Siamak Namazi: American citizen held captive in Iran calls for release

Siamak Namazi is an Iranian-American citizen held captive in Iran since 2015 on espionage-related charges. 

Namazi spoke to the US channel CNN during a phone call from inside Evin Prison in Tehran on Thursday in an unprecedented move to urge for his release. 

Before the conversation ended, he sent US President Joe Biden a tearful message: "I implore you, sir, to put the lives and liberty of innocent Americans above all the politics involved." 

However, how did this call occur, particularly given that it was made with a US channel and took place inside a Tehran prison? 

According to some Iranian observers, this call came as an Iranian pressure on the US to make the negotiations on releasing the three American detainees in Iranian prisons successful.

Their release will not be for free, and the American NBC channel revealed that the price would be the release of billions of dollars of Iranian funds seized in South Korea due to US sanctions. 

Following this call, the White House spokesperson confirmed to CNN that "Iran's unjust imprisonment of US citizens and their use as political leverage is outrageous and inhumane. "

The spokesperson added that her country will always defend the rights of its unjustly detained citizens abroad, including Siamak Namazi. 

As for Iran, according to CNN, it is still waiting for a response from its foreign ministry regarding the call. 

Iranian spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, confirmed weeks ago that his country had expressed its readiness to begin the issue of exchanging prisoners from a humanitarian perspective without conditions. 

Will Namazi and the other Americans be released soon?