Nizar Zakka

He is the vice president of "World Information Technology and Service Alliance (WITSA)", Chairman of "Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO)", a graduate of Riverside Military Academy, and graduate in Mathematics and IT. He accepted an invitation sent by president's deputy to give speech in a conference

<coverage-outsourcing id='9312'> Vatan Emrooz, a newspaper close to security organizations, published a report naming Zakka as one of the founders of "International Association of Iranian Managers" who is involved in a security project titled "The Bridge". The report claims that "The Bridge" is a cover program for America's infiltration of Iran's political and executive structure </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='3448'> According to "Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization", he received an invitation from Shahindokht Molaverdi, a deputy of Hassan Rouhani, to attend the "Second International Conference on Women's Role in Stable Development" in Iran </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9310'> He travelled to Iran to attend the conference. He was one of the speakers </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9311'> He left the hotel where he stayed to go to the airport, but was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard forces </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9313'> Fars news, the government's unofficial news agency and close to security forces, confirmed his arrest in Iran </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9309'> Vatan Emrooz, a newspaper close to Iranian security organizations, wrote that Nazar has founded two NGOs named "Ajma" and "Haghna" whose budgets are provided by "Department of State of the United States, Valid Bin Tala Saudi, and some titans of the information technology such as Google and Microsoft and Intel." The article claims that he has alo cooperated with google in their "Rise Up" project which defends Internet freedom. Vatan Emrooz then lists his activities and claims that all the freedom of Internet projects that he has worked on, have in fact been designed for "domination of the U.S over internet" </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10932'> Mr. Nizar Zakka's attorney issued a statement saying on December 8, 2016, Nizar began a hunger strike to raise awareness about his plight as well as others being unlawfully imprisoned by the Iranian government. Mr. Zakka was detained by Iranian officials in September 2015 in Tehran and has since been held hostage by the Iranian regime. Since that time, Nizar has been subjected to not only physical and psychological torture, but he has also been denied much needed medical attention and consular services </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9308'> In an editorial titled "From Jason Rezaian to Nizar Zakka",Vatan Emrooz wrote that he was "arrested before the completion of the cyber insurrection project against the regime." </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='5638'> According to Al-Arabia, in a recorded audio message which was released by several media outlets in Lebanon, he asked the prime minister Tamam Salam, foreign minister Gebran Bassil, and head of Lebanon's public security organization Abbas Ebrahim, to intervene for his release after 197 days of incarceration in Iran. In this audio message he states that he is in his 21st day of hunger strike and "I have not been able to meet with any attorneys or representative from my country's embassy since the kidnapping" </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='7374'> The US State Department issued a statement condemning the arrests of Siamak Namazi, Homa Hoodfar, Nazanin Zagheri, and Nizar Zakka, all of whom are dual citizens or foreing citizens. Their arrests were called unjust and their immediate release was requested </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9314'> His trial was held in branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court presided by judge Salavati </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9199'> Amnesty International published a statement warning about Nizar Zakka's health and demanded his access to medical treatment. Amnesty International says Nizar Zakka suffers from heavy back ache and Gastrointestinal disorders, and according to his family he has lost a significant amount of weight and become very weak. According to this report, Nizar Zakka was accused of "Espionage and cooperation with enemy states" and his trial was held last month in branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='9315'> According to Associated press, he was sentenced to ten years in prison and paying four million and two hundred thousand dollars in fines </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10159'> According to Fars, Abbas jafari Dolat Abadi, Attorney General of Tehran, while noting that there are important security, economic, and financial cases open at Tehran court whose details cannot be disclosed due to some considerations, announced that Bagher and Siamak Namazi, Farhad AbdeSaleh, Kamran Ghaderi, Nizar Zakka, and Ali Reza Omidvar have each been sentenced to ten years in prison on the charges of "Espionage and cooperation with American government" </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10154'> Nasim Online claimed that Bagher and Siamak Namazi, Farhad Abdesaleh, Kamran Ghaderi, Nizar Zakka, and Ali Reza Omidvar have received over 4 million and 800 thousand dollars from enemy governments for executing their projects, and by judicial verdict they are obligated to surrender this amount. Meanwhile, in 2015 the supreme court had issued a verdict regarding Omid Kokabi's case which stated that currently there are no countries in conflict with Iran, and conflict does not mean political disagreements with other countries, and that the court has misinterpreted this term </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10162'> The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran stated that: > Any attempts made to relate Iran's domestic affairs, such as the independent judicial verdicts of Iranian courts against criminals and foreign spies, to the international business and investments in Iran is a futile and unprovoked effort to impact the international community's cooperation with the Islamic Republic. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10931'> He went on hunger strike again </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10941'> His brother, Ziad Zaka, told BBC Persian that Nezar Zaka has announced that he will continue his hunger strike until he is allowed to meet with a diplomat from Lebanese embassy, which has not been permitted since the arrest. Ziad Zaka also mentioned that the prison authorities have threatened Nezar Zaka to revoking his phone privilege </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11100'> His lawyer told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his client demands his unconditional freedom, and he also demands to be allowed to meet with a representative of Red Cross or a specialist doctor and also a diplomat from Lebanese embassy, because these are within his rights. His attorney also mentioned that the appeal trial is to be held in January </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11542'> The Human Rights Activists in Iran issued a statement asking "Judiciary officials to act independently from the security organizations" while underlining the need to transfer prisoners on hunger strike - specially Arash Sadeghi - to medical centers with proper equipment, and demanded to open the doors to negotiations with prisoners on hunger strike, namely Ali Shariati, Saeed Shirzad, Hassan Rastegari, Nezar Zaka, Mohammad Reza Nekounam and Mehdi Kookhian </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11940'> The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, quoting an informed source at the Lebanese Embassy, reported that this embassy hopes that Mr. Zakka will be freed from prison during the appeals process, and on the basis of an “agreement of the exchange of prisoners between Iran and Lebanon” Nizar Zakka will be transferred to his own country, and “can finish the rest of his sentence in Lebanese prisons.” According to this report, the informed source at the Lebanese Embassy, Nizar Zakka is “presently supported by Iranian and Lebanese lawyers and his embassy in Tehran is reaching out, on different levels, to Iranian leaders, in order to pursue the case of this Lebanese citizen.” The source claimed that, “based on these efforts, Nizar Zakka’s wife, can, now, visit him every two weeks, and he is in contact with his family </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11939'> Jason Pablet, his lawyer told The International Campaign For Human Rights in Iran, that he is continuing his wet hunger strike, but judicial authorities in Iran have ignored all his requests for the right to “meet with doctors, and the representatives of the Red Cross and the Lebanese Embassy.” According to Mr. Zakka, he was transferred from solitary to three person cells, he has lost a lot of weight, and is in dire physical condition; his charges have not been given, in written form, to his lawyer, his lawyer wasn’t, even, allowed to possess a copy of the case file, nor has him been able to procure a copy of the verdict against Mr. Zakka </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11973'> Asma Jahangir, special human rights rapporteur of the United Nations for Iran, along with Michael Forst, special rapporteur for human rights defenders, and Roland Adjovi, the special rapporteur to the UN for arbitrary arrests, in a statement, expressed concern regarding the long hunger strike, of Arash Sadeghi, Ali Shariati, Saeed Shirazi, Mohammad Reza Nekounam, Hassan Rastegari Majd, and Nizar Zakka, and warned that it may lead to death. These three United Nations special rapporteurs, while raising alarm over the dire condition of some of the political and ideological prisoners on hunger strike in Iran, asked the Iranian government for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners arrested arbitrarily. According to Zamaneh, this statement underlined the special concern for those prisoners who were arrested because of peaceful efforts to defend and expand human rights in Iran </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='12003'> His lawyer told The International Campaign For Human Rights in Iran, that despite the published news regarding the summoning of an appeal hearing on January 7th, no date has been announced for a hearing for his client. He, also added, “not only have all of my clients requests have been ignored, but three days ago, we were notified, by a source inside the prison, that he has been transferred to a ward with ordinary prisoners who’ve committed a myriad of charges and are indecent conditions </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='13339'> Habibollah Sayeri of the IRGC intelligence forces condemned Nizar Zakka, for “conspiring to spread corruption in the realm of women and family,” and said that this Lebanese citizen was connect to Barack Obama, the ex American president, through a mediary, and after arrest, has confessed that he was given a budget of eight million Euros for 15 NGOs. Several days later, his lawyer published a statement from him, where he called himself a hostage and declared all claims as “false” </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='15261'> Some of the representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties of America, asked president Trump’s government to pressure Iran to release American citizens or permanent residents: Siamak Namazi, Mohammad Bagher Namazi, Nizar Zakka, Afarin Nassiri, Robert Levinson and Karen Vafadari. One other person has been named in this bi-partisan statement but the name has been withheld because of the family’s wishes </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='16498'> Ilna, quoting the Daily Star of Lebanon, reported that, Nizar Zakka’s child has asked president Hassan Rouhani to free Mr. Zakka </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='16979'> Radio Farda, quoting Associated Press, reports, that Nizar Zakka’s brother has given news of his brother embarking on another hunger strike, and having been taken to the hospital, where he refused intravenous feeding or medication, and also, the prison authorities have asked him to sign Persian documents, he has refused to sign them </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='20443'> “Asr-e-Iran” reported that the US government issued a statement calling for the release of American prisoners in Iran. The statement states that "for forty years, hostage-taking has been used as a political solution in Iran, and the latest example is the 10-year prison sentence for Xiyue Wang." The statement warned Iran that it would be "punished" if it refrained from releasing prisoners. Mr Trump also called for the release of Robert Levinson. Shortly thereafter, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry described the White House statement as "interference in internal affairs" and called on the United States to release Iranian prisoners. Mr. Ghasemi also said that the Islamic Republic "does not have any new knowledge" about the fate of Robert Levinson </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='18299'> Nizar Zakka's Attorney, Antoine Bou Dib, on Tuesday announced in a statement that he has received from Zakka's son the text of his open letter to Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Jawad Zarif, which includes a set of detailed questions that he owes to the international community (NNA). "Why officially invite my dad and send him a visa just to kidnap him, put him in detention, and torture him, mentally and physically? This baffles me, as it has never occurred in history, you can even Google it Mr. Zarif. No organization, no party, and definitely no government have ever done anything similar. You have officially invited and later on imprisoned an innocent man, under no grounds, tangible evidence, and without even a chance at a fair trial" </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='19018'> CNN asked about foreign nationals and dual citizens detained in Iranian jails. Rouhani said in an aside that he had his own views on the subject of detained foreigners and dual citizens, but that he was obliged to follow the Iranian constitution which had enshrined the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='20390'> According to Hrana, he is incarcerated in ward 7 </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='22346'> According to CHRI, he was transferred to ward 2A </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='23918'> He was transferred to a solitary cell. He was returned to ward 4 after a while </coverage-outsourcing>