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Lebanese Detained in Tehran Pleads for his Release | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Nizar Zakka speaks at a conference in Jordan in 2013. (AP)


Beirut – A Lebanese detainee, who has been arrested in Iran on charges of spying for the United States, has pleaded with the concerned authorities to release him.

Nizar Zakka, who has been on a hunger strike for 18 days, said: “I have reached the end. I am very tired. I am not doing well.”

“Don’t let me die silently,” he was quoted as saying according to local Lebanese online platforms.

Secretary General of the Arab ICT Organization (Ijma’a), Engineer Nizar Zakka was arrested in Tehran in wake of his participation in a conference that was held in September 2015.

He was kidnapped while he was headed to the airport to depart the country. It was later revealed that he was detained by the Iranian authorities.

In 2016, an Iranian court sentenced him to ten years in jail and fined him 4.2 million dollars on charges of conspiring against the state. His lawyer, Badawi Abou Deeb, later appealed the sentence.

Zakka began a hunger strike in June in an attempt to pressure authorities to release him without any conditions.

“His open-ended strike is a protest against his arrest in what was a violation of the most basic of human rights and all international laws. He will carry on with his strike until he is freed without any conditions,” said his lawyer at the time.