Missing Ex-FBI Agent in Hostage Video

[High_Gravity]

Missing Ex-FBI Agent in Hostage Video

(WASHINGTON) — The family of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished years ago in Iran, issued a plea to his kidnappers Friday and, for the first time, released a hostage video they received from his unidentified captors.

The video message released on the Levinson family's website publicly transformed the mysterious disappearance into an international hostage standoff. Despite a lengthy investigation, however, the U.S. government has no evidence of who is holding the 63-year-old father of seven.

"Please tell us your demands so we can work together to bring my father home safely," says Levinson's son David, seated beside his mother, Christine.

The video plea represents a sharp change in strategy in a case that, for years, the United States treated as a diplomatic issue rather than a hostage situation. Christine Levinson, who lives in Coral Springs, Fla., has issued many public statements over the years, but she typically directed them to her missing husband or to the government of Iran.

In the hostage video, which the family received in November 2010, Levinson pleaded with the U.S. government to meet the demands of the people holding him, whom he did not identify.

The 54-second hostage video showed Levinson looking haggard but unharmed, sitting in front of what appeared to be a concrete wall. He had lost considerable weight, particularly in his face, and his white shirt hung off him. There were no signs of recent mistreatment. But Levinson, who has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure, implored the U.S. to help him quickly.

"I have been treated well. But I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for three and a half years," Levinson says. "And please help me get home."

His voice weakens and breaks as he speaks of "my beautiful, my loving, my loyal wife, Christine," as well as his children and his grandson.

"I am not in very good health," he says. "I am running very quickly out of diabetes medicine."

The Associated Press saw the video soon after it arrived last year but did not immediately report it because the U.S. government said doing so would complicate diplomatic efforts to bring Levinson home.

Now, those efforts appear to have stalled, U.S. relations with Iran have worsened and Levinson's family has stepped out of diplomatic channels to appeal directly to the kidnappers.

"We are not part of any government and we are not experts on the region," David Levinson says. "No one can help us but you. Please help us."

In the nearly five years that Levinson has been missing, the U.S. government has never had solid intelligence about what happened to him. Levinson had been retired from the FBI for years and was working as a private investigator when he traveled to the Iran in March 2007. His family has said an investigation into cigarette smuggling brought him to Kish, a resort island where Americans need no visa to visit.

Read more: Missing Ex-FBI Agent in Hostage Video: 'Help Me' - TIME

 

[waltky]

Ex-FBI agent held by terrorists connected to Iran...

US sees Iran behind hostage photos of ex-FBI agent
January 9, 2013 WASHINGTON -- Two years after a hostage video and photographs of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson raised the possibility that the missing American was being held by terrorists, U.S. officials now see the government of Iran behind the images, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

Levinson, a private investigator, disappeared in 2007 on the Iranian island of Kish. The Iranian government has repeatedly denied knowing anything about his disappearance, and the disturbing video and photos that Levinson's family received in late 2010 and early 2011 seemed to give credence to the idea. The extraordinary photos - showing Levinson's hair wild and gray, his beard long and unkempt - are being seen for the first time publicly after the family provided copies to the AP. The video has been previously released.

In response to Iran's repeated denials, and amid secret conversations with Iran's government, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement in March 2011 that Levinson was being held somewhere in South Asia. The implication was that Levinson might be in the hands of terrorist group or criminal organization somewhere in Pakistan or Afghanistan. The statement was a goodwill gesture to Iran, one that the U.S. hoped would prod Tehran to help bring him home. But nothing happened.

Two years later, with the investigation stalled, the consensus now among some U.S. officials involved in the case is that despite years of denials, Iran's intelligence service was almost certainly behind the 54-second video and five photographs of Levinson that were emailed anonymously to his family. The tradecraft used to send those items was too good, indicating professional spies were behind them, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk publicly. While everything dealing with Iran is murky, their conclusion is based on the U.S. government's best intelligence analysis.

The photos, for example, portray Levinson in an orange jumpsuit like those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The family received them via email in April 2011. In each photo, he held a sign bearing a different message. "I am here in Guantanamo," one said. "Do you know where it is?" Another read, "This is the result of 30 years serving for USA."

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[waltky]

Iran to help with missing ex-FBI agent Levinson...

Iran says it will help learn fate of ex-FBI agent
Mar 11,`13 -- Iran's foreign minister says his country is ready to help learn the fate of a retired FBI agent who went missing six years ago.

Iranian media on Monday quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying that previous information indicates that Robert Levinson is not in Iran. But Salehi says Iran is ready to cooperate to help clarify how he disappeared.

Levinson, who is from Coral Springs, Florida, disappeared in March 2007 while traveling to the Iranian island of Kish as a private investigator.

Despite years of denials, U.S. officials involved in the case suspect Iran's intelligence service was behind a 54-second video and five photographs of Levinson that were emailed anonymously to his family a few years ago.

Salehi says, however, that U.S. officials know that Levinson is not in Iran.

Source

 

[waltky]

Don't forget about Robert Levinson in the Iran nuclear negotiations...

U.S. urges Iran to help free missing retired FBI agent
November 26th, 2013 ~ With a breakthrough interim nuclear deal and relations between the United States and Iran improving, the White House on Tuesday "respectfully" asked the Iranian government to help return Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in Iran more than six years ago.

"We do want to test the regime. The new administration has said that they want to take a different approach toward the West, toward the United States. One way that they could clearly demonstrate that is they could help us find Bob Levinson, help reunite him with his family," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN. Rhodes said that Levinson and two other Americans are being "detained in Iran unjustly, in our view."

A separate White House statement said the United States welcomes help from "our international partners in this investigation, and we respectfully ask the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to assist us in securing Mr. Levinson's health, welfare, and safe return." Levinson became a private investigator after his three-decade career with the FBI and disappeared in March 2007 during a business trip to Kish Island, Iran. It is believed he was investigating cigarette smuggling.

His wife, Christine, told CNN the family has no new information about him but is "hopeful," with the leadership of Iran's new and more moderate president, Hassan Rouhani. Christine Levinson said Tuesday marked "an unimaginable milestone" for her husband, noting he has now surpassed journalist Terry Anderson to become the "longest-held American hostage." Anderson spent 2,454 days in captivity before being freed by Islamic militants in Lebanon in 1991. "Our family will soon gather for our seventh Thanksgiving without Bob, and the pain will be almost impossible to bear," she said in a statement.

Iran's government repeatedly has said it is not holding Levinson and does not know his whereabouts. Iran's previous president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he was willing to help find Levinson, and the family received what then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described in 2010 as "proof of life." CNN was told some discussions with Iran were being held. The White House said there still is uncertainty over Levinson's whereabouts. FBI Director James Comey said Monday that the agency continues "to follow every lead into his disappearance."

U.S. urges Iran to help free missing retired FBI agent ? CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

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Afterthought? White House Makes Holiday Appeal for Pastor Jailed in Iran
November 27, 2013 – After being criticized for failing to secure the release of Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini before reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration on Tuesday made an appeal for his return, and that of two other Americans.

“It’s our view that all of these Americans should have the opportunity to come home,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Los Angeles. The other two Americans are Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine being detained on what the administration says are as “false espionage charges,” and Bob Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in Iran in March 2007 and is the subject of a $1 million FBI reward offered for information leading to his safe recovery and return home. “The United States government has made a respectful request of the Iranian regime during this holiday season to consider on humanitarian grounds releasing these three Americans – or at least releasing the two Americans we know are detained and locating the whereabouts of the third, Mr. Levinson,” Earnest said.

He recalled that President Obama had raised the cases during a phone conversation with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani in September. Earlier Tuesday, the White House issued a written statement noting that Levinson, who went missing during a business trip to Iran’s Kish Island, was now “one of the longest held Americans in history.” “[W]e respectfully ask the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to assist us in securing Mr. Levinson’s health, welfare, and safe return,” it said. Abedini, a convert from Islam and ordained evangelical pastor, was arrested while on a family visit to Iran last September, convicted on charges of “crimes against national security,” and sentenced last January to eight years’ imprisonment. His recent move to one of Iran’s most dangerous prisons prompted fresh fears for the U.S. citizen’s safety and renewed calls by supporters for the administration to act urgently to secure his freedom.

Iranian-born American pastor Saeed Abedini has been imprisoned in Tehran since September, and in a letter to his family reported beatings and death threats.


As the U.S. and five other powers were holding high-level nuclear talks with Iranian officials in Geneva last week the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which is supporting Abedini’s family in Boise, Idaho and leading the campaign for his release, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to seize an historic opportunity. “During current negotiations, which will likely result in relaxed sanctions against Iran, the failure to secure the release and return of Mr. Abedini and the other Americans would be reprehensible,” said ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow. “The United States is in a unique position to leverage the freedom of these Americans; to fail to use such leverage sends a message to the Iranian government that these Americans are expendable.”

After the nuclear agreement was struck, the ACLJ accused the administration of betraying Abedini, “who has spent more than a year in an Iranian prison simply because of his Christian faith.” “By failing to secure his release as a precondition to any negotiations, the Obama administration sends a troubling message to the Iranian government that Americans are expendable,” Sekulow said.

Afterthought? White House Makes Holiday Appeal for Pastor Jailed in Iran | CNS News