U.S. Resident Shares Experience of Eight-Year Ordeal in Infamous Iranian Detention Center
Previously, Namazi conversed with Amanpour over the phone in March 2023 while confined in Evin Prison, Iran, marking an unusual occurrence. As the longest-held Iranian-American detainee, Namazi was excluded from three separate agreements that liberated other American prisoners during the Obama and Trump administrations.
Six months post this telephone call, Namazi was released together with four other Americans, all considered unlawfully detained by the United States, as part of an arrangement between the US and Iran, which also involved the release of approximately $6 billion in Iranian assets.
Year after his release, Namazi spoke exclusively to CNN, sharing an emotional account in the meeting. He discussed the reasons behind his arrest, the physical abuse, and daily humiliation in detention, justifying his decision to communicate with CNN from his imprisonment, and life as a free man.
‘The fragrance of freedom’
On September 18, 2023, Namazi disembarked from the aircraft and touched American soil. Atop the aircraft stairs, he paused to inhale the air. As he recalled, his uncle had informed him and his brother Babak, upon their first immigration to the United States in 1983, "Can you smell that?" "That is the scent of freedom." Nearly 40 years later, Siamak Namazi emerged into the night air following eight years of incarceration. He reminisced about his uncle's words and felt the scent of freedom.
Now, he mentions that the sensation of gratitude is the most potent feeling he has, especially towards President Biden, for making a challenging choice and securing the deal. However, he highlighted that adjusting to life outside has proven challenging.
Following such a prolonged period in detention, even setting an alarm to remind himself to leave the apartment became necessary. "Once I had remained indoors for three days, I realized why," he stated.
Today, he continues to reconstruct his life. "It's like an eight-year earthquake that affects everything – and it leaves a significant amount of destruction," he said.
Despite this, he emphasized feeling very free in the United States, striving to lead the freest life he could, even while imprisoned in Evin.
‘They sought capital punishment’
Born in Iran, Namazi moved to the United States at the age of 12 and frequently visited his birth country. In 2015, he returned for a funeral and did not suspect anything amiss. He referred to this period as "peak Iran-US relations," with high-level delegations from both countries gathered in Vienna, Austria, for negotiations leading to the Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA.
However, his arrest occurred at the airport, as he attempted to depart. He recalls how "a man in a plain suit approached me, saying 'Come with me.'" Refusing and requesting identification, Namazi was directed to an off-site location for three months of illegal interrogation before his official arrest.
Formally charged with cooperating with a hostile state – referring to the United States of America, Namazi later discovered the specific accusations. Iran's authorities claimed that "Namazi had been establishing a network within Iran to infiltrate and overthrow the Islamic Republic for three decades, with cooperation from the hostile US state." At age 44, his arrest highlighted the alleged subversive activities he had purportedly begun during his days skateboarding with his friend in White Plains, New York.
Although he finds the charges ludicrous today, he acknowledges the danger he encountered. "They sought capital punishment for me," he stated.
Namazi was not naive. He was aware that his detention served as a means of leverage for the regime. However, this knowledge did not allay his fears for an extended period.
"Shortly following my arrest, I was placed in solitary confinement… a cell smaller than a closet. The interrogators told me that 'if you do not cooperate, you will remain here until your teeth and hair turn the same color.' Their methods for communication would change," he explained, interpreting this statement as a clear threat of violence.
In total, Namazi endured around eight months of solitary confinement, along with what he called "physical and emotional indignities." He was blindfolded, beaten, but the most distressing ordeal was the "humilation," he confided, a topic he found difficult to discuss even in therapy. "It had a profound impact on me," he shared.
Eventually, Nahid's son's mother was given permission to visit. The first visit happened before he was physically abused, but his appearance had changed so much that she didn't recognize her own child. "I resembled Saddam (Hussein) when they dragged me out of that hole. I had a long beard," he recalls. "I remember her crying, and I tried to cheer her up by saying, 'I look like Saddam.'"
After that visit, he claims, the beatings began and lasted for weeks. "It's scarier than I can put into words," he says, his voice filled with emotion – especially since he was aware that Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi had met a similar fate in 2003. "I knew how dangerous I was."
After weeks of this, his mother was granted another visit – and this time, Nahid's son was prepared. He says his guards warned him to stay silent about his mistreatment and stood guard as he entered the room. "Before I even sat down, I told her, 'Hi, mom. They've been torturing me. You need to speak out about this.' I put her through a lot."
During his eight years of imprisonment, Nahid's son saw other prisoners being released as part of deals between the US and Iran on three separate occasions – despite, he insists, the US government being fully aware of the torture and abuse he was suffering due to correspondence between his parents and the State Department.
Feeling abandoned by his government, Nahid's son decided he had two choices: to wait patiently and trust that the authorities would eventually negotiate a deal to secure his release; or to fight.
"Part of my response to the unbearable humiliation was that I had to regain respect for myself," he says. "I had to fight them."
High-risk interview
"I fought every day, every single day," Nahid's son says. "I had a plan: I'd get up, it was organized, you know, think about how to be a nuisance."
As the years passed, Nahid's son tried various tactics, including writing an opinion piece for The New York Times and going on hunger strike. But, he says, "I basically got no support." So, he suggested to his American lawyer, Jared Genser, that it might be time for an interview.
Twenty-four hours later, he was informed by Genser that he could speak to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "I started hyperventilating," he says, looking back on that moment. This was much bigger than he had intended. "It was a difficult decision," he says, fully aware of the risks. "Desperation" was his motivation.
In the end, Nahid's son's strategy was surprisingly straightforward. If he did the interview, he might be beaten and placed in solitary confinement. "I knew I could handle that," he says. But if he didn't do the interview, and there was no deal to secure his release, he would always wonder if it could have made a difference.
Speaking to Amanpour today, he says, it's a less tense experience. "It's such a pleasure to be talking to you and not worrying about being dragged to a solitary cell somewhere because of it," he tells her.
The logistics of his prison interview were not complicated. By then, Nahid's son was in the prison's general ward, no longer in solitary confinement and with access to a phone. Without telling the prison authorities, he dialed a number and was connected with CNN's control room through a complex series of transfers.
On the other end of the line, his voice was scratchy – and at times, overcome by emotion. "I think the fact that I've chosen to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin Prison should tell you just how dire my situation has become by this point," he said. "But, I believed, 'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'"
As Amanpour brought the phone interview to a close, Nahid's son made one final request: to address Biden directly, pleading with him to "do what's necessary to put an end to this nightmare and bring us home."
Returning Home
This "desperate measure" was one way that Nahid's son felt he could draw attention to his plight and add a sense of urgency to the ongoing negotiations.
He sees it as a crucial lesson for anyone in a similar situation: "If you are taken as a hostage, you need to make noise." He believes that creating more "political value" for a US president to make what could be a politically costly deal to release someone is essential.
In September 2023, Nahid's son was finally released along with four other dual nationals: Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and two other prisoners whose identities were not disclosed at the time.
The unfreezing of Iranian assets under the deal sparked criticism from former President Donald Trump and his allies – despite Trump having agreed to two prisoner swap deals with Iran during his tenure in office. Before it was finalized, 26 Senate Republicans wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to argue that it set an "incredibly dangerous precedent."
But Nahid's son says, he knew that without a deal, he wouldn't be going home – a fact his interrogators made "extraordinarily clear."
"It's our responsibility to retrieve our people from foreign prisons when they're innocent," he notes, and unfortunately, that often requires making distasteful compromises.
Moreover, Namazi expresses that he's more aware than most of the Iranian regime's atrocities.
"Let me tell you something: no one is as furious, no one is as disgusted with the Islamic Republic profiting from ruining my life, and that of other hostages and our families, than me. I spent 2,989 days in their prison... They've committed acts I'm not yet ready to discuss with my therapist... I can't even talk about it... It's ugly that they profited from this. But what else can we do? Just let an American suffer?"
No debriefing
After safely returning to the US, Namazi is brimming with ideas to change how the US handles hostage diplomacy. He compares it to "a game of rugby. We need to stop playing political chess with it. It's a different ball game."
He argues that the West can do a lot more to discourage hostage-taking, from cracking down on international money laundering that funds the luxurious lifestyles of autocrats and their cronies, to limiting the visas they receive when visiting the United Nations in New York.
And it's not just an American issue: Evin Prison is "a dystopian United Nations of hostages," Namazi says, with citizens from many countries behind bars.
"We can disrupt this business model really quickly. We need to make it unprofitable," he says.
Namazi believes he could offer more, but claims he wasn't debriefed by the US government on his numerous interactions with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
He also feels there was a significant lack of support system upon his return to the US.
Looking back on the past year since his release, Namazi's thoughts return to Biden.
With emotion in his voice, Namazi tells Amanpour that, someday, he'd like to meet the man who freed him.
"I really, really want to shake President Biden's hand one day."
In the interview with CNN post-release, Namazi expressed gratitude towards President Biden for his role in securing his freedom. He also highlighted the challenges he faced while adjusting to life outside after eight years of detention.
Moreover, Namazi mentioned the situation of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photographer who met a similar fate in 2003, as a reminder of the danger he faced during his imprisonment.
