Bassil Sends Zarif Appeal to Release Zakka

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday sent a letter to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif asking that Tehran free Lebanese national Nizar Zakka from its prisons.

The National News Agency said Bassil handed the letter to Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Jalal Firouznia, who in turn handed the minister a letter from Zarif.

Bassil's letter calls on Iran to "issue a special pardon for Lebanese national Nizar Zakka on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan."

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.