DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A lawyer says an 81-year-old Iranian-American imprisoned in Iran on widely criticized spying charges has undergone surgery and had a pacemaker installed.
Washington-based attorney Jared Genser said in a statement that Baquer Namazi is expected to return to Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday.
Genser says Namazi underwent surgery Tuesday. He says his client has been in poor health.
This undated photo released and made available by Babak Namazi, who is the brother of Siamak Namazi and son of Baquer Namazi, shows Baquer Namazi, left, and his son Siamak in an unidentified location. The U.N.’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that Baquer and Siamak Namazi, two Iranian-Americans serving 10-year prison sentences on spying charges in Iran should be immediately freed and paid restitution, calling their “arbitrary” detention part of an “emerging pattern” by Tehran of targeting dual nationals. (Babak Namazi via AP)
Namazi is a former UNICEF representative who served as governor of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province under the U.S.-backed shah.
Both he and his son, Siamak, are serving 10-year prison sentences after being convicted of “collaboration with a hostile government,” namely the United States.
A United Nations panel this week described their “arbitrary” detention as part of an “emerging pattern” by Tehran of targeting dual nationals.
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