Iran releases Princeton student accused of spying for US

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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Chinese American prisoner attempted suicide in Iranian prison

PINTEREST

Xiyue Wang with his wife and son before he left for Iran.

WITH THE HOLIDAY'S approaching, this time of year may cause the Chinese/American imprisoned in Iran to become more despondent.  Xiyue Wang, accused of spying for the U.S., recently tried to commit suicide, said his wife.

Qu Hua, the wife of a Chinese/American graduate student Xiyue Wang, who is behind bars in Iran, pleaded with the Trump administration on Tuesday (Nov. 28) to do more to secure her husband's release. 

In an exclusive broadcast interview with NBC News, Qu Hua revealed that her husband, Xiyue Wang, has attempted suicide during his almost 16 months in prison. 

"Only the U.S. government can sort this out, only the U.S. government can help us," she said. "I hope President Trump can open up a dialogue with Iranian authorities to discuss a resolution of my husband's case."

Late Sunday (Nov. 26), Iranian state TV aired a feature focused on Wang, a Chinese-born American graduate student at Princeton who is accused of passing confidential information about Iran to the US State Department. He was arrested while conducting research on the Qajar dynasty that once ruled Iran for his doctorate in late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history, according to Princeton officials, who said he was in Iran to learn Farsi and conduct research for his dissertation.

The Iranian newscast aired Sunday (Nov. 26) accused Wang of trying to take around 4,500 documents from the country. An interrogator asks Wang why he did it, with other footage showing him emotional.

SCREEN CAPTURE

Xiyue Wang as he appeared in the Iranian newscast.

Iranian authorities allege Wang  scanned some 4,500 pages of digital documents, paid thousands of dollars to access archives he needed and sought access to confidential areas of Tehran libraries. State TV aired footage of him in what appeared to be an Iranian courtroom, those around him blurred out, as well as footage of him emotional and later talking to a camera, as well as an image of his Iranian visa and a school ID.

“About Iran in that regard, the more knowledge the United States possesses about Iran, the better for its policy toward Iran,” he said in the footage. “There is no doubt about it. It is quite obvious.” That quote made it appear as if he was justifying his so-called spying activities. Most likely that footage was taken out of context as he explained why he was doing historical research in Iran.

RELATED: Chinese American accused of spying on Iran

Wang, 36, is a Chinese-born naturalized American citizen. He and his wife have a 4-year-old son. 

Wang, a Princeton student, was arrested in August 2016 while carrying out research on Iran’s Qajar dynasty for his Ph.D., according to the university, his wife and the U.S. government.

For months, his wife and Princeton worked quietly toward winning his release without making a public statement. 

The case came to public attention this July after Iran announced that Wang had been sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted of "spying under the cover of research," according to the Mizan Online News Agency, the Iranian judiciary’s news service. A spokesman for the judiciary alleged Wang had been "directly guided by America." Wang was also accused of seeking to access confidential areas of a library and "assisting a hostile government." 

He was kept in solitary confinement for 18 days before being transported to Evin Prison, the Tehran facility that houses most of the country's political prisoners. 

His condition has recently improved, but he is still "very desperate," his wife added. "He is extremely stressed, he has depression and he attempted to commit suicide, and he had multiple diseases." 

She had not seen her husband for more than a year until Iranian state TV aired footage lat e Sunday showing Wang and accusing him of trying to steal 4,500 documents. 

"I was shocked and I was extremely upset that my husband is misrepresented on Iran's state television," Qu told NBC News. "He went to Iran with all the required approvals. He openly and honestly disclosed his interests in looking at the historical documents."

Qu, 35, said she believes Iran knows that her husband is an legitimate scholar and that he was only targeted because he is an American.

"He's innocent and he is just a student. He has no connection with any government agency, he's not doing any secret project for any agency, for any secret institution," she told NBC.

WATCH the Iranian broadcast here ( Editor's Note: It is in Farsi. Sorry, I can't provide a translation, but portions are in English):

Advocates for Americans imprisoned in Iran have warned that Donald Trump's hardline stance toward the country would make the captives' release more difficult. Trump has branded Iran's government a "murderous regime" and warned of its "sinister vision for the future." 

Stephen Kotkin, Wang’s adviser at Princeton, told the Washington Post that Wang was a gifted scholar who was impressed with Persian culture.

“Xiyue Wang is a remarkable, linguistically gifted graduate student studying late 19th- and early 20th-century governance in predominantly Muslim regions — Qajar Iran, Afghanistan, imperial Russian Turkestan,” he said. “He is innocent of all the charges. In Tehran, Wang collected documents that were 100 years old. He has told me often of his exhilaration at the exquisiteness and depth of Persian civilization.”

According to CNN, Wang was raised in China and earned a bachelor's degree in South Asian studies from the University of Washington.

His Facebook page lists Beijing as his hometown, Wang is proficient in Pashto, a language spoken in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, and Hindi.

For a time, he worked as a translator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he helped Afghans traumatized by violence and death from the American-led war against the Taliban, according to the NY Times.

He also studied Russian and Eurasian studies at Harvard University, according to a biography of Wang from Princeton in Asia program, where he did a fellowship from 2008 to 2009.

Wang is one of seven U.S. citizens or permanent residents currently detained by Iran, according to The Associated Press. The State Department has expressed its concern about the reported deteriorating health of the prisoners.

Following Iran's announcement of the charges in July, the State Department called on the Tehran government to release Wang "and all other unjustly detained U.S. citizens, so that they can be reunited with their families." 

Qu said that the past year has tested her belief that her husband will return. 

"I don't know how long this will last, but every month I have hope that he can come home at any time, that they would automatically release him quietly," she said. "But my hope of his return has been shattered time and time again throughout the past year because all of this." 

She told NBC: "I will continue. I will never give up, because he's innocent." 

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Chinese American accused of spying on Iran, sentenced to 10 years in prison

Xiyue Wang

AN IRANIAN COURT has sentenced a Chinese/American scholar to 10 years behind bars after accusing him of espionage.

Xiyue Wang, 37, under the auspices of Princeton University, was in Iran doing research on ancient Persian history and culture.

UPDATE: The events and announcements of Tuesday, (July 18) were added.

On Tuesday (July 18), the detention of Wang and other U.S. citizens was among Iran's "malign activities" that justify continuing the economic sanctions initiated by President Barack Obama and which Donald Trump announced would continue. 

Wang's "field is late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history," said Princeton in a press release Sunday (July 17). He was arrested in Iran last summer, while there doing scholarly research on the administrative and cultural history of the late Qajar dynasty in connection with his Ph.D. dissertation. Since his arrest, the University has worked with Mr. Wang’s family, the U.S. government, private counsel and others to facilitate his release."

Fars, a semiofficial Iranian news agency, quoted Mizan Online, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, as saying Wang pursued espionage “through the cover of being a researcher.” 

Mizan, Fars said, reported that Wang was “gathering secret and top secret [intelligence]” for the U.S. State Department, Harvard Kennedy School, and the British Institute of Persian Studies. He was accused, the Fars report said, of “infiltrating Iran’s national archive and building a 4,500-page digital archive” for “the world’s biggest anti-Iran spying organization.”

Stephen Kotkin, Wang’s adviser at Princeton, told the Washington Post that Wang was a gifted scholar who was impressed with Persian culture.

“Xiyue Wang is a remarkable, linguistically gifted graduate student studying late 19th- and early 20th-century governance in predominantly Muslim regions — Qajar Iran, Afghanistan, imperial Russian Turkestan,” he said. “He is innocent of all the charges. In Tehran, Wang collected documents that were 100 years old. He has told me often of his exhilaration at the exquisiteness and depth of Persian civilization.”

According to CNN, Wang was raised in China and earned a bachelor's degree in South Asian studies from the University of Washington. 

His Facebook page lists Beijing as his hometown, Wang is proficient in Pashto, a language spoken in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, and Hindi. 

For a time, he worked as a translator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he helped Afghans traumatized by violence and death from the American-led war against the Taliban, according to the NY Times.

He also studied Russian and Eurasian studies at Harvard University, according to a biography of Wang from Princeton in Asia program, where he did a fellowship from 2008 to 2009.

"What he does know is that his dream is to walk the ancient Silk Road from Xi'an to Rome one day,” the biography read. 

Anna Lind-Guzik, a graduate student in Russian history at Princeton, wrote on her Twitter account: “This is nuts! Xiyue Wang is a friend. We did all our coursework together. He’s a kind family man, great scholar & furthest thing from a spy.”

The U.S. State Department called for the immediate release of all U.S. citizens in jail in Iran.

“The Iranian regime continues to detain U.S. citizens and other foreigners on fabricated national-security related changes,” a press statement said. “The safety and security of US citizens remains a top priority. All U.S. citizens, especially dual nationals considering travel to Iran, should carefully read our latest travel warning.”‎

At least three other Americans are thought to be imprisoned in Iran although the number could be higher.

The three Americans hold dual U.S.-Iranian citizenships: Siamak Namazi was detained in October 2015; his 80-year old father Baquer Namazi, former UNICEF employee, was detained four months later. They were sentenced in October 2016 to 10 years in prison. 

Reza “Robin” Shahini, a San Diego resident who was arrested in July 2016 while visiting family in Iran, was sentenced in October to 18 years in prison for spying. He was freed this year pending an appeal. 

In addition, the fate of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 is still unknown.

Wang's conviction and sentencing comes at a sensitive time amid tensions between the the U.S. and Iran as Donald Trump and his GOP-dominated Congress have taken increasingly harsh positions against Iran.

During his election campaign, Trump has promised to tear up the 2015 deal struck between Iran and world powers, including the United States, that lifted some sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Relations between the U.S. and Iran have “hit rock bottom,” according to Sanam Vakil, a professor of Middle East studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Wang's arrest may just be another bargaining chip in the high-stakes talks between tough-talking Trump and conservative hardliners in Iran.

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorists, citing the failure of the Iran nuclear deal to contribute to the stability of the Middle East.

The move came a day after the administration certified to Congress that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal but would face consequences for breaching its “spirit."

Trump, who vowed as a presidential candidate to dismantle the agreement, has given himself more time to determine whether to let it stand.

"Iran’s other malign activities are serving to undercut whatever 'positive contributions' to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge from the (agreement)," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

The statement went on to mention the detention of Wang along with other U.S. citizens and other foreigners on fabricated national-security related charges, and that the U.S. calls on Iran to release them.

“Iran should immediately release all of these U.S. citizens on humanitarian grounds,” Nauert said.

“Part of the reason why they’re doing this is because they understand that arresting the U.S. citizens and Westerners, particularly on ridiculous charges like this, has a deterring effect against companies that have been thinking about investing in the Iranian economy,” said Trita Parsi, the author of a new book on US-Iran relations, Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy

According to Parsi, Iran’s hardliners oppose foreign economic investment because they fear it could lead to instability and the ultimate downfall of the regime.

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