Iran sentences 2 Americans to 10-year prison terms

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON

Iran has sentenced two Americans each to 10 years in prison, the U.S. said Tuesday.

Expressing "deep concerns," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a written statement that one of the citizens, Siamak Namazi, who is reportedly in his 40's, was "unjustly detained in Iran for over a year."

The statement also said Namazi's 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, was also "unjustly" detained last February.

The elder Namazi, under a U.S.-backed shah, once served as governor of the oil-rich Khuzestan province, according to the New York Times. He was also a former UNICEF representative, according to Toner.

"We remain especially concerned by reports of his declining health and well-being," Toner said, adding that the U.S. called for the immediate released of all U.S. citizens detained unjustly in Iran.

Although the U.S. statement did not give additional details as to why the father and son were sentenced, the Iranian Mizan news agency listed the reason as "cooperating with the hostile American government," according to the New York Times.

Toner reiterated the U.S. call to determine the whereabouts of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson who went missing on an Iranian island in March 2007.

Earlier this year, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other American-Iranians were released after the nuclear deal went into effect between Tehran and world powers.