Bipartisan resolution demands release of Americans imprisoned by Iranian Government
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) today issued the following statement regarding the Senate’s passage of their bipartisan resolution calling on the Government of Iran to release all unjustly detained American citizens and legal permanent residents, including Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang and Nizar Zakka, and to return Robert Levinson.
“For years the Iranian regime has brutally detained and imprisoned Americans and dual-nationals as a matter of policy, in an effort to leverage the freedom of our citizens for political concessions,” Sen. Cruz said. “We have a moral imperative to speak for the silenced and shackled, to hold those responsible in Iran to account for detaining and mistreating our people, and to fight for the release and return of those held hostage by the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am glad that today the Senate has voted in support of this vital measure. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure the United States safely brings our people back to American soil.”
“There are few more egregious violations of human rights and human dignity than to wrongfully imprison innocent people under harsh conditions for purposes of extortion, which the Government of Iran engages in as a matter of state policy and practice,” Sen. Leahy said. “Baquer Namazi, 80 years old and in failing health, is one of several Iranian-Americans being cruelly abused in this manner. It is imperative that the Administration uses its diplomatic tools to obtain their freedom.”