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Emad Sharghi
Emad Sharghi

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Iran to release a U.S. citizen he said had been held for years as a "political pawn."

Emad Sharghi was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges, Iranian media have reported, saying he was detained while attempting to flee the country.

Blinken said the Iranian-American venture capitalist had been held for four years, and that the "family has waited anxiously for the Iranian government to release Emad.

"Like too many other families, their loved one has been treated as a political pawn," the top U.S. diplomat said on Twitter on April 23.

"We call on Iran to stop this inhumane practice and release Emad," Blinken added.

Earlier on April 23, U.S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley also called for the release of Sharghi and other detained Americans, including businessman Siamak Namazi and U.S.-British environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.

"Emad Sharghi was arrested 4 years ago today. He was cleared of all charges, but then convicted in absentia, rearrested, and has now spent over 500 days in Evin Prison," Malley said on Twitter.

"Emad, the Namazis, and Morad Tahbaz must all be allowed to come home now," he added.

On April 22, U.S. Senator Mark Rubio called for Sharghi's release, saying he remained in Tehran’s Evin prison on "false charges."

The United States, Britain, and other countries have sought to secure the release of more than a dozen dual nationals detained by Iran.

Family members and human rights activists have accused Tehran of arresting the dual nationals on trumped up charges to squeeze concessions out of Western nations.

Last month, Tehran allowed two British citizens to return home after years of detention.

Their release was reached as world leaders try to revive the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear pact.

Negotiations on renewing the deal have reportedly stalled over the U.S. blacklisting of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

With reporting by AFP
Leonid Volkov (right) poses with Aleksei Navalny's daughter Daria Navalnaya (left) and European Parliament President David Sassoli during the award ceremony for the Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on December 15, 2021.
Leonid Volkov (right) poses with Aleksei Navalny's daughter Daria Navalnaya (left) and European Parliament President David Sassoli during the award ceremony for the Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on December 15, 2021.

Russian authorities have designated the former head of an independent radio station, a longtime ally of a jailed opposition leader, and seven others as "foreign agents" in a crackdown that has intensified since Russia launched all-out war in Ukraine eight weeks ago.

The Justice Ministry added former Ekho Moskvy editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov and exiled Kremlin critic Leonid Volkov to a list that now targets around 150 entities and citizens for ostracization and burdensome labeling requirements.

News of their listings follows confirmation that the ministry also placed prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is in detention over alleged statements concerning the Ukraine war, on the "foreign agents" list.

The other additions are: TV journalist and former lawmaker Aleksandr Nevzorov, independent media award RedKollegia co-founder Sergei Parkhomenko, sociologist Viktor Vakhshtain, Yaroslavl LGBT rights activist Yaroslav Sirotkin, journalist Vladimir Voronov, and RFE/RL journalists Artur Asafiev and Yekaterina Lushnikova.

"We condemn this blatant slur against more of our journalists who are patriotic Russian nationals," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said. "RFE/RL's commitment to providing independent information to our Russian audiences will outlast this latest attempt to deprive the Russian people of the truth."

Russia's original 2012 legislation on "foreign agents" targeted NGOs and rights groups and has since been expanded to punish media organizations, individual journalists, YouTube vloggers, and many other perceived opponents alleged to have even indirect ties to outside funding.

Russia's 'Foreign Agent' Law: A Blunt Instrument To Silence Dissent
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Venediktov's Ekho Moskvy was a leading media outlet that, along with numerous other remaining independent news providers, has been shut down since late February over their coverage of the war.

Volkov is a longtime associate of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny who was among several Navalny allies to flee Russia last year before being placed on the government's list of extremists and terrorists.

Russian authorities have tried to cast Navalny and his supporters as Western-backed subversive operatives trying to destabilize Russia.

Many of Navalny’s allies have fled Russia rather than face restrictions on their freedoms or prison time at home, contributing to a long-running demographic dilemma that has been exacerbated by a wave of emigration since the Ukraine invasion.

Navalny Versus Putin: A Yearlong War Of Words
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Venediktov, who is Jewish and a frequent target of pro-Kremlin abuse, reported finding the severed head of a pig at the door of his Moscow apartment late last month and a note reading "Judensau," or "Jewish pig."

Kara-Murza was listed by the ministry as an agent of Ukraine.

A Russian court on April 22 ordered pretrial detention for Kara-Murza for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian army, his lawyer said.

Nine other people were added to the "foreign agents" list on April 15, including YouTuber Yury Dud, political scientist and publicist Yekaterina Shulman, cartoonist Sergei Elkin, The Insider founder and editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov, and journalist and LGBT activist Karen Shainyan.

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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.

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