WASHINGTON: The family of a US citizen detained for nearly seven years in Tehran pleaded Tuesday for his furlough to be with his father, who it said needs a new, urgent surgery and cannot leave Iran.
Baquer Namazi, 85, requires surgery within weeks to clear life-threatening blockages in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the brain, the family said.
He underwent a similar operation in October last year for blockages on the right artery, with Iran declining appeals to let him return to the US for the treatment.
The family of his son Siamak Namazi, who is serving a 10-year sentence, pleaded for him to be allowed to leave Tehran’s notorious Evin prison to be with his father.
“I am begging Iran to show the smallest amount of humanity by allowing Siamak to be with my dad and help take care of him during his recovery,” Baquer’s other son Babak Namazi said in a statement.
“I also call on the US to drastically increase its efforts to obtain my family’s freedom before it’s too late. Time is not on our side.”
Namazi is one of at least three Americans detained in Iran, with the US saying it is insisting on their release as it holds indirect negotiations with the clerical state on reviving a nuclear deal rejected by former president Donald Trump.
Siamak Namazi, a businessman, is accused of collaborating with a hostile government, a charge strenuously denied by his family, which says he was harshly interrogated about his past fellowships with US institutions.
Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF official originally from Iran who is a naturalized US citizen, was taken into custody in September 2016 when he traveled to Tehran in hopes of assisting his son.
The elder Namazi was released from prison in early 2020 but has been denied a passport to leave the country, with Iran not recognizing dual nationality.
US citizen in Iran needs surgery, family pleads for son’s release
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US citizen in Iran needs surgery, family pleads for son’s release
- Baquer Namazi, 85, requires surgery within weeks to clear life-threatening blockages in his left carotid artery
- He underwent a similar operation in October last year for blockages on the right artery
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
