Prisoner Swap between Tehran and Washington

Iran and the U.S. have swapped prisoners, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held in Tehran for over 500 days.

It is an historic measure. The warming up of the relationship between Iran and the United States is increasingly becoming a reality with the liberation of prisoners in the context of a swap, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, held in Tehran for over 500 days.

This prisoner swap between the two countries is unprecedented in scale and occurred during a meeting in Vienna of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the chief of Iranian diplomacy, Mohammad Javad, who announced the implementation of an historic nuclear agreement between Iran and the big powers. The liberation process was “ongoing” Saturday evening, according to an Iranian official. Four Iranian-U.S. nationals, including Jason Rezaian, were freed by Iran, while at the same time, the U.S. granted a pardon to seven Iranians, according to a U.S. official who confirmed information shared previously by official Iranian media and Tehran’s attorney general.

Accused of Spying

Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, facilitated this agreement, according to the United Nations Iranian ambassador, who added that negotiations lasted a year. A fifth U.S. national, Matthew Trevitick, whose name and fate were never discussed publicly, was also freed by the Iranian authorities, but within the context of a diplomatic process totally unrelated to the prisoner swap. Tehran’s Attorney General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was the first to generate surprise on Saturday by announcing that “in the context of national security and in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Council for National Security, four binational Iranian prisoners were released in a prisoner swap.”

The most famous of these prisoners is U.S. Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian. Aged 39, he was arrested in July 2014 and sentenced at the end of 2015 for a duration that remained publicly unspecified, on charges of “spying” and of “collaboration with hostile governments.” These accusations were fought with vigor by his entourage and by the newspaper. His wife, also a journalist, was arrested also before she was freed.

A Controversial Trial

The Washington Post called Jason Rezaian’s trial a “sham” and referred his case to the U.N. work group on arbitrary detentions. On Saturday, the newspaper hailed the liberation of its correspondent: “We could not be happier to hear about Jason Rezaian’s liberation.”* In addition to Jason Rezaian, Pastor Said Abedini, ex-marine Amir Hekmati and a man by the name of Nosratollah Kosravi were also freed. Held since September 2012, Pastor Abedini was accused of “disrupting national security” by engaging in religious activities. He was sentenced to eight years in jail. Married to a U.S. citizen and a naturalized U.S. citizen, he always denied these accusations.

Arrested in August 2011, Amir Hekmati, around 30 years old, was found guilty of spying for the CIA, the U.S. intelligence agency, despite Washington’s denials. Sentenced to death in 2012, his sentence was switched to a 10-year jail term. According to his family, the young man was visiting close relatives when he was arrested. Tehran “also promised to continue to cooperate with the U.S. in order to find out what became of Robert Levison,”* an FBI former agent, who disappeared in Iran many years ago, according to Washington.

Warmer Ties

The seven Iranians released by the U.S., six of whom enjoy dual nationality, were accused or had already been sentenced for having sold industrial equipment to Iran, in violation of international sanctions against Tehran. Those seven prisoners are Nadar Modanlou, Bahram Mekanik, Khosro Afghahi, Arash Ghahreman, Touraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Sabounchi. “The U.S. has also canceled all the Interpol red flags and abandoned legal proceedings against 14 Iranians where it was established that extradition requests would most likely have been denied,”* said a U.S. official.

At the end of September, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated that his country was ready for a prisoner swap with Washington. Iran and the U.S. had broken all diplomatic ties in 1980, but relations between the two countries improved since the signature of a nuclear agreement on July 14 in Vienna, which calls for the lifting of international sanctions in exchange for Tehran’s agreement to forego atomic weapons.

*Editor’s note: Correctly translated, these quotes could not be verified.