Iran, US swap prisoners in landmark deal

U.S. State Department officials Brett McGurk, who helped to negotiate their release, and Patrick Kennedy, the department’s Under Secretary of State for Management, had been standing by to greet the prisoners on arrival in Geneva.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state television announced Saturday that the government had freed four dual-nationality prisoners, and a person close to Iran’s judiciary confirmed to The Associated Press that Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian was one of them.

It has been a dramatic day for Iran and the U.S. Iran has released five Americans it had been holding, among them was a Washington Post reporter held for more than a year.

Rezaian was detained in July, 22, 2014, with his wife Yeganeh Salehi and a photojournalist.

A group of Iranian men walked free from detention in the US early Sunday after being pardoned and released as part of a prisoner swap deal between Tehran and Washington, a lawyer for one of the men told CNN.

Kerry said he would remain at work on other Americans still being held in Iran. Trevithick, who is from Hingham, Massachusetts, co-founded a research center based in Turkey that assesses the humanitarian crisis in the area and traveled to Iran in September for a four-month language program. They were accused in 2015 of shipping electronics to Iran.

“Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing”, he said in a statement.

Two of the other three prisoners are believed to be pastor Saeed Abedini and former marine Amir Hekmati, who was jailed in 2011.

Jason Rezaian: aged 39, Tehran correspondent for the Washington Post. And as a result, economic sanctions placed on Iran for its nuclear program have been lifted.

The United Nations Human Rights Council declared in August 2013 that Abedini’s imprisonment was “arbitrary” and violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Iran is a signatory. “We look forward to the joyous occasion of welcoming him back to the Washington Post newsroom”.

Iran had initially insisted Jason Rezaian’s fate could only be decided by Tehran’s judicial system rather than through political accommodation with the U.S. But the nuclear deal, reached a year ago, held out hope for increased dialogue about Rezaian and the other Americans.

Another Republican candidate Ben Carson said on his Facebook account that he was “very pleased” by the release and “overjoyed for the families and friends” of the former prisoners.

US officials would not immediately confirm the announcement, but they had indicated a prisoner deal would be separate from Saturday’s expected “implementation” of the landmark nuclear agreement.

The exchange also didn’t cover Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who advocated better ties between Iran and the U.S. He was reportedly arrested in October.

The release was arranged as part of a prisoner swap involving seven Iranians held by the United States on sanctions charges, the officials confirmed.

There was no immediate confirmation from the US government that the other Americans involved in the swap had left Iran. These are cases across the US, mostly involving sanctions violations. Earlier, a plane carrying the three American citizens landed in Geneva after leaving Iran.

Iran was seeking a number of detained Iranians in exchange for the Americans.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the prisoner swap followed 14 months of confidential discussions in Switzerland.

“Iran has also committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson”, a USA official said.

He was later sentenced to death.

According to the official IRNA news agency, the seven freed Iranians are Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghahi, Arash Ghahraman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Saboonchi.