When Abdolreza “Reza” Valizadeh returned to Iran in the spring of 2024, it was the first time he had set foot in his home country in 15 years. The veteran journalist, who had spent more than a decade in exile, traveled to Iran to see and care for his aging parents.
Six months later, he was in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Valizadeh, a 49-year-old dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and longtime critic of Iran’s security establishment, was arrested on Sept. 22, 2024, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). His detention, detailed in a petition filed Tuesday by his attorney with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, comes amid Iran’s sweeping crackdown on protests across the country, and as tensions with Washington simmer.
The State Department formally designated Valizadeh as “wrongfully detained” in May 2025, placing his case under the authority of the U.S. government’s hostage affairs office. Valizadeh is one of at least four Iranian-Americans currently held in Iran, including 70-year-old Kamran Hekmati and at least one other septuagenarian, a woman, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
“In lodging this petition to the UN, alongside pulling every lever of power available to us in D.C., we are committed to bringing attention to Reza’s case, not only to secure his release, but to send an unequivocal message that the targeting of U.S. citizens abroad will not be tolerated,” Ryan Fayhee, counsel to Valizadeh and a partner at the law firm Akin Gump, said in a statement.
“Every day that Reza remains behind bars, the Iranian regime is emboldened to target Americans who dare to advocate for truth, justice, and a better future for the Iranian people,” Fayhee said.
Courtesy of Valizadeh Family 
Valizadeh’s case continues to unfold against a volatile backdrop inside Iran, where thousands of protesters are believed to have been killed, and many thousands more arrested, as authorities have cracked down on recent demonstrations over economic hardship and political repression. A near-total internet and communications blackout has been in place for more than two weeks.
U.S. officials have condemned Tehran’s treatment of protesters, warning of further economic pressure — and possible military strikes — while leaving open the possibility of talks. Iranian leaders have accused Washington of interference, raising concerns among rights advocates that Americans held in Iran could be used as leverage as tensions sharpen.
President Trump said last week he held off on striking Iran after being assured by the regime that the executions of hundreds of protesters had been “canceled,” but in a recent interview called for “new leadership” in Iran. The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has begun to move west from the Indo-Pacific towards the Middle East, CBS News has confirmed, and is expected to arrive in the coming days.
“The Trump administration is closely monitoring Mr. Valizadeh’s case. President Trump has been clear that he wants every wrongfully detained American returned home,” a senior administration official told CBS News.
The State Department and a spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“These Americans must come home”
Valizadeh became a U.S. citizen in 2022 through his work for U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Farda, the Persian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
According to messages relayed to his attorney by his family, Valizadeh believed he had been given assurances by Iranian authorities that it was safe to return to Tehran, where most of his family resides. His brother has said he now believes those guarantees were part of a trap, possibly involving a former colleague who had ties to the IRGC.
Reporting by Persian-language media later cited sources who said Iranian intelligence had hoped to pressure Valizadeh into cooperating against his former employer, Radio Farda, for which he reported on corruption, protests and the influence of the IRGC. He refused.
Days later, IRGC agents detained him on a Tehran street, confiscated his belongings, including his U.S. passport, and took him to Evin Prison, where he spent weeks in isolation and under intense interrogation. Iranian officials did not publicly acknowledge his arrest for nearly two months.
Valizadeh was eventually charged with “collaborating with a hostile government,” a vague national security offense that Iranian authorities routinely use against journalists and activists.
In December 2024, after what the petition to the U.N. describes as a sham trial lasting less than an hour, and in which the judge acted as both prosecutor and adjudicator, Valizadeh was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His appeal to the regime was rejected in January 2025.
Since then, his family says Valizadeh’s health has steadily deteriorated. He suffers from asthma, which has been worsened by overcrowded cells, poor air quality and exposure to smoke and debris — conditions that intensified after Israeli airstrikes struck parts of Evin Prison in June 2025 during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. He has endured frequent coughing fits and has been denied basic medications, dental care and treatment for gastrointestinal problems.
After the June strikes, Valizadeh was among prisoners who were shackled and transferred to another facility without their belongings or medicine, according to the U.N. filing, before being returned to Evin Prison, where his brother says he now shares a small cell with up to 18 other inmates amid severe shortages of food, water, sanitation and medical care.
Attorneys for other American citizens who were wrongfully detained have petitioned the U.N. for help in the recent past. They included Baquer Namazi, who was permitted to leave Iran for life-saving surgery in the UAE in 2022, and Ryan Corbett, who was imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan and released in a prisoners swap in January 2025.
“Family is at the heart of the Iranian culture. This is why so many Iranian Americans travel back to Iran — to visit elderly parents and connect with extended family. Unfortunately, this respect for family is also what gives the regime a steady influx of dual nationals to feast on,” Neda Sharghi, the sister of former wrongful detainee Emad Shargi and an advocate for American hostages and their families, told CBS News. (The siblings use slightly different spellings of their last name.)
“President Trump has witnessed the brutality of the Iranian regime. He also knows that we have innocent Americans, like recently detained Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmati, among others, ensnared in the regime’s hostage-taking tentacles. These Americans must come home and President Trump and his team have shown us that, at least when it comes to American hostages and wrongful detainees, they will do whatever they need to attain their freedom,” Sharghi said.
With help from Sharghi and Valizadeh’s family, Fayhee has received since September three pre-recorded voice messages from Valizadeh describing the circumstances of his detention. The last came on Dec. 20.
Neither Valizadeh nor his family have been in contact since Iran’s crackdown and nationwide internet blackout began.
