Iran
Michael R. White with his mother, Joanne White, in 2018. Photo: White Family, via Associated Press
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A US navy veteran sentenced to prison in Iran is being returned to the US after being incarcerated for two years, according to US President Donald Trump.
“I am to happy announce that Navy Veteran, Michael White, who has been detained by Iran for 683 days, is on a Swiss plane that just left Iranian Airspace,” tweeted Trump, who says that he expects White to be reunited with his family shortly.
Michael White, 46, was arrested in July 2018 while visiting his girlfriend in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
White’s lawyer said in March 2019 that his client was sentenced to two years for insulting the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and ten years for posting a private picture with an Iranian woman. He would be allowed to serve the two sentences handed out on March 6 and March 9 2019, concurrently, said the lawyer.
The US Navy veteran was furloughed in March amidst the spread of coronavirus in the country, and handed over to a team from Switzerland representing US interest in the country in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.
White’s release comes just two days after a formerly-imprisoned Iranian scientist acquitted in a federal trade secrets case in the US was returned to Iran.
White was among a number of foreign and dual national detainees held in Iran, often on charges of espionage, compromising national security, and spreading propaganda.
Their numbers have grown in recent years as tension between Tehran and Washington grew, after the US withdrew in May 2018 from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
The relationship between the two countries further deteriorated following the US drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran’s retaliatory fire of ballistic missiles at US bases in January.
“I am to happy announce that Navy Veteran, Michael White, who has been detained by Iran for 683 days, is on a Swiss plane that just left Iranian Airspace,” tweeted Trump, who says that he expects White to be reunited with his family shortly.
Michael White, 46, was arrested in July 2018 while visiting his girlfriend in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
White’s lawyer said in March 2019 that his client was sentenced to two years for insulting the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and ten years for posting a private picture with an Iranian woman. He would be allowed to serve the two sentences handed out on March 6 and March 9 2019, concurrently, said the lawyer.
The US Navy veteran was furloughed in March amidst the spread of coronavirus in the country, and handed over to a team from Switzerland representing US interest in the country in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.
White’s release comes just two days after a formerly-imprisoned Iranian scientist acquitted in a federal trade secrets case in the US was returned to Iran.
White was among a number of foreign and dual national detainees held in Iran, often on charges of espionage, compromising national security, and spreading propaganda.
Their numbers have grown in recent years as tension between Tehran and Washington grew, after the US withdrew in May 2018 from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
The relationship between the two countries further deteriorated following the US drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran’s retaliatory fire of ballistic missiles at US bases in January.
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