An 85-year-old Iranian-American previously barred from leaving Iran has now left and arrived in Oman, state media report.
Baquer Namazi has left Iran, semiofficial Iranian website Khabaronline said on October 5, publishing a video showing him boarding a private plane accompanied by a man in Omani traditional dress.
Oman on October 4 thanked Iran for handing over U.S. citizen Namazi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on its website.
Namazi, a former UNICEF 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.
The United Nations said in a statement on October 1 that following appeals by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Iranian president, Tehran had agreed to allow Namazi to leave the country for medical treatment and that his son had been granted a furlough.
Baquer Namazi suffers from a heart condition and was hospitalized several times while in prison.
Siad and Baquer Namazi both received 10-year prison sentences in 2015 for “collaborating with the hostile American government” — charges they both denied.
Washington also rejected the allegations and called for their immediate release.
Siamak Namazi was based in Dubai with Crescent Petroleum Co. and was detained while visiting family in Tehran in 2015.
Baquer Namazi was arrested at the Tehran airport. He served two years of his sentence before being placed on a medical furlough but was forced to remain in Iran until the latest announcement.
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