Profession:
Businessman
Head of strategic planning at Dubai-based Crescent Petroleum
Nationality:
Iranian-American
Arrested for:
Arrested by the Revolutionary Guards in October 2015. Sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Revolutionary Court for “co-operating with a foreign enemy state”.
Siamak Namazi, 51, worked as head of strategic planning at Dubai-based Crescent Petroleum.
He was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards in October 2015, while his father Baquer, 86, was arrested in February 2016 after Iranian officials granted him permission to visit his son in prison.
That October, they were both sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Revolutionary Court for “co-operating with a foreign enemy state”. An appeals court upheld their sentence in August 2017.
Their lawyer said they denied the charges against them. He also complained that they had been held in solitary confinement and denied access to legal representation, and had suffered health problems. Siamak is also alleged to have been tortured.
Baquer was released to house arrest on medical grounds in 2018, but his health continued to deteriorate. His sentence was commuted to time served in early 2020, but he was only allowed to leave Iran for medical treatment in October 2022.
In January 2023, Siamak went on a week-long hunger strike to protest against the failure of the US to free him and other dual nationals despite President Joe Biden’s promise to make bringing them home a top priority.
Seven months later, Siamak was again released to house arrest in anticipation of a prisoner exchange agreed by the US and Iran.
His brother, Babak, said in response: “While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home; we continue to count the days until this can happen.”