Iran
Former FBI agent Robert Levinson prior to his disappearance in 2007 (L) and during his incarceration in 2010/11. File photo: helpboblevinson.com / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran 13 years ago, has died in detention, his family said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We recently received information from US officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody,” the statement read.
“We don’t know when or how he died, only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the family added.
Levinson was last seen on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007 after meeting with Daoud Salahuddin, an American who fled to Iran to avoid murder charges in the United States.
The United States and Levinson’s friends and family initially claimed he was there as a private investigator looking into former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family, but documents uncovered by the Associated Press seven years later suggested he was there as part of an unauthorized CIA operation.
Tehran has repeatedly denied any role in Levinson’s disappearance, insisting that if he is incarcerated in Iran, it is not by the government.
“Iran has always maintained that its officials have no knowledge of Mr. Levinson’s whereabouts, and that he is not in Iranian custody. Those facts have not changed,” said Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesperson for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, in a tweet.
“His body has not yet been returned to us for a proper burial. We don’t even know when, or even if, his body would be returned to us. This is the very definition of cruelty,” the Levinson family said, adding that those responsible for Levinson’s disappearance and death, including those in the US government, “will ultimately receive justice for what they have done.”
US President Donald Trump addressed reports of Levinson’s death at his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, saying: “They [Iran] haven’t told us that he’s dead. But a lot of people are thinking that is the case.”
“It’s not looking promising,” the President said, but he “won’t accept that he is dead.”
Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili announced on Friday that authorities would release “around 10,000 prisoners” under an amnesty deal for Newroz – the Persian New Year.
The order aims to “reduce the number of prisoners in light of the sensitive situation in the country,” said Esmaili, without explicitly mentioning the COVID-19 outbreak.
The statement also announced that 85,000 prisoners would be furloughed for two week periods to reduce crowding in prisons.
Activists have been deeply concerned about the health of political prisoners, including several dual nationals and foreigners accused of spying.
British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was furloughed last week for a period of two weeks.
In recent months, several high profile foreign nationals have been released, including US Navy veteran Michael White and US academic Xiyue Wang, in prisoner swaps.
Iran is still holding US citizens Siamak Namazi, his father Baquer, and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.
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