Naharnet

Zakka's Family Says Hasn't Heard from Him since 10 Days

The family of Iran-held Lebanese national and U.S. green card holder Nizar Zakka announced Wednesday that contact has been lost with him since ten days.

“We the family of Nizar Zakkar, who is being arbitrarily detained in Iran, express grave concern over the fate of our son with whom direct communication has been severed since ten days. Lebanon's embassy in Tehran has also failed to secure any contact with him,” the family said in a statement.

Urging Iranian authorities to clarify his fate in a speedy manner and holding them responsible for any harm, the family urged the Lebanese government and “specifically Prime Minister Saad Hariri to act quickly and summon the Iranian ambassador to Beirut to question him about Nizar.”

“We also ask the Lebanese constitutional institutions, especially the Presidency and the Speakership, to take charge of Nizar's case in order to end his plight and liberate him from his prison,” the family added.

Zakka has been detained in Iran since 2015 over spying allegations. He was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison and a $4.2 million fine.

Zakka, who lived in Washington and held resident status in the U.S., was the leader of the Arab ICT Organization, or IJMA3, an industry consortium from 13 countries that advocates for information technology in the region. Zakka disappeared Sept. 18, 2015, during his fifth trip to Iran. He had been invited to attend a conference at which President Hassan Rouhani spoke of providing more economic opportunities for women and sustainable development.

On Nov. 3, Iranian state television aired a report saying he was in custody and calling him a spy with "deep links" with U.S. intelligence services. It also showed what it described as a damning photo of Zakka and three other men in army-style uniforms, two with flags and two with rifles on their shoulders. But that turned out to be from a homecoming event at Zakka's prep school, the Riverside Military Academy in Georgia, according to the school's president.


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