Topic: Americans in Iran prisoner swap arrive in Germany (Read 487 times)
As we learn more of this man's arrest and conviction, it appears that both sides engaged in hostage taking.
Iranian Released in Prisoner Exchange Finds Fault With Its Handling
Sitting in a federal prison, the Iranian-American former aerospace executive felt optimistic after years of frustration and despondency. His lawyers had filed what they regarded as a strong appeal, and he had reason to believe that his 2013 conviction, on illicit business dealings with Iran, might soon be reversed.
The former executive, Nader Modanlo, was one of seven people released by the United States this month in a high-profile prisoner exchange deal with Iran, but he is hardly celebrating. The price of freedom was to abandon his appeal and keep the felony conviction on his record, an agonizing choice for a man who insists he never broke any laws.
Mr. Modanlo, 55, said in an interview that he was shocked when he learned of the proposed deal on Jan. 14, and was given only two hours to decide whether to accept it. He angrily rejected the terms, and the deadline passed, starting what would become a two-day frenzy of phone calls from prison involving his lawyers, relatives, the Justice Department and Iranian consular officials.
The pressure on him was intense. Hours before he even made a decision, Iranian news services leaked details of the deal, and Obama administration officials briefed reporters about it.
He eventually signed on and was able to reunite with his family in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, where he has lived for many years. But the conviction he had been vigorously contesting, for brokering a deal to help Iran launch its first communications satellite into space on a Russian rocket, almost certainly means he will never again be able to work in the aerospace business: his ambition since his childhood in Iran, when he watched American astronauts walk on the moon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/world/middleeast/iranian-released-in-prisoner-exchange-finds-fault-with-its-handling.html?ref=world&_r=0
Sitting in a federal prison, the Iranian-American former aerospace executive felt optimistic after years of frustration and despondency. His lawyers had filed what they regarded as a strong appeal, and he had reason to believe that his 2013 conviction, on illicit business dealings with Iran, might soon be reversed.
The former executive, Nader Modanlo, was one of seven people released by the United States this month in a high-profile prisoner exchange deal with Iran, but he is hardly celebrating. The price of freedom was to abandon his appeal and keep the felony conviction on his record, an agonizing choice for a man who insists he never broke any laws.
Mr. Modanlo, 55, said in an interview that he was shocked when he learned of the proposed deal on Jan. 14, and was given only two hours to decide whether to accept it. He angrily rejected the terms, and the deadline passed, starting what would become a two-day frenzy of phone calls from prison involving his lawyers, relatives, the Justice Department and Iranian consular officials.
The pressure on him was intense. Hours before he even made a decision, Iranian news services leaked details of the deal, and Obama administration officials briefed reporters about it.
He eventually signed on and was able to reunite with his family in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, where he has lived for many years. But the conviction he had been vigorously contesting, for brokering a deal to help Iran launch its first communications satellite into space on a Russian rocket, almost certainly means he will never again be able to work in the aerospace business: his ambition since his childhood in Iran, when he watched American astronauts walk on the moon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/world/middleeast/iranian-released-in-prisoner-exchange-finds-fault-with-its-handling.html?ref=world&_r=0
This what happens when you start grading on a curve, ISIS has set the bar so low for treachery, murder and violence, that the Iranian nut jobs running Iran are starting to look normal by comparison.
Really? All of this so Iran gets out of some 'sanctions' even though they've been surviving fine without them, as far as scaring everyone with their arms development? I doubt it...but what's really going on?
Iran was surviving... and that was it. Their economy was in deathbed. They were not allowed to export most of their oil and gas, and this severely limited the ability of the government to dish out various social security programs. Also, the unemployment went sky high, and the living standards declined to a great degree.
Really? All of this so Iran gets out of some 'sanctions' even though they've been surviving fine without them, as far as scaring everyone with their arms development? I doubt it...but what's really going on?
Has Obama taken credit for it yet?
A plane carrying three of the four Americans freed by Iran as part of a prisoner swap landed in Germany after a brief stop in Switzerland on Sunday, two White House officials said.
Though there was no official government confirmation of who was on the plane that landed at Ramstein Air Base, a U.S. military facility in southwest Germany, it's believed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini were all on the same aircraft.
The three were scheduled to be transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. military hospital, after arriving in Germany.
Read more : http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/17/middleeast/iran-jason-rezaian-prisoners-freed/
Though there was no official government confirmation of who was on the plane that landed at Ramstein Air Base, a U.S. military facility in southwest Germany, it's believed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini were all on the same aircraft.
The three were scheduled to be transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. military hospital, after arriving in Germany.
Read more : http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/17/middleeast/iran-jason-rezaian-prisoners-freed/
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