This March 2013 handout image provided by the Friends of Nizar Zakka, shows Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese technology expert and advocate for Internet freedom, delivering a speech during the MENA ICT Forum conference in Jordan. (Courtesy of Friends of Nizar Zakka group via AP)Iran on Tuesday freed Nizar Zakka, a U.S. permanent resident and Lebanese national, from prison after nearly four years behind bars, following a months-long effort by Lebanese officials to secure his release. “After more than 1,350 days in captivity in Iran, we have received excellent news: Mr. Nizar Zakka is a free man,” his Washington-based lawyer, Jason Poblete, said in an emailed statement. Zakka was unjustly detained in Iran for almost four years and has endured so much while being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison,” a State Department spokesman said. In 2016, Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, a U.S.-Iranian dual citizen, was released from an Iranian prison after 544 days of captivity.

Source: Washington Post June 11, 2019 11:08 UTC