[IsraelTimes] Reza Valizadeh was arrested last month and faces trial on undisclosed charges; US seeking info on case, says Tehran ‘routinely imprisons US citizens’ for ‘political purposes’
An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster is believed to be detained by Iran
 ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to attack Israel.
The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by the US State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday.
It also followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
threatening both Israel and the US the day before with "a crushing response" to Israel’s retaliatory strikes on military sites in Iran.
Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that’s overseen by the US Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members were tossed into the calaboose in an effort to see him return to Iran.
Unexpectedly. In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran’s theocracy as a hostile outlet.
"I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard’s) intelligence department," the message read in part. "Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one."
So now both his relatives and he languish in Iranian prison. How is that better? Valizadeh added the name of a man who he claimed belonged to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The AP could not verify if the person worked for the ministry.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Valizadeh were tossed into the calaboose. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which monitors cases in Iran, said that he were tossed into the calaboose on arrival to the country earlier this year, but later released.
He was then rearrested and sent to Evin prison, where he now faces a case in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which routinely holds closed-door hearings in which defendants face secret evidence, the agency reported. Valizadeh had faced arrest in 2007 as well, it said.
Of course. Since he is a hostage for ransom and/or trade in the age-old Muslim tradition, it absolutely doesn’t matter if he actually did whatever imaginary crime they accused him of. The State Department told the AP that it was "aware of reports that this dual US-Iranian citizen has been arrested in Iran" when asked about Valizadeh.
"We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case," the State Department said. "Iran routinely imprisons US citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law."
Not for politics. For money and leverage against their enemies. Iran has not acknowledged detaining Valizadeh. Iran’s mission to the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Voice of America, another US government-funded media outlet overseen by the Agency for Global Media, first reported the State Department was acknowledging Valizadeh’s detention in Iran.
Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world. In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
QED. Valizadeh is the first American known to be detained by Iran in the time since.
Last week, Iran executed German-Iranian prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, in what the German government called "a murder." Sharmahd, who was a US resident, was accused of behind behind a 2008 bombing that killed 14 people.
Both the US and Germany called his trial a "sham," and human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
group Amnesty International said he had been subjected to "enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment" while in prison.
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...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...Arabic for 
...The nation is noted for