Friends And Family Raise Money For Navy Veteran Detained In Iran

Radio Farda's Hannah Kaviani has interviewed Jonathan Franks the spokesperson for Michael White's mother, Joanne White.

Michael White, 46, has been held since July, and is the first known American to have been detained in Iran since Donald Trump became president two years ago.

Hannah Kaviani got in touch with Franks through a crowdfunding campaign trying to raise money for legal expenses in Iran. He revealed that a Swiss diplomat met Michael White in Mashad where he is imprisoned and passed om some information to the family.

Mes. White believes her son has cancer, has cancer based on "firsthand evidence provided to her by Iranian nationals who were incarcerated with Michael," spokesman Jonathan Franks said in a statement on January 25.

"She respectfully calls on the regime to release him immediately so he may get the care he needs. In the interim it is critical that the Iranian regime afford Michael the unfettered, regular consular access and contact with his family consistent with Iran's international and bilateral obligations," the statement added.

An Iranian prosecutor has said that White was detained in connection to a "private complaint.”

Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency on January 25 quoted prosecutor Gholamali Sadeghi as saying the case was still "under investigation," without elaborating. He did not confirm reports that the man faces security charges.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi earlier this month confirmed White's arrest which had been first reported by The New York Times on January 7, but did not specify when it had happened or what crime he was accused of.