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A 71-Year-Old US businessman Walked out of Tehran’s Evin Prison Today after 30 Months Behind Bars
By Jim Sciutto
Source:
October 16, 2010
Carrying a small bag and showing a relieved smile, Reza Taghavi, a 71-year-old businessman from Los Angeles, walked out of Tehran’s Evin prison today after 30 months behind bars.
“Sometimes I feel relief, sometimes, I feel angry. What happened? 2 ½ years for what?” he told ABC News. “I’m 71 years old. I don’t have time. 2 ½ years is a long time for a 71-year-old man to be in jail.”
His wife Mahnaz met him outside their apartment in north Tehran, the two of them alternating tears with laughs.
“All I want is to take him home to Los Angeles to see his children, his family,” she said.
Held in the same prison as American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, Taghavi was arrested in May 2008 and accused of passing $200 to an alleged anti-regime terrorist group called ‘Tondar’. Taghavi maintained — and the Iranian authorities eventually agreed — that he did so unwittingly, carrying what he thought was a gift to someone in need in Tehran.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, someone just asked me take this money to help someone,” he said.
Sarah Shourd makes a statement at the VIP Lounge of Muscat airport before she flies out of Muscat, Oman, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. An American woman released from Iran after more than 13 months in custody began her journey back to the United States on Saturday after asking her supporters to "extend your prayers" to her fiance and another American man who remain in Tehran accused of spying. Collapse (Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)
Taghavi described his imprisonment as exhausting, living with 33 fellow inmates in a cell with only 16 beds — the oldest inmates, including him, were able to avoid sleeping on the floor. To pass the time, he read books from the library and looked forward to Wednesday’s, when episodes of ’24′ were shown in the prison amphitheater. He said the hardest part was not knowing when he would be released.
“It was very hard, every day, counting the days, and thinking it’s going to be soon,” he said. “I was told it’s going to be next week, nothing happens. It’s going to be next week, nothing happens.”
For the Fattal and Bauer, freedom has moved further away. Sources in Iran confirm to ABC News the hikers will likely go to trial, extending their imprisonment for months. Monday is day 444 for the hikers in prison, matching the mark set by US embassy hostages from 1979 – 1981.
Taghavi will be taken to Shiraz tomorrow to visit the site of a deadly 2008 bombing carried out by Tondar, Iranian demand. He will return to the US later in the week, where he says he will get back to work as quickly as possible.
“I’m going to start to forget what happened,” he told us. “I want to put everything behind me.”
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Freedom for Iran and PERSIA_MAX_NEWS, sara. sara said: U.S. Businessman Freed From #Iran After 30 Months Behind Bars |PlanetIran| #iranelection [...]