Last month marked two years since Robert Pether, an Australian citizen and Irish resident, has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iraq. He is a father, a husband and an engineer. Robert and his colleague, Khalid Radwan were both detained in Baghdad on 7 April 2021 after they went to Iraq to resolve a business dispute between the Iraqi government and their Dubai-based employer, CME Consulting. CME Consulting which is an engineering firm was working on the new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq. The project was hit by delays and increased costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a dispute arose ..read more

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 de ..read more

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 thi ..read more

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. O ..read more

68-year-old German citizen, Nahid Taghavi has been held hostage in Iran since 16 October 2020. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Amnesty International have both stated that her detention is arbitrary and have called for her immediate release. Members of the German Bundestag from multiple parties have also stated that Nahid is unjustly detained and have called for her release too. Many things have happened in Iran in the last year. On this episode, we have the honour of speaking once again to Nahid’s daughter, Mariam Claren who brings us up to speed on her mother’s ca ..read more

Today is day 19 of French citizen, Benjamin Briere’s hunger strike. He has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since May 2020. He is one of seven French citizens currently held in Iran. The French government has referred to them as state hostages. Iran is notorious for arresting innocent foreign nationals on false charges and putting them in prison for years for the purpose of extracting concessions from their home country. This abhorrent practice is state-sponsored hostage taking also known as hostage diplomacy. On this episode, we speak once again to Benjamin’s sister, Blandine Briere who t ..read more

In July 2020, Jamshid Sharmahd was kidnapped in Dubai by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and taken to Iran where he is being held today. Jamshid is a German citizen and US resident who has lived in California for over 17 years. His life is in imminent danger as he may be sentenced to death and executed any day now.  On this episode, we have the honour of speaking to Gazelle Sharmahd, Jamshid’s daughter once again. She brings us up to speed with what has happened since we last spoke one year ago. We discuss the ongoing revolution in Iran and how this has affected Jamshid’s case ..read more

American citizen, Kai Li from New York has been wrongfully imprisoned in China since September 2016. The U.S. government has classified Kai as being “wrongfully detained” and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for Kai’s immediate release. A few days ago, Kai’s father passed away in China as a result of the surge in COVID19 cases in the country. Chinese authorities have also imposed restrictions within its prisons due to the pandemic that have significantly affected Kai including his ability to communicate with the U.S. Embassy in China and his family. Last yea ..read more

British citizen, Peter Humphrey used to be a fraud investigator and a journalist based in China. Peter and his wife who is an American citizen co-founded the company, ChinaWhys which was a risk-advisory firm based in Shanghai. In July 2013, both Peter and his wife were arrested by Chinese authorities. Their teenage son and only child was separated from both his parents. China is notorious for carrying out wrongful detentions especially when it comes to foreign nationals.  Both Peter and his wife were released almost two years later. Peter was released before his sentence ended due to poo ..read more

On 8th December 2022, American citizen and WNBA athlete Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. Unfortunately, American citizen and Marine veteran Paul Whelan also held in Russia was left behind – again. The U.S. State Department classified both Brittney and Paul as “wrongfully detained”. Next week will mark four years since Paul was arrested and wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. On this episode, we speak again to Paul’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan to find out what it was like for Paul and the Whelan family to be left behind again. We also discuss the U.S ..read more