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US STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Special Representative Brian Hook welcomes Xiyue Wang to Switzerland. |
ASAM NEWS
An American graduate student held prisoner in Iran for three years on suspicion of spying is on his way back to the United States Saturday morning, reports CNN.
Xiyue Wang is being evaluated by doctors in Germany at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center which is operated by the US Army.
“Our family is complete once again,” his wife, Hua Qu tweeted “Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.“
Donald Trump announced the release of the Princeton graduate student this morning. Wang release is apparently part of a prisoner exchange which also led to the release of Masoud Soleimani, an Iranian held in the US.
“The highest priority of the United States is the safety and well-being of its citizens,” Trump said. “Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas.”
Born in Beijing, Wang immigrated to the United States in 2001 and became a naturalized citizen in 2009. He went to Iran to study Farsi and to work on his dissertation. Princeton has long advocated for his release maintaining he was not involved in any political activities.
His wife as recently as August has criticized the United States for using her husband as a bargaining chip and not doing more to win his release. Iran convicted Wang of spying in 2017 and sentenced him to ten years in prison despite denials for Princeton, the US government and his wife.
Wang was arrested in August 2016 while carrying out research on Iran’s Qajar dynasty for his Ph.D., according to Princeton.
A senior administration official told NBC News that the Swiss took the lead in the negotiations over the past three to four weeks. Those discussions for the release of Wang, a Chinese-born naturalized American citizen and a fourth-year doctoral student of history at Princeton University, came without pre-conditions on issues such as ending the Iranian nuclear program or its long-range ballistic missile program, the official said.
"The entire Princeton University community is overjoyed that Xiyue Wang can finally return home to his wife and young son, and we look forward to welcoming him back to campus," said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber.
Wang is expected to arrive in Washington, DC on Monday, according to Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman resident in the United States who was freed from Iran four years ago. He told Reuters he was the first to learn of Wang’s release and informed the family.
Views From the Edge contributed to this report.
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