Michael R. White is an American
U.S. Navy veteran from
Imperial Beach, California. In July 2018, Iranian authorities arrested him while he was visiting his girlfriend in Iran. News of his detention was first reported by IranWire in January 2019 and confirmed by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
In March 2019, the Iranian judiciary sentenced White to ten years in prison based on two charges: "insulting the country's top leader and posting a private photograph publicly." He was held in
Vakilabad Prison Vakilabad Prison (زندان وکیلآباد), also called Central Prison of Mashhad (زندان مرکزی مشهد), is a prison in Iran, located in the city of Mashhad in the northeast of the country. The prison has reportedly been the site o ...
in the city of
Mashhad
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
.
On March 19, 2020, he was released under a medical furlough on humanitarian grounds to the custody of the
Swiss Embassy
This is a list of diplomatic missions of Switzerland, excluding honorary consulates. Switzerland is well known as a protecting power, having used its embassies abroad to represent the interests of states hostile to each other since the Franco ...
, conditional upon him staying in Iran.
The news of White's imprisonment was first revealed by a former political prisoner, Ivar Farhadi, who had been imprisoned in Mashhad Central Prison for some time and had seen White there.
[
]
Release
In June 2020, right after the U.S. had released Sirous Asgari
Sirous Asgari ( fa, سیروس عسگری, born 7 August 1960) is an Iranian materials scientist and academic known for his research in lithium ion batteries, phase transformation and diffusion in solid materials. He is currently a full professor ...
to Iran, White left his house arrest in Iran for Switzerland.
See also
*List of foreign nationals detained in Iran
Since the Iran hostage crisis, the Islamic Republic of Iran has engaged in a pattern of detaining foreign nationals for extended periods. Dual nationals of Iran and another country are particularly vulnerable to arbitrary detention because the int ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Michael R.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Imperial Beach, California
United States Navy sailors
American people imprisoned in Iran
Foreign nationals detained in Iran