FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Ms. Cara Di Silvio

Thursday, June 28, 2018

+1.703.566.3037

Wife of U.S. Citizen Held Hostage in Iran

Visits with U.S. Policymakers

(Alexandria, Virginia) For two days this week Ms. Hua Qu, wife of U.S. hostage Mr. Xiyue Wang (Princeton University Ph.D. student), visited with U.S. policymakers in the Congress and the Trump administration. Hua’s meetings were part of ongoing efforts to reunite her young family by securing the unconditional release of her husband Xiyue from Iranian captivity.

Hua’s message to policymakers was simple: “My husband and I do not want to be in the middle of JCPOA politics. That put him in this mess to begin with. This is about human rights. I am fighting to keep my family together and I need your help.”

Mr. Xiyue Wang is an American citizen and graduate student at Princeton University. Held hostage in very harsh conditions since August 2016 in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, Xiyue went to Iran to research for his PhD doctoral dissertation about the Qajar dynasty of Iran (19th century) with authorizations from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In April, Hua sent a letter to President Trump delivered to the president and Secretary of State Pompeo by a senior member of Congress. In the letter Hua stressed that Xiyue was innocent and urged the President that “before negotiating any deal with Iran, please remember the innocent scholar that is being held by the Iranian regime solely because he is an American.”

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