Jaberi Ansari: The Case of the Lebanese Prisoner in Iran Will Be Accelerated

On Tuesday, June 3, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that the case of a Lebanese citizen with permanent residency in the U.S., who is an activist for internet media freedom, will be "accelerated." Hossein Jaberi Ansari briefly confirmed the arrest of Nizar Zaka, a Lebanese citizen who disappeared after attending a government conference in Iran last September. Although no charges have been filed against this Lebanese citizen so far, some Iranian media have accused him of espionage for the U.S. Mr. Zaka's family and supporters deny these accusations. According to the state news agency IRNA, the spokesperson said in a weekly press conference, "The Iranian government will strive to facilitate the handling of this case, but ultimately the judicial case must be handled by judicial authorities, and the ruling of the judicial authority will be final. We will not interfere in judicial rulings." Last week, the Associated Press reported that the non-profit organization "Ijmā 3," which Zaka manages, received a total of $730,000 from the U.S. government for projects related to Middle Eastern countries. Evidence provided to the news agency does not indicate whether any of these projects were related to Iran. Mr. Zaka's family and supporters have pressured the U.S. government to take more action for his release from prison, claiming that the reason for his arrest in Iran was his connection to the U.S. Supporters wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: "Nizar Zaka traveled to Iran with the knowledge and approval of the U.S. State Department, and his travel expenses were covered by U.S. financial aid." The Associated Press reports that it cannot verify the accuracy of this information, and Mr. Zaka's friends say they cannot access copies of his contracts with the U.S. State Department due to federal regulations. The reason for Mr. Zaka's arrest by Iran remains unclear. His supporters say that last September was the fifth time he had traveled to Iran. Despite the nuclear agreement reached last July, which resulted in the release of a group of prisoners from both sides, including Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post journalist, and three other American citizens in Iran, relations between Iran and the U.S. are still tense. At least two Iranian-American citizens, Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman, and his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, remain imprisoned in Iran. There is still no information about the fate of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in 2007 on Kish Island. In this context, the Vice President of the World Information Technology Union has "disappeared" in Tehran. The arrest of an American-Lebanese citizen in Iran has been confirmed. The Zaka family states that he is Lebanese and has no connection to intelligence agencies. The Iranian Ministry of Communications has stated that Nizar Zaka has had no connection with this ministry.