Ailing U.S. citizen gets four-day leave from Iranian prison

Iran has granted a four-day, health-related leave to an imprisoned Iranian-American citizen, his U.S. lawyer said Sunday. During a secret 2016 trial, Iran sentenced Baquer Namazi, 81, and his son Siamak, 45, to 10 years in Tehran’s Evin Prison for collaborating with a hostile power. Jared Genser, Namazi’s Washington-based lawyer, said his client has suffered worsening health problems and had a pacemaker installed in September. Namazi is expected to return to prison Wednesday, but Genser said his doctors “strongly advised” against it. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States welcomed Namazi’s temporary release, but she called for “the immediate and full release of the Namazi family, including his son Siamek, as well as other Americans unjustly held by the Iranian government.” Iranian authorities arrested dual Chinese-American citizen Xiyue Wang in 2016 as he worked on his doctoral thesis. The same year, authorities also arrested Karan Vafadari, an Iranian-American art gallery owner, without charges.