News Source: Washington Examiner –
Dual nationals being held prisoner in Iran, including three Americans, may have a long wait ahead of them, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reaffirmed in an interview Wednesday that his country doesn’t recognize dual citizenship.
MSNBC’s Chuck Todd asked Rouhani what steps Iran is taking to resolve the issue of having Americans in prison.
“As we speak, dual nationals currently being held, including three Americans, what is your government doing to resolve this?” the host asked.
“First of all, you do know that dual citizenship is not recognized under Iranian law,” Rouhani responded, according to a translation provided by MSNBC. “Therefore those who have dual citizenship, from the interpretation of the Iranian laws, are Iranian citizens solely and only.
“And any legal prosecution is carried out on the foundation that they are Iranian citizens subject to Iranian law. Now, the government, on behalf of all of those who are either going through the court system or are in prison, we work hard so that the laws apply to all of them equally,” he added. “The process is applied to all of them equally, and the responsibility of the president of the Islamic Republic is supervise to ensure the full implementation of the constitution. So the full implementation of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of the responsibility of the president.”
Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, his father, Bagher Namazi, and San Diego resident Reza “Robin” Shahini are the three U.S.-Iranians currently being held in prison. Other imprisoned dual nationals include French citizen Nazak Afshar, British charity worker Nanzanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Canadian professor Homa Hoodfar.