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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon Urges Iran to Release National Held for More than 3 Years

Nizar Zakka delivering a speech during the MENA ICT Forum conference in Jordan in March 2013. (AP)

Lebanon called on Iran on Friday to release Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national who has been imprisoned by Tehran for more than three years.

In a letter to his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil urged Iran to use the upcoming holy month of Ramadan to grant amnesty to Zakka.

The letter was delivered to the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon.

Zakka, a US permanent resident, is an advocate for internet freedom and has done some work for the US government.

He has been imprisoned in Iran since his arrest in September 2015 while attending a state-sponsored conference. He was sentenced to 10 years on espionage-related charges.

In 2017, Zakka went on a hunger strike for over a month calling for his release.

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