Profession:
Merchant navy captain
Nationality:
Iranian-American
Arrested for:
Detained in Iran since April 2016, when he visited Tehran to attend his father’s funeral. He was later convicted of “collaborating with a hostile state” and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Dalili is a retired Iranian merchant navy captain who is a US permanent resident.
He has been detained in Iran since April 2016, when he visited Tehran to attend his father’s funeral. He was later convicted of “collaborating with a hostile state” and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In August 2023, his son, Darian, said he was not part of the prisoner exchange deal between the US and Iran.
“He feels betrayed. He is demoralized. He believes that the US would bring back anyone that they want to bring back,” Darian told Reuters news agency.
A US state department spokesman declined to tell reporters why Dalili was not included, but did reveal he had not yet been declared “wrongfully detained” – a designation that would mean the department dedicated more resources to their case and assigned it to a presidential envoy.
In July, Sharmahd’s daughter Gazelle told the BBC that he could be executed at any time.
“They’re killing him softly in solitary confinement in this death cell. But even if he survives that, they’re killing him by hanging him from a crane in public,” she said.