SITREP Pod: Free Shahab Dalili, American hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

SITREP Pod: Free Shahab Dalili, American hostage in Iran

SPEAKERS

Darian Dalili, Daren Nair

Daren Nair  00:05

Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. We work to free hostages and the unjustly detained around the world. Together with their families, we share their stories and let you know how you can help bring them home.

Elizabeth Whelan  00:18

Now when it comes to using the family to get... for Russia to get what they want, if that's the case, they've picked the wrong family, because I'm not going to carry water for the Russian authorities.

Daren Nair  00:28

These are some of the most courageous and resilient people among us.

Mariam Claren  00:32

I never thought that my mother, Nahid Taghavi, will ever have a link to negotiations in Vienna about the JCPOA. That's so crazy.

Daren Nair  00:43

People who have never given up hope.

Paula Reed  00:46

Trevor told his girlfriend to tell me to... to be strong. So, I'm trying to be strong for Trevor. 

Joey Reed  00:50

You know, if Trevor can cope with what he's dealing with...  We can sure cope with the stress.

Paula Reed  00:53

Exactly. 

Daren Nair  00:55

People who will never stop working to reunite their families. 

Joey Reed  01:00

We'd like to meet with the President. We believe that, you know, he has... he's surrounded by lots of experienced and educated advisors. But I don't believe that any of them have ever had a child taken hostage by a foreign country, especially not a superpower like Russia.

Daren Nair  01:15

And we'll be right there by their side until their loved one comes back home.

Richard Ratcliffe  01:20

Because if enough people care, then the right people will care enough.

Daren Nair  01:24

I'm Daren Nair, and I've been campaigning with many of these families for years. When I first started campaigning with these families, I noticed they struggle to get the media attention they needed. So, I decided to create this podcast, which is a safe space for the families to speak as long as they need to about their loved ones, and what needs to be done to bring them home.

Mariam Claren  01:45

Nobody can prepare you for what our family is going through. Even if someone had told me one year before, in one year, this is going to happen, prepare yourself. That's impossible.

Daren Nair  01:59

Thank you for listening, and welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Shahab Dalili is an American lawful permanent resident from Virginia. He is a husband and a father. His wife and children are all US citizens. In 2016, Shahab went to Tehran to attend his father's funeral. He was then arrested and has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran to this day. Iran has a long history of arresting foreign citizens and residents on false charges, putting them in solitary confinement in prison without giving them access to a lawyer or any medication, forcing them to go through a sham trial, and then sentencing them to years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. These innocent individuals are then used as bargaining chips to extract concessions from their home country. This is state-sponsored hostage-taking, also known as hostage diplomacy. Now, for our listeners who aren't aware, a few years ago, the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-taking Accountability Act was signed into United States law. This law was named after Robert Levinson, who worked for the FBI and CIA. He went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007 and was sadly presumed dead a few years ago. He is believed to be the longest held hostage in American history. This Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-taking Accountability Act sets out the criteria for the Secretary of State to determine whether US nationals are being detained unlawfully or wrongfully and also establishes into law, the following organisations within the US government, the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and the Hostage Response Group, which all work together to bring Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad back home. This Act also authorises the President of the United States to impose sanctions on any person the President determines is responsible for, or complicit in, hostage taking or unlawful detention. Now, one very important part of this Levinson Act is that it applies to both US citizens and US lawful permanent residents. The US government has publicly stated there are three US citizens currently wrongfully detained in Iran, and has called for their release. These three individuals are Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. The US government has never publicly stated that Shahab Dalili, a US lawful permanent resident, who is within scope of the Levinson Act, is wrongfully detained and has never publicly called for his release. Now, the US government has publicly called for the release of other wrongfully detained US lawful permanent residents, such as Jose Pereira, who was wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela, and Paul Rusesabagina, who was wrongfully imprisoned in Rwanda. We and Shahab's family would like to know why the US government has not classified Shahab as wrongfully detained or publicly called for his release. We had the honour of interviewing Shahab's son, Darian Dalili, in September last year. You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts, watch it on YouTube, or listen to it on our website, www.podhostagediplomacy.com. We tell all the families we interview that we will keep campaigning right by their side until their loved ones come back home, and we mean it. We'll keep you up to date on their cases using Sitrep pods like this one, or Breaking News pods. Today, we have the honour of speaking once again to Darian Dalili. Darian, we're so sorry that the nightmare your father and your family are going through still hasn't come to an end. Thank you for joining us once again.

Darian Dalili  06:11

Thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you for your listeners who are listening and I greet them warmly. And hopefully, we can get my father back home as soon as possible.

Daren Nair  06:23

For our listeners who haven't listened to our previous episode, can you please give them a summary of what happened to your father?

Darian Dalili  06:30

Sure. Um, I think your monologue went through some of it. So yeah, he, the family, including him, all of us, came to the US, and we received our legal permanent residency back in summer of 2014. Then, more than a year after that, like spring of 2016, almost two years after that, we were all still American residents, and my father flew back to Iran to take part in his father's funeral. And he was arrested in the taxi that was bringing him to the Tehran Airport, like just minutes, hours before his flight back to Washington. And since then, the rest of the family, we've been here, we have become naturalised. We're all US citizens. And, yeah, it's been a very, very tough, almost seven years at this point, just a few weeks short of seven years.

Daren Nair  07:34

We're so sorry to hear that, Darien, and we will do anything we can to help bring your dad home. Now, we last spoke in September last year. Since then, many things have happened in Iran. One of them was the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. She was detained by the Iranian morality police. Her murder sparked nationwide protests in Iran, as well as protests around the world. These protests have transformed into what activists are calling a female-led revolution in Iran that is still ongoing to this day. The Iranian regime have tried to crack down on these protests in a brutal manner that has resulted in more innocent Iranians being killed. This led to widespread condemnation from other countries around the world that decided to impose more sanctions on the individuals responsible for these atrocities in Iran. Now, during these protests, a fire broke out in Evin Prison, where your father is being held. A number of prisoners died and others suffered health issues as a result of smoke inhalation. Was your father affected by this fire?

Darian Dalili  08:45

Um, fortunately not. The ward that he was in was close enough that he heard a lot of the commotion. I believe he even was able to smell the smoke, but not to an extent that it would cause any health issues for... fortunately for him and the other prisoners in the same ward. So, it wasn't close enough to his ward to be a concern. We were very scared. We were very worried when we heard the news. But in a matter of about 24 hours, we were able to receive calls and confirmations from Iran. that he is fine. But, yeah, those 24 hours were pretty scary.

Daren Nair  09:28

Well, that's a relief, I guess. So, how is your father doing now? The last time we spoke, you mentioned that he didn't have any serious medical conditions. Is that still the case?

Darian Dalili  09:39

That is fortunately still the case. Um, he is, yeah, well, he is now 60 years old, um, turning 60 very soon, turning 61 very soon. My apologies. Um, yeah. So, he is in at that age where, you know, it's... it's concerning the fact that he is in prison for something he is not guilty of at that age. That's... that's definitely a concern. But thankfully, he is the strongest of us all. He stays in good spirits. When he... when he gets the chance to talk with us over the phone, he is the one lifting us up. I'm proud to say that I have a very, very strong, tough dad.

Daren Nair  10:23

Well, that's good. What are the conditions of your father's detention at the moment?

Darian Dalili  10:29

He is, even by... by their, I believe, by their own admission, he is a very well-behaved prisoner. He doesn't get into, you know, he doesn't get into fights. He doesn't do anything like that. He doesn't give them any excuse to want to treat him badly. He's... he's very clever in that regard. He has been able to... he's in, as far as conditions in an Iranian regime prison goes, he is probably doing okay. But yeah, it's... it's a... their prisons are not particularly well maintained. You know, you don't know what you're breathing when you're in there. It's a... It's a tough situation. I don't think the COVID situation in Iran is as... as well maintained, as well, basically controlled, as it is in the West. So. the... I'm not sure how bad is the risk of infection over there. Overall, like I said, the situation remains concerning. But the only... only thing that makes us happy is that we get regular weekly calls, sometimes bi-weekly. Sometimes he's not able to call us weekly, but we get calls here and there, short conversations, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, we just know that he's fine. We just know that he remains in reasonably good spirits. And that's... that's the only positive point.

Daren Nair  12:01

In October last year, 85-year-old American citizen. Baquer Namazi, who had been held hostage in Iran since February 2016, was released due to health issues and was allowed to leave the country to get medical treatment. He is now reunited with his son, Babak Namazi, in the United Arab Emirates. However, his other son, Siamak Namazi, who has been held hostage in Iran since 2015, is still in Evin Prison. What are your thoughts on Baquer's release?

Darian Dalili  12:33

I believe that his, you know, significantly advanced age and health conditions played a really big role in that. To me, that sounds like the Iranian government wanting to make sure that if something happened, it's not on their hands. They're trying to... to make sure that, okay, you're... "we are making sure that if something happens with this individual who's in his 80s...", which I... I wish him really good health, and I wish him a quick recovery, of course, but that, to me, seems like the Iranian government just trying to basically make sure that they are cutting the risks of international backlash.

Daren Nair  13:15

I absolutely agree with you. He's... he was being held hostage because the Iranians wanted to extract a concession from the United States. A dead hostage is of no use to the Iranians, and it's only going to cause them more problems. So, that's why they had to let him go. Yeah, so I completely understand. According to recent news reports, there have been discussions of a potential prisoner swap between the United States and Iran. The US government has stated that no deal has been agreed between the US and Iran on any prisoner swap. The US has publicly stated, as I said, there are three Americans currently wrongfully detained in Iran: Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz. Your father has not been included in these public statements by the US government. Are you concerned that if a prisoner swap does take place that your father will be left behind?

Darian Dalili  14:08

We are absolutely concerned with that. It is just a devastating thought to have that this reach could be agreed, concessions could be made to that regime without... without my father coming back home. That is... that's just a devastating thought for my entire family. Every time I think about it, it just... it really breaks all our hearts. We have been trying through multiple diplomatic channels to, you know, try and reach out to the State Department, try and basically push them on to making a statement, right, to push them on real... basically agreeing that my father is wrongfully detained, and we will keep doing that. We will keep the pressure up through people that we know who can reach out to them, including your podcast. I assume your podcast is listened to by people who will be hearing that message. So, yeah, we are trying our best. I think that the only positive part was their denial that no... no deal has been reached. That was positive, because we don't want that deal to be reached before my father is recognised as wrongfully detained. So, that was the positive part. Um, the contradictory statements from the Iranian government versus the US governments are the sort of things that put hostage families like us in a lot of a "okay, is it happening?" Is it not happening? Has a deal being reached? Has it not been reached?" it's a... it's a kind of a weird condition to be in, and not particularly pleasant, either. But I hope that their denials are true. I... I'd like to believe that they are. I don't... we don't want any deal to be reached without my father being part of it. And we will keep the pressure, we will keep the... the pressure on the State Department, because my father, as you mentioned, is, you know, he is a United States person. So, that includes him in the Levinson Act. And the Levinson Act is not only for... it doesn't specifically mention you have to be a United States citizen to be covered by the Levinson Act. It's for the citizens and permanent residents, and for United States persons. And my father qualifies for that. And we will keep our strong standing that, based on the Levinson Act, which has been signed into law, which is the law of the land, my father has to be included within any negotiations between, for a hostage swap, for any sort of hostage diplomacy between Iran and the US.

Daren Nair  16:41

Yeah, so the Levinson Act explicitly includes a US lawful permanent resident.

Darian Dalili  16:47

Everyone I've ever spoken with from State Representatives, Senators, United States Representative of the House, anyone I've spoken with in their offices, they all completely agree with that. So, that's not even a question.

Daren Nair  17:00

So, has anyone from the US State Department reached out to you or responded to your queries?

Darian Dalili  17:05

Uh, not as of yet, but I have it on good authorities that they have received a lot of the letters, not only from us, but from other people within the government who are on our side, who are supporting us. And they have received the letters. They haven't made any statements. They haven't acted upon them, but we will... we will not... we will not let go of this pressure. We will keep the pressure on, because this is... this has to be done. I've... we have, you know, tried to reach out to the State Department. We have tried to reach out to the White House, tried to get them to officially recognise my father as wrongfully detained and we will keep that pressure.

Daren Nair  17:45

Has any member of the US Congress publicly called for your father's release? Because I saw recently that you met with a Congresswoman, I believe Representative Wexton. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Darian Dalili  17:56

Um, with her staffers, with her top staffers. Yep, she wasn't there herself. But, yeah.

Daren Nair  18:02

So, has anyone from Congress actually called for your dad's release?

Darian Dalili  18:06

Publicly? Um, I don't believe publicly, but I do believe there have been communications between them and the DOS to that effect. But no public statements. No.

Daren Nair  18:18

So, what should President Biden do?

Darian Dalili  18:21

President Biden should talk to his Secretary of State, Mr. Blinken, talk to his... to his DOS and basically tell them that they have to include this person as wrongfully detained, because the letter of the law is what this country should be run on, and the letter of the law says that my father should be part of the Levinson Act. He has to be classified as wrongfully detained, and he has to be part of every negotiation that happens with the Iranians, whether direct or indirect.

Daren Nair  18:55

So, obviously, media coverage can help tip the balance in your favour. What can journalists and news editors do to help?

Darian Dalili  19:04

Every time... every time people, like oh, the people from the State Department, one of them, I know their name is Ned Price, or other spokespeople at the State Department come up with that three hostage rhetoric, you know? The follow up question should be, "what about legal permanent residents like Shahab Dalili? Why not them? Why do you keep pushing with this three hostage rhetoric? Why do you put that number on it, limiting them to only three?" That... that follow up question, having them, basically putting them in that position to have to answer to that, I think, is what a journalist could do, which would be very helpful and would be very appreciated. I know of a few of them who have done that. And I really appreciate that. Um, yeah. 

Daren Nair  19:51

So, what can the public do to help bring your father home to Virginia?

Darian Dalili  19:55

Yeah, um, especially for Virginia residents, you know, just pick up your phone, call your house reps, call your... call Senator Kaine's office. He is... he and his office have been helping us a lot. Ask for a public statement. Ask for, you know, ask for... just basically let them know that you are with the Dalili family. Let them know that our pain and suffering has... has been acknowledged by you. That would help.

Daren Nair  20:29

So, if any member of the public wants to get more information on your father, or the campaign to free your father, how would they do that?

Darian Dalili  20:38

There is a Twitter page, @Shahab_Dalili. There is a lot of daily posts on that, as far as I know. There is the B.O.F.H, Bring Our Families Home campaign, again, on Twitter on Instagram. There's the Hostage Aid Organisation. We know the people who work there; they are very helpful people. Again, that organisation is a good one to follow on social media. You send them messages, you put comments on their posts. They are good; they answer you if you have any questions. Yeah. And if they reach out to you with any questions, and you send those questions to me, I'll be happy to answer them if one of your listeners... Yeah, there are multiple different social media platforms that are calling for the release of my father, thankfully. 

Daren Nair  21:34

So. Darian, we're almost at the end of our interview. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?

Darian Dalili  21:39

I wish for my father's acknowledgement as a unlawfully detained prisoner by the United States. And I'm just grateful to you and your listeners for remembering us for, you know, allowing me this opportunity to have this sitrep. Let's make sure the Levinson Act is followed by the letter of the law.

Daren Nair  21:59

Darian, we say this to all the families we've campaigned for, we will be right here by your side until your father comes back home to Virginia. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us today. 

Darian Dalili  22:08

Thank you.

Daren Nair  22:14

Thank you for listening to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Thank you for giving your time and for showing these families that they're not alone, that there are good caring people out there, willing to stand by their side and help in any way possible.

Richard Ratcliffe  22:29

Because if enough people care then the right people will care enough. This is a basic rule of thumb that is true for all campaigning.

Daren Nair  22:37

If you haven't already, please subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter called The Hostage Briefing. It's the best way to keep up to date with the cases we're working on as well as new episodes. You can subscribe to this newsletter using the link in the description of this podcast episode that you're currently listening to. Thanks again and take care.