‘Freedom!’: Briton and four Americans released in Iran prisoner swap arrive in US
Five people released from Iran in a controversial prisoner swap deal with the US have touched down on American soil.
The prisoners were freed after President Joe Biden agreed to the release of almost $6bn (£4.84bn) in frozen Iranian assets.
Conservationist Morad Tahbaz – who has British, US and Iranian citizenship – was released alongside four other US-Iranian dual nationals including businessmen Siamak Namazi and Emad Sharghi.
Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi land on US soil. Pic: AP
They tearfully hugged loved ones during an emotional reunion at an army airfield at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
The former prisoners also posed for a photograph with their families, calling out “freedom!”
Their arrival, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, prompted applause and cheers from people on the ground.
Mr Namazi, the first to leave the jet, paused for a moment, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
Morad Tahbaz (L) and Emad Sharghi smile after arriving in the US. Pic: AP
‘The nightmare is finally over’
Close friends and family, some holding small American flags, embraced them and exchanged greetings in both English and Farsi, the main language spoken in Iran.
Mr Namazi’s brother Babak, who was joined at the airport by his father Baquer, a former detainee in Iran, said: “The nightmare is finally over.
“We haven’t had this moment in over eight years,” he added. “It’s unbelievable.”
Mr Namazi hugs a relative Pic: AP
Mr Sharghi shares an embrace with a family member Pic: AP
Mr Sharghi’s sister Neda presented him with a US flag and a toy stuffed animal she gave to their father 30 years ago when he had bypass surgery, a family representative said.
They were all jailed on spying charges at Iran’s notorious Evin prison, where Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held.
Mr Sharghi gives a thumbs-up as the jet arrives at Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, Virginia
The identity of the fourth and fifth prisoners has not yet been made public.
In a statement released as the plane carrying the group landed in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, Mr Biden said: “Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Iran: Freed prisoners land in doha
The deal also includes the release of five Iranian citizens held in the US – which the White House insists poses no threat to US national security.
Two of the Iranian prisoners will remain in the US, according to Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
Two other detainees were in Doha for the swap, according to reports.
One has been identified as Mehrdad Ansari who was sentenced to 63 months in prison in 2021 for obtaining equipment that could be used in missiles, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons and other military gear.
The second is Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani who was charged in 2021 over alleged unlawful exportation of lab equipment to Iran.
Read more:
Iran-US prisoner swap represents delicate diplomatic move
Underground protesters wage war on Iranian regime
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
The successful negotiations has earned Mr Biden the gratitude of the prisoners’ families.
However, the deal has sparked political controversy with Republican rivals and other opponents over the financial arrangement with one of America’s top adversaries.
Critics say the deal is helping to boost Iran’s economy – despite it posing a growing threat to American troops and its Mideast allies – and could have a negative impact on his re-election campaign.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
US troops accused of ‘political stunt’ after park raid
Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
Read more from Sky News:
Farmer first to die during ICE raids
Trump warns comic over citizenship
Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike