U.S. Secretary of State: Iran Should Return Robert Levinson to His Family

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, on Friday, March 8, called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to return Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, to his family, in a message marking the 12th anniversary of Levinson's disappearance. Levinson went missing in winter 2006 after traveling to Kish Island. Pompeo tweeted: 'Tomorrow marks the twelfth anniversary of Bob Levinson's abduction in Iran. We once again call on Iran to return Mr. Levinson to his family.' The U.S. Secretary of State added: 'We are determined to secure the release of all American hostages and those wrongfully detained, and we will not rest until they are home.' Iranian officials claim they have no information about Levinson's fate or whereabouts. In this context, a Persian-speaking spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry stated on the twelfth anniversary of Levinson's disappearance that the Levinson family has been waiting for news of him for 12 years. 'Today and every day, we again call on the Iranian government to return Mr. Levinson to his family.' Unconfirmed reports about the fate of this former FBI agent suggest some indicate his death, while others mention his detention location in eastern Iran near the Afghan border. Currently, Michael White, Siamak Namazi, and Xiyue Wang, and Nizar Zaka are imprisoned in Iran. Michael White has been imprisoned in Iran since summer. He is from California and, according to his family's spokesperson, previously served in the U.S. Navy as a cook. Mr. White became acquainted with a woman in Mashhad through the internet and traveled to Iran several times before being arrested in July. Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman, was arrested during a trip to Tehran in October 2015. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for 'collaborating with the hostile U.S. government.' Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-American researcher at Princeton University, was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Iranian judiciary for collecting information from 'sensitive' and 'archival' collections. However, a UN working group concluded in September that there was 'no legal basis for the detention and imprisonment' of Mr. Wang. Nizar Zaka, who has permanent residency in the U.S. and studied in that country, attended a conference on information technology and entrepreneurship for women in Tehran at the official invitation of Hassan Rouhani's government in September 2015, but was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Mr. Zaka was sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage for the U.S. Meanwhile, international human rights organizations reject these accusations, stating that these individuals have been detained and imprisoned without 'any legal basis.' The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention described Siamak Namazi's detention last year as a 'violation of international law' and called on Iran to release him.