American Emad Shargi freed in $6bn Iran prisoner swap reveals harrowing mental torture during FIVE years in grim jail where he was held ‘to extract a price’
An American businessman released from Iranian prison in a $6 billion deal has revealed the “psychological torture” he faced during his five years in the country.
Emad Shargi, 59, flew home from Iran in September with four other Americans. He has already been imprisoned for 1,975 days, including stints in Iran’s most notorious prison.
The deal that secured his release was criticized for releasing money to Iran, and opposition grew after Hamas – which is largely funded by Iran – attacked Israel just weeks later.
The married father-of-two has now described the “dehumanizing” mental torture he suffered, telling CBS that “being thrown in a cell is the closest you come to death.”
When a fire broke out in Evin prison last September, during riots over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been taken into custody by the vice squad, Shargi was trapped in his cell.
Emad Shargi was reunited with his family in September after not seeing his two daughters for more than five years
The fire spread around the prison and guards shot at the rioting prisoners.
He said: ‘It happened a few meters from where I was sitting in my room. If I left, I could be shot. If I stayed, I might suffocate.”
He decided to stay in his cell, where guards found him.
He said: ‘They were pale white when they saw me. They said, ‘Emad, let’s get out of here.'”
He believes he was only saved because he was “worth more” alive than dead.
Eight prisoners died in the fire and another 61 were injured.
It is an example of how Shargi said he was treated like a “commodity” during his detention. He said, “I realized they don’t want to damage their product.”
He believes he was taken to “win a prize” from America as part of what he described as “hostage taking as statesmanship.”
The $6 billion deal for his release drew Republican criticism that Joe Biden was essentially paying ransom for American citizens.
The president came under fire for providing funding for what the US considers the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.
Republican Senator Tim Scott said it was “a serious mistake that created a market for American hostages, emboldened our adversaries and put a credit on the balance sheets of one of Hamas’s biggest backers.”
Shargi has dual citizenship: the US and Iran. He left Iran when he was thirteen, but after his two daughters left for university, he and his wife Bahareh decided to return to learn more about their heritage.
His father warned him not to go and told him, ‘Emad, you don’t know this country. People like you who have dual citizenship pick these people up every now and then for whatever use they have.”
But Shargi didn’t listen. Now he said, “If someone asks me, ‘What did you learn from this experience in one sentence?’ I would say, ‘Listen to your father.’
Shargi said his release from prison ‘was like rebirth’
His wife, Bahareh, was also initially told she would be arrested, but was eventually allowed to return to the US
The couple, both in their 50s, spent time in Iran and Shargi worked for a Dutch company that invested in Iranian business.
At first everything was fine, but on April 23, 2018, just after midnight, fifteen armed police showed up at their home in Tehran.
Shargi said: ‘Sir came in and said, ‘This is an arrest warrant for you and your wife.’
Then around 2:30 a.m. the guys said, “Okay. Get ready. We’ll take you.’ And my wife said, “No, you can’t take him with you,” and they told her to sit down and mind her business and they would come to her later. ‘
He was taken away without knowing what happened to his wife.
Shargi was transferred to Iran’s most notorious prison, Evin Prison, in Ward 2A, which is run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence wing.
He said, ‘They took me to a room. They told me to undress. They gave me some blue clothes. They told me, “This is the end of the line for you, and most likely you will never see the outside world again.”
‘From now on, no one will call you by your name. You’re a code now’, 97-0-10 was my code.’
Then he said the “psychological torture” began.
He said, ‘They take you into a very small room. And then they throw in a giant human being who then hits you, pushes you around and threatens to kill you.
“And then the good cop comes in and says, ‘Look, I can put an end to this. All you have to do is confess.”
‘You have to admit you’re a spy,’ which is ridiculous.”
They threatened him with electric shock, waterboarding and hanging, but never did anything about it.
Shargi realized that they did not want to hurt him and wanted to reduce the price they could get for his release.
The family tries to make up for lost time, while Shargi says his advice to Americans is: ‘Don’t go to Iran’
Shargi has spoken out about the “psychological torture” he suffered during his incarceration in Iran
Some interrogations lasted nine hours a day, with nonsensical patterns of ‘everyday’ questions.
He said, “The first day they kept asking me, ‘Why did you go to the White House church?’ And I just think to myself, “I know the White House doesn’t have a church.”
‘And then it clicked. They hacked my Facebook. They had seen the photos of us attending my daughter’s school events at the National Cathedral. They had no idea that the National Cathedral had nothing to do with the White House.
“They had my phone, so they had gone through the list of all the people I had ever met over the last thirty years of my business career. “Who are these? Who are they?” These questions would persist day after day after day.”
Eight months later, in December 2018, Shargi was released and his wife, who had never been arrested, was allowed to return to the US.
Shargi expected to join her soon.
He received a letter of apology, but he was not allowed to leave the country.
Subsequently, his file was sent to the Revolutionary Court in November 2020 and a man known as the “Hanging Judge” sentenced him to ten years in prison under a statute banning cooperation with foreign states against Iran.
His friend devised a plan to help him escape: human smugglers took him to Iran’s mountainous border with Kurdistan, but they were caught just 50 kilometers from safety.
Shargi said, “I look up. And there are about 15 guys with AK-47s pointing at the car. They threw me to the ground. And their team leader came.”
They had found him by accident, they were looking for someone else, but nevertheless it only added to his problems.
He said the second time he was locked up, he was “interrogated for almost 400 hours.”
But he never lost faith that the US government would get him out. “That was my hope,” he said.
Siamak Namazi (far right), Morad Tahbaz (center) and Emad Shargi (left) arrive at Davison Army Airfield on Tuesday, September 19
Some men had already been in prison in Iran for eight years
His family in the US campaigned for his release.
Shortly after the Evin prison fire last year, Emad’s sister, Neda, met with Iran’s top diplomat at the UN to find out what was standing in the way of a prisoner deal.
Neda said: “We are dealing with innocent lives and we want to rectify the situation. But for other people it’s politics and power. And they’re in the way.’
After two years of on-off negotiations, the US and Iran reached a complex deal.
The US agreed to release $6 billion in Iranian money that had been sitting in a South Korean account for years due to US sanctions.
The money consists of Iranian oil revenues that were frozen when the Trump administration imposed a total ban on Iranian oil exports.
Under the deal, Iran will be able to use the money to pay for humanitarian goods such as food and medicine, and the US must approve the transactions.
They also released five Iranians accused of non-violent crimes.
In return, five Americans, including Shargi, were released and flown home via Qatar.
Shargi said: “I hadn’t seen my daughters in five and a half, six years. I had missed all their graduations, birthdays and anniversaries with my wife. It’s like being born again. We had thought so many times that we would be released, and this was it.’
Now his advice to every American is: ‘don’t go to Iran’.
Less than three weeks after Shargi’s release, Hamas, which is financially backed by Iran, attacked Israel.
In response, some US lawmakers called for blocking the $6 billion.
Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and Republican presidential candidate for 2024, said: “Let’s be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows, and Iran knows that they are moving money around right now, because they know that there are 6 billion dollar goes to the US. be released. That’s the reality.’
The White House insists no money has been released to Iran so far.
Due to the due diligence requirements surrounding the swap, “it will take many months for Iran to spend this money,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“And, as we have said many times, it can only be used to purchase food, medicine, medical equipment and agricultural products for the Iranian people.”
Businessman Siamak Namazi, 51, was released along with Shargi. He had spent almost eight years in Evin prison.
Environmental activist Morad Tahbaz, 67, was also released. He was arrested in 2018 and charged with espionage, which he denies.
The two other Americans who were released have chosen to remain anonymous.