father have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran, according to that country’s state-owned judicial news service.
Mizan judicial agency announced Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF representative who was once governor of an oil-rich province when the U.S.-supported shah was in power, were sentenced. It is believed the younger Namazi was arrested in October 2015 and his father was detained after he travelled to the country as part of an apparent attempt to get his son released. Their release was not part of the deal between the U.S. and Iran that freed four other people in exchange for pardons of seven Iranians in the U.S. and three cash payments to Iran totalling $1.7 billion.
The announcement came one day after the release of a minute long video that showed Siamak Namazi in detention. According to the Associated Press, the video quoted a statement by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., that Namazi’s arrest is the “latest show of contempt for America.”
The recording includes footage of an Iranian drone flying over a U.S. aircraft carrier and American soldiers being illegally detained by Iran earlier this year. It also includes Namazi’s personal information, such as his American passport and his United Arab Emirates ID card, and a brief shot of the prisoner in a room with his arms raised at his sides.
Republicans have said the link between the cash payment to Iran and the release of four U.S. hostages have given Iran more incentive to take more hostages, and show that the U.S. should not have entered into the Iran nuclear agreement. Sen. John McCain’s campaign used the news out of Iran to criticize the Democrat trying to take his Senate seat, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.
“The latest attempt by Iran to embarrass the United States with this video highlights Democrat Congresswoman Kirkpatrick’s poor judgement in supporting the dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal,” McCain’s communication director Lorna Romero said. “Congresswoman Kirkpatrick recently doubled down on the deal that gives billions of dollars to the number-one state sponsor of terrorism and puts our national security at risk.”
