After 8 years in an Iranian prison, Siamak Namazi shines light on those left behind 

As Ali Vaez watched the footage of his longtime friend Siamak Namazi stepping off a flight in Qatar on Monday, he was overcome with emotion.

"I teared up because I've been waiting for this moment for 2,898 days — as long as he had been waiting to once again be a free man," Vaez, project director of the Iran International Crisis Group, told As It Happens host Nil Kölsal. 

"I'm overjoyed and elated for him and his family."

Namazi, 51, is one of five American citizens released from Iranian detention on Monday as part of a prisoner swap and financial deal between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. government. The American-Iranian businessman has been in the country's notorious Evin Prison since 2015, when he was arrested on internationally criticized spying charges. 

He was released Monday alongside Emad Sharghihi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. 

The United States did not disclose the identifies of the other two Americans, who asked for privacy. All five were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody, and an agreement by U.S. President Joe Biden to unfreeze $5.9-billion US in Iranian assets.

Namazi has asked for privacy upon his return as he heals and reconnects with his family. But he issued a statement online thanking everyone who helped secure his freedom.

"Thank you for being my voice when I could not speak for myself and for making sure I was heard when I mustered the strength to scream from behind the impenetrable walls of Evin Prison," the statement reads. 

But Namazi uses most of his statement to draw attention to plight of the political prisoners left behind, most of whom do not have dual citizenship with a country that can negotiate for their release.

"I find my ineffable joy of my forthcoming reunification with my family is laced with sorrow — a painful and deep feeling of guilt for taking my breaths in freedom while so many courageous individuals that I love and admire continue languishing behind those walls," he said.

"They are detained for demanding the dignity and freedom that every human being is inherently entitled to; for reporting the truth; for worshipping their God; for being a woman. For nothing. All the political prisoners of Iran, a country where the indomitable courage of women leaves us in awe, deserve their liberty."

Vaez says the statement is a true test of his friend's character.

"It tells me that the Islamic Republic has stolen eight of the best years of his life, but they have not been able to break him," he said.

Namazi also issued a warning about the circumstances of his release, and a fear that history will repeat itself if Iran is allowed to continue arbitrarily detaining foreign nationals and using them as bargaining chips.