The family of Lebanese citizen Nizar Zakka has lost touch with their relative, who was arrested in Iran and accused of being an American “spy”
Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman who is a resident of the United States, was arbitrarily arrested in Iran in September 2015. According to friends who set up a website calling for his release, Zakka – who is a top information and communications technology (ICT) expert in the Middle East and the secretary general and founder of the Arab ICT Organization – received an official invitation to attend the second International Conference and Exhibition on Women in Sustainable Development on September 11, which was organized by the Iranian Department of Women Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade in Tehran. The invitation was signed by Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who has purview in the section of Women and Family Affairs in the cabinet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
On September 18, as Zakka was departing for the airport after the conference to return back to Lebanon, he was “kidnapped” by Iranian security agents. Iranian state television claimed that Zakka, the Washington-based Lebanese citizen, was actually an “American spy now in the custody of [Iranian] authorities.” Initially after his arrest, his family was allowed to contact him, and his wife managed to meet with him several times. However, his family has recently lost touch with him. The last contact between Zakka and his family was following the voice message he released on April 2, 2016, 21 days into a hunger strike and after 197 days of detention, confirming that he was not yet allowed to meet his lawyer or anyone from the Lebanese consulate in Tehran. Zakka also called on Lebanese authorities to save him from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
“For the past two weeks, we have been unable to contact him,” said Ghinwa Zakka, his wife. “I used to go to Tehran to visit him. Two weeks ago, I was informed that all visits [to Nizar] were canceled. He even stopped calling us, and to date, we know nothing about him.” His wife, who sounded hesitant about giving NOW information when contacted by phone, confirmed that the family is really concerned about Zakka’s fate, especially since the last time they managed to call him, he was still on hunger strike.
The detention of Zakka has not only raised concerns among his family members and friends. Lebanese and international human rights organizations also voiced concerns about Zakka’s case and reported that the detention was a human rights abuse, since Zakka has thus far been denied fair legal representation. In March 2016, Human Rights Watch reported that Zakka’s lawyer was unable to visit his client detained in Ward 2-A of Evin Prison under the supervision of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and that the exact charges that he faces remain unclear.
Local Lebanese human rights organizations who have worked closely with Zakka’s family on the detention case also told NOW that they are unaware of Zakka’s current whereabouts. “Some talk has been circulated about Zakka’s release, when and how he will be released, but these rumors are not confirmed,” said Georges Ghali, Programs Manager at Lebanese human rights organization ALEF. “One of our major concerns is that we do not know why [Zakka] is being detained and the period of his detention. Also, he does not have any legal protection. In my opinion, the Lebanese government should follow up with Nizar’s family on his whereabouts, conditions and progress of his legal file, and exhaust their full efforts to protect any Lebanese citizen at harm in a foreign country. This remains an obligation under the Vienna Convention on Consulate Affairs to insure proper legal representation and proper legal protection for Lebanese citizens.”
Two weeks ago, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement that detailed the ministry’s efforts to follow up on the Zakka case. According to the statement, these efforts resulted in Zakka’s wife being granted permission to meet with him and with Iranian authorities, and speak to Zakka regularly by telephone. However, the ministry was not aware of any developments in Zakka’s case after the phone calls and visits between Zakka and his family were discontinued.
“The last updates we have on this case are the details we published in the official statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website two weeks ago,” the ministry’s press officer Nana Zakka told NOW. “We did not receive any information following this.”
A source close to Zakka’s family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NOW that the detention might have happened after a meeting that Nizar Zakka had in Tehran, which caused him to change his and his staff’s return tickets to Beirut to an earlier flight. Ghinwa Zakka, who refused to comment on any attempt to get Hezbollah involved in the case, considering the party’s tight relationship with Iran, told NOW that almost every time she went to see her husband, Iranian authorities promised her that he would be released soon, and that he was not charged of any legal or security crime.
“We attempted to contact many authorities who might be able to do something about my husband’s case. Unfortunately, all these attempts have failed so far, despite the great help from the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese Consul in Tehran, whose requests to meet with Nizar are still being denied,” she said.
