UNICEF Retirees Protest on the First Anniversary of Baqer Namazi's Arrest

Former employees of the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, launched an online campaign on Wednesday, January 24, demanding the release of their former colleague Baqer Namazi, who was arrested in Iran exactly one year ago. Baqer Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen, traveled to Tehran after being told he could meet his imprisoned son, Siamak Namazi, and was arrested a few days later. Now, Baqer Namazi's former colleagues from around the world, from Pakistan, India, the Philippines to the UK, Italy, Denmark, and the USA, are raising awareness on social media about this Iranian-American prisoner who turned eighty in Evin prison. Tom McDermott, who previously served as the head of the Middle East and North Africa section at UNICEF, first met Baqer Namazi exactly thirty years ago in 1987 when he handed over the UNICEF office in Somalia to him: "Given his way of working in all the countries he worked in, we know Baqer as a person who was very committed to his humanitarian duty, dedicating his entire life to the question of how to improve the lives of the poor, especially women and children. Therefore, we are very worried. We know he is ill, has serious heart disease, and most importantly, he is eighty years old and should be at home with his family, and we believe this is a serious misunderstanding, as he is not a man who committed any crime, especially against the Iran he loves dearly." Baqer Namazi's son, Babak Namazi, also shared a letter online on the anniversary of his father's imprisonment, stating that he has imagined unimaginable issues in his mind over the past 365 days and writes about how his eighty-year-old father and his brother Siamak, who has also been in prison for over 500 days, have been unable to see each other despite being just a few meters apart. Babak Namazi wrote in this letter that he "still does not know which game his family has become hostages of," and added that he does not even know who the players in this so-called political game are and cannot speculate further. Tom McDermott in the USA, who hopes his former colleague will be released soon, says Baqer Namazi continued to pursue his past concerns even after retirement: "After Baqer retired, he entered the world of NGOs and founded an organization that was in contact with active NGOs in Iran, helping them organize their work, share information, and connect with the government. We former colleagues know this because he maintained good communication with us, and every year we, the retirees group, heard from him about issues related to peace, and he was very concerned about the situation in South Sudan, Syria, or Iraq." Baqer Namazi was the governor of Khuzestan before the revolution and served as a UNICEF representative in Somalia, Egypt, and Kenya until 1996. He and his 45-year-old son Siamak Namazi, who was the strategic planning manager at Crescent Oil Company before his arrest, were each sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of collaborating with a hostile government. Previously, until the end of Barack Obama's presidency, the US State Department repeatedly called for the release of dual-national Iranian-American citizens, including Siamak and Baqer Namazi, but the new government has not yet commented on this matter.