The State Department is launching a new push to free an American hostage being held in an Iranian jail, shortly after Navy veteran Michael White was freed from nearly two years' imprisonment in the Islamic Republic.
Morad Tahbaz -- an Iranian-American conservationist who also holds citizenship -- was arrested in January 2018 with eight members of his Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation and handed prison sentences of between four and 10 years for "contact with the enemy U.S. government." The punishment was part of a crackdown on those with dual citizenship amid tensions with the United States and other western nations.
"His crime? Trying to save an endangered species from extinction," Hook said. "Apparently the Iranian regime is unable to distinguish between saving animals from committing espionage." His work was so admired, Hook said, that the Iranian national soccer team designed custom jerseys with cheetahs emblazoned on them.
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