American-Iranian dual citizen Emad Sharghi with his wife and two daughters
The family of Emad Sharghi (Shargi), an American-Iranian dual citizen jailed in Iran since 2018, made an appeal to the US president to "do anything" in his power to bring him home.
In an exclusive interview with CBS News on Friday, Sharghi’s wife and two daughters said they have requested a meeting with Joe Biden "numerous times," including as recently as ten days ago, but has so far not received a response from the White House.
"Really what we would like is to sit in front of the president and tell our story and beg him — because he is the only one that can make the decision to bring Emad and the other hostages home," said Bahareh, Emad's wife.
"We really hope that the administration puts patriotism over politics and brings these Americans home," said Emad's 25-year-old daughter Ariana.
In April, which marked four years since Sharghi’s detention, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley called on Iran to release Sharghi and stop its policy of holding people as political pawns.
The 56-year-old businessman has been sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of espionage and collecting military intelligence but had attempted to flee while on bail awaiting the result of an appeal.
Foreign governments and human rights organizations have accused Iran of detaining foreigners and dual nationals on trumped up charges to use them for getting concessions from Western countries.