Friends of Hingham man freed from Iran express gratitude

A MA man who was detained for 40 days in Iran has been released and is on his way home, United States officials said Saturday.

“This evening, we are really reminded once again of diplomacy’s power to tackle significant challenges”, US Secretary of State John F. Kerry said in Vienna, at the IAEA headquarters, where he’d been ensconced in meetings with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, as implementation was announced.

No reason has been given for Trevithick’s arrest and detainment, or for his release.

The four freed Americans are Washington Post reporter, Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, American businessman, Nostratollah Khosravi-Roodsari and pastor Saeed Abedini – whose wife spoke from Boise, Idaho.

Matthew Trevithick, a Hingham native and Boston University graduate, was released by the Iranian government Saturday.

It was in Iraq that Trevithick met rowing coach Bruce Smith, who was conducting a rowing camp for the Iraqi national rowing team. He went to Iran in September for a four-month language program at the Dehkhoda Institute.

Robin Wright, a joint fellow at the Wilson Center and the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, described Trevithick as a “winsome, sweet and intelligent man”. In 2010, he moved to Kabul, where he edited the autobiography of the country’s first minister of higher education after the fall of the Taliban, and wrote for the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Daily Beast.

His family says they’re “profoundly grateful” for his release. “We look forward to reuniting with Matt”.

Trevithick is the co-founder of SREO, a nonpartisan research center that provides objective analysis on the humanitarian crisis in the region.