US Reaction to Indictment of Namazi and Zaka: 'They Are Unjustly Detained'

After the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor announced that an indictment had been issued for dual-national detainees and a Lebanese citizen residing in the US, the US State Department stated that they are unjustly detained and should be released. The news agency 'Mizan', which covers the Iranian judiciary, reported on July 21 that Abbas Jafari Dolat Abadi had stated that indictments had been issued for Nazanin Zaghari, a British-Iranian citizen, Homa Hoodfar, an Iranian-Canadian citizen, Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen, and Nizar Zaka, a Lebanese national, and that their cases had been sent to court. In response to this news, John Kirby, spokesperson for the US State Department, said on Monday: 'If the reports are accurate, both (Namazi and Zaka) are unjustly detained and should be released as soon as possible.' Previously, a Democratic representative and a Republican representative had introduced a resolution in the US Congress calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Siamak and Baqer Namazi. Siamak Namazi is among the critics of sanctions against Iran and their impact on the drug situation; he was a former planning office manager at Crescent Oil Company. His father, Baqer Namazi, who is 80 years old, was arrested in the last days of last year. He also holds dual Iranian-American citizenship. The news on July 21 did not mention the status of Baqer Namazi. Nizar Zaka, a Lebanese citizen who also has permanent residency in the US, was arrested in November 2015. At that time, the Lebanese newspaper 'Al-Liwaa' reported that Mr. Zaka had traveled to Tehran at the invitation of the Iranian government to attend a conference. According to reports, Zaka's family and a group of his supporters have pressured the US government to take more action for his release from prison, claiming that the reason for his detention in Iran was his connection to the US. The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced in June that the handling of his case would be 'accelerated.'