The United States Special Envoy, Brian Hook, recently visited the family of a German-Iranian citizen who has been sentenced to death in Iran. The accused is Joubin Saghafi, a 47-year-old who left Iran in 2014 and returned in 2017 with a German passport. According to reports, he was arrested and charged with rape and immoral acts.
Mr. Hook met with Mr. Saghafi’s family in Tehran on Tuesday. Following the meeting, a State Department spokeswoman said, “Special Representative Brian Hook visited the family members of Joubin Saghafi, where they expressed their deep concerns over his situation. We are doing all we can to support him and his family.”
The State Department declined to provide any further information on Mr. Saghafi’s case but made it clear that Hook had already met with Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, over the case. The meeting was held on Monday and was followed by Mr. Hook’s visit to Mr. Saghafi’s family.
Mr. Saghafi is the latest in a long line of foreign citizens to be arrested in Iran in recent years. This includes US citizens such as Xiyue Wang, who was released in 2019 after a three-year term in prison, and Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian who was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison on more than 10 charges, including espionage.
The US has warned foreign travelers to “exercise extreme caution” if visiting Iran. The State Department also updated its “Level 4” travel warning stating that “US citizens should not travel to Iran due to the risk of arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as the risk of wrongful conviction and harsh sentences.”
Mr. Hook has maintained a strong stance on the issue. In a statement this week he said, “We stand with families of American citizens, as well as German citizens, who are suffering here in Iran because of their government’s imprisonment and wrongful conviction of foreign citizens.” He has also called for the “immediate, unconditional release” of those detained or sentenced to death in Iran on politically motivated charges.
Mr. Saghafi’s family have been providing updates about his case on a Facebook page, though the page has since been deleted. They hope that the US government’s actions will lead to the release of Mr. Saghafi and other wrongfully held prisoners in Iran.