I Suffered 'Unutterable Indignities' in Iran's Evin Prison

Siamak Namazi spent eight years wrongfully imprisoned in Iran's infamous Evin Prison, watching as Americans were released three times while he stayed behind bars. He was finally freed with four other Americans one year ago. In an exclusive interview with CNN, he opened up about how he was taken, what he suffered, and what life is like now.

• His arrest: Following his move to America at age 12, Namazi traveled back to Iran frequently. When he flew there for a funeral in 2015, he felt no qualms, describing the period as "the peak of Iran-US relations." But as he went to fly home, he was pulled aside at the airport, interrogated for three months, then arrested. He was accused of working with the US to "topple the Islamic Republic."

• What he endured: He was then put in a closet-size solitary cell and told that "unless you cooperate ... you are going to be here until your teeth and your hair are the same color." He was in solitary for eight months and blindfolded and beaten, he says.
• The worst of it: But what he still can't talk about is the "unutterable indignities" he was subjected to. "That I'm not comfortable talking about. And I mean unutterable—because it had a profound effect on me. I still haven't even gotten to talking about it fully in therapy."
• On 'making noise': Worried he was being overlooked by the US, he decided to risk beatings and another round of solitary confinement by giving an interview. He had phone access at the prison and could call a few numbers; through a chain of calls set up by his lawyer he made it to CNN's Christiane Amanpour and told her of his "dire" situation.
• On the deal that got him out: The deal also saw the US unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian assets. Says Namazi, "I spent 2,898 days in their dungeon ... They have done things that I'm not able to tell my therapist yet, and I still, I can't even speak about it ... I am upset that they profited from this. But what other choice is there? Are you just going let an American rot?"

(More Iran stories.)