SITREP Pod: Free Shahab Dalili, American hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
03/29/23 • 23 min
Shahab Dalili is a United States lawful permanent resident from Virginia. His wife and children are all U.S. citizens. In April 2016, Shahab went to Tehran to attend his father’s funeral. He was then arrested and has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran to this day.
According to recent news reports, there have been discussions of a potential prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran. The U.S. government has stated that no deal has been agreed. Shahab’s family are very worried that he may be left behind by the United States government if a prisoner exchange deal does go ahead.
On this episode, we have the honour of speaking once again to Shahab’s son, Darian Dalili. We discuss the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage Taking Accountability Act which has been signed into U.S. law, the fire in Evin prison last year where Shahab is being held, the release of American citizen Baquer Namazi who was held hostage in Iran since 2016, the potential prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran as well as what the U.S. State Department, Congress and President Biden should do.
We then end this episode discussing what journalists and the public can do to help free Shahab Dalili and bring him back home to Virginia.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Shahab Dalili, please check out the following:
- Our previous episode: Ep 41
- Free Shahab Dalili Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreeDalili
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
Shahab Dalili is a United States lawful permanent resident from Virginia. His wife and children are all U.S. citizens. In April 2016, Shahab went to Tehran to attend his father’s funeral. He was then arrested and has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran to this day.
According to recent news reports, there have been discussions of a potential prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran. The U.S. government has stated that no deal has been agreed. Shahab’s family are very worried that he may be left behind by the United States government if a prisoner exchange deal does go ahead.
On this episode, we have the honour of speaking once again to Shahab’s son, Darian Dalili. We discuss the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage Taking Accountability Act which has been signed into U.S. law, the fire in Evin prison last year where Shahab is being held, the release of American citizen Baquer Namazi who was held hostage in Iran since 2016, the potential prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran as well as what the U.S. State Department, Congress and President Biden should do.
We then end this episode discussing what journalists and the public can do to help free Shahab Dalili and bring him back home to Virginia.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Shahab Dalili, please check out the following:
- Our previous episode: Ep 41
- Free Shahab Dalili Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreeDalili
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
Previous Episode
Free Cecile Kohler, French hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
Cecile Kohler is a French teacher and a unionist. She has always dreamed of visiting Iran. Last year, both Cecile and her partner, Jacques Paris visited Iran as tourists during the French school holidays and were arrested on their way to the airport by Iranian authorities. They have both been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since 7 May 2022. The French government has referred to them as state hostages.
In October 2022, both Cecile and Jacques were made to deliver forced “confessions” which were aired on Iranian state media. The French government was outraged by this and strongly condemned it. On this episode, we have the honour of speaking to Cecile’s sister, Noemie Kohler.
Noemie walks us through what happened to her sister, how they found out she was arrested and what they did next. Noemie tells us how heartbreaking it was for her and her family to see her sister being forced to confess to something she didn’t do. She also talks about how her sister is doing physically and mentally as Cecile has been held for many months in solitary confinement, how the Kohler family have been coping with this trauma, the fact that Cecile has not been given access to a lawyer and the Free Cecile public campaign. Noemie and her family have been working with the families and supporters of other French citizens held hostage in Iran. They held a solidarity rally in Paris earlier this year.
We end this episode discussing what the Iranian authorities, French government and European Union should do to free Cecile and other innocent foreign nationals held hostage in Iran. We also discuss how journalists and members of the public can help.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Cecile Kohler, please check out the following:
- Free Cecile website
- Free Cecile Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreeCecile
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
Next Episode
Free Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, Americans held in Russia | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
American Marine veteran, Paul Whelan and American journalist, Evan Gershkovich are both wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. The United States government has classified both men as “wrongfully detained” and has called for their immediate release.
Both Paul and Evan are victims of Russia’s hostage diplomacy. We explain what hostage diplomacy is, the different types of hostage-takers, creation of the U.S. hostage enterprise, Presidential Policy Directive 30, the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act as well as how the U.S. Secretary of State makes the decision to designate an American held abroad as “wrongfully detained”.
We are joined on this episode by Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan. Elizabeth has been campaigning to free her brother for over four years and we discuss what the Whelan family had to do when Paul was first detained including getting a privacy act waiver and power of attorney signed.
We explain clearly that whether the U.S. gives up a concession to free their citizens held in Russia or does nothing at all and leaves them there, the Russians will continue to take more American citizens hostage. The two things that need to be done to put an end to Russia’s hostage diplomacy are to punish the hostage-takers and continuously raise awareness of the risks so Americans stop travelling to Russia. We also discuss the predicament the U.S. government is in because if they punish the hostage-takers right now, Paul and Evan will be made to suffer even more.
Elizabeth tells us what the Russian authorities, U.S. government, corporations, international community, news outlets and public should do to help and she also discusses the lack of equity in how the U.S. government works to free Americans wrongfully detained abroad.
The people campaigning to free Evan Gershkovich will find this episode very informative and useful.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Paul Whelan, please check out the following:
- Our previous episodes: Ep 4, Ep 21, Ep 35, Ep 39, Ep 48
- Free Paul Whelan website
- Free Paul Whelan Go Fund Me
- Free Paul Whelan Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreePaulWhelan
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
POD HOSTAGE DIPLOMACY - SITREP Pod: Free Shahab Dalili, American hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
Transcript
Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. We work to free hostages and the unjustly detained around the world. Together with their families, we share their stories and let you know how you can help bring them home.
Elizabeth WhelanNow when it comes to using the family to get... for Russia to get what they want, if that's the case, they've picked the wrong family, because I'm not going to carry water for the R
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