Son demands Iran free ailing father for urgent medical care

By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of an Iranian-American man who has been detained in Iran for more than five years is calling for his father’s immediate release so that he can receive emergency and potentially life-saving surgery. Baquer Namazi is 84 years old and requires surgery within days to clear up a severe blockage in the main artery that supplies blood to his brain. That’s according to his son, Babak, and the family’s lawyer, Jared Genser. Baquer Namazi was granted medical furlough in 2018 and his sentence was subsequently commuted to time served, but Iranian authorities have not permitted him to leave the country.