American Baquer Namazi, detained in Iran, needs surgery "within a week" to avoid fatal stroke
CBSN
Lawyers for an ailing, elderly Iranian-American who has been detained by Iran since 2016 are appealing to the United Nations for immediate intervention to evacuate him for lifesaving emergency surgery.
In a letter addressed to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health within the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights office and obtained by CBS News, 84-year-old Baquer Namazi's U.S.-based lawyers wrote Monday that he requires "immediate surgery for a 95–97% blockage in one of his internal carotid arteries — the pair of main arteries that supply blood to the brain."
Namazi's lawyer, Jared Genser, told reporters on Monday that Namazi's family only learned of his worsening arterial blockage in the past few days. "The situation for Baquer is dire. He requires surgery within the next 7-10 days," Genser said.
