The New York Times:

By Vivian Yee

BEIRUT, Lebanon — For the nearly four years Nizar Zakka was held prisoner in Iran, an ordeal that lasted until he was released this week, the knowledge that he was little more than a political pawn made a bad situation almost unbearable....

Mr. Zakka said he had been held for the last two years alongside Mr. Wang, in a cell he said they shared with dozens of other prisoners. It was so crowded that the space each man had to himself amounted to a narrow rectangle “little bigger than a coffin,” he said, where the two of them spent as many as 20 hours a day lying down, with short breaks for food or fresh air.

“You will never see anyplace so horrible, and Xiyue is left behind,” Mr. Zakka said, describing Mr. Wang’s condition as mentally sharp and strong, but physically “tired.”

Before he left, Mr. Zakka said, Mr. Wang asked him to promise him to help him get out, and gave him a letter to be delivered to someone on the outside. (He declined to identify the recipient, saying it might jeopardize Mr. Wang’s safety.)

“I told him that I will not leave him behind. I promised him that I will not rest until he’s freed,” he said. “He’s a student, he was doing his research. Nothing justifies him being left behind.”

Mr. Wang’s wife, Hua Qu, an outspoken advocate for his release who has been raising their young son alone in Princeton, said in an email that she was happy Mr. Zakka had been freed, but “disappointed that Xiyue is still behind the bars of Evin Prison after nearly three long years.”

“I welcome any help to free my husband who was also sentenced to 10 years, like Nizar,” she said. “ I plead for mercy to be granted to my husband.”

Mr. Zakka said the two men were allowed writing material, and Mr. Wang was eventually allowed access to some books. They had 15 minutes a day to talk on the phone. Medical care was available, but slow to reach them. Guards had interrogated each of them at first, he said, but later left them alone.

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