American-Iranian citizen Baquer Namazi leaves Iran – official news agency
2022.10.05 05:10
DUBAI (Reuters) -U.S. citizen Baquer Namazi has left Iran, the country’s official news agency said on Wednesday, publishing a video showing him boarding a private plane accompanied by a man in Omani traditional dress.
The video showed him struggling to climb up the stairs to board the plane, on which the light blue insignia of the Royal Air Force of Oman could be seen. The latest location of the plane could be spotted over Iran’s central city of Yazd, according to Flightradar 24 website.
Oman on Tuesday thanked Iran for handing over U.S. citizen Namazi, the Iranian foreign ministry said on its website.
Namazi, 85, a former U.N. official, holds both U.S. and Iranian citizenship and is one of four Iranian-Americans, including his son Siamak, who had been detained in Iran or barred from leaving the country.
Namazi was convicted in Iran of “collaboration with a hostile government” in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iranian authorities released him on medical grounds in 2018 and closed his case in 2020, commuting his sentence to time served but effectively barring him from leaving the country.
