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Post by Daniel on Sept 28, 2015 10:00:11 GMT -5
Rouhani: Iran Ready for Prison Swap with Americans
By Ben Ariel, Canada 9/28/2015
Tehran will work to free three Americans from its prisons if the United States releases jailed Iranians, President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, according to AFP.
"If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set them free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well," Rouhani, who is visiting New York for the UN General Assembly, told CNN.
At least three Americans, all of them of Iranian heritage, are in jail in Iran including Jason Rezaian, a correspondent for The Washington Post who was arrested in July 2014 and accused of spying.
The two other Americans are Amir Hekmati, a former American Marine who was charged with spying, and Saeed Abedini, a convert to Christianity who gathered a Bible study group.
Hekmati, who was arrested in 2011, was put on trial and found guilty of spying for the CIA. He was subsequently sentenced to death, a penalty that was eventually overturned and reduced to 10 years in prison.
Much of Iran's judiciary is known for its closeness to hardliners, who are eager to scuttle the moderate Rouhani's efforts to reconcile with Western powers.
"Nothing would make me happier" than movements to release prisoners, Rouhani was quoted by AFP as having said.
The United States has regularly demanded the unconditional release of the three prisoners.
continue reading www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/201159
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,160
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Post by fearnot on Sept 28, 2015 10:34:15 GMT -5
I do so pray they release our Americans....but especially Saeed Abidini
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