'This has become a sacred alley.' The face of Emad Shargi imprisoned in Iran

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

I arranged to meet somebody in an alley last week. It was on a summer morning, when the bricks were in shadow. And just as our producer Taylor Haney and I met at one end of the alley, Neda Sharghi came through it from the other side.

Hi. Are you Neda?

NEDA SHARGHI: Hi. I'm Neda.

INSKEEP: Oh, perfect timing. Hey.

SHARGHI: Nice to meet you.

TAYLOR HANEY, BYLINE: Hey, I'm Taylor.

SHARGHI: Hi, Taylor. Neda. Nice to meet you.

HANEY: Nice to meet you.

INSKEEP: We were meeting to see a mural in Washington, D.C., that is now 1 year old. It's on a long brick wall, and it shows the faces of Americans detained overseas. Neda Sharghi led this effort because her brother had long been imprisoned in Iran. He is still behind bars, and the giant black-and-white faces on the mural have been peeling off the bricks.

SHARGHI: It's getting harder and harder to come by, though, because, as you can see, it's not as pristine as it was when we put it up, and faces are tearing and disappearing and crumbling off. So it's not as - it's not emotionally easy to come by here anymore.

INSKEEP: Does the decay of the faces say something?

SHARGHI: Absolutely. This was very intentional.

INSKEEP: The artist, Isaac Campbell, designed the mural to slowly come apart.

SHARGHI: It shows the passage of time. You can see the effect of time on their faces. And it's a reflection of the effect time is having on our lives and on their lives.

INSKEEP: She pointed out a face of a man who is smiling, though one of his eyes has peeled away. He is Emad Shargi.

SHARGHI: That's my brother.

INSKEEP: Who is he, and what's happening to him?

SHARGHI: He was traveling with his wife in Iran when he was detained by the authorities for no reason in April of 2018. And he has been there ever since. The State Department has designated him wrongfully detained, which means that they have determined that his wrongful detention was due to nothing but his American citizenship.

INSKEEP: She presumes, as many families of detainees do, that her relative was taken as a bargaining chip to use in talks with the United States. We have followed Emad Shargi's story from time to time on this program. He was released but not allowed to leave Iran, then reimprisoned, then tried and remains in a cell in Tehran. Occasionally, he is allowed to call home.

SHARGHI: In October, we were actually here at this very mural for an event, and this is where I got a phone call for him where he was quite panicked. And I could hear noises in the background. I couldn't understand what those noises were, but I came to find out quickly thereafter that there were riots where he was, as well as a fire, and that, you know, he was very nearly killed. We didn't know about his whereabouts for days. And I think that call that he placed was just to say, you know, this may be the last time I speak to you.

A lot of things have happened at this mural - that call and those fires and riots. When we unveiled this, my father was here for the press conference, standing under my brother's image, and he fainted. We have had families come here when they have heard of their loved ones, you know, being poorly treated or going through hunger strikes. We've had - those who have come home have come back to this mural to see what was done for them when they were not here. This has become a sacred alley, I think, for our campaign and for our families. And we like to refer to it as Freedom Alley.

INSKEEP: Next to Emad's face is that a Brittney Griner, the pro basketball player detained in Russia. A sticker beneath her face provides an update that the United States negotiated her return. Other stickers mark the release of other detainees in the past year.

SHARGHI: This is Jose Pereira, a member of the Citgo Six. He came back to visit this mural when he came home. He said he wanted to see his face before it completely disappeared. Baquer Namazi, who was wrongfully held in Iran, was released. His son, Siamak, is still being wrongfully detained there.

INSKEEP: This is Siamak here. We see the face with the glasses, although the face is coming off the wall.

SHARGHI: Yes. That is Siamak.

INSKEEP: He's been there even longer than your brother, if I'm not mistaken.

SHARGHI: He has been. He's been there since, I think, 2015.

INSKEEP: U.S. officials have taken every opportunity to say they are working for the release of prisoners in Iran. Occasionally, someone is released. But for Siamak Namazi and Emad Shargi, matters have moved slowly, as have larger U.S. negotiations over a nuclear agreement. Neda Sharghi has routinely lobbied the U.S. government and even once attended a White House event where she handed a letter to President Biden.

SHARGHI: I have no doubt that they can bring all of these individuals home.

INSKEEP: Every once in a while, over the last several years, there's been some story of movement, some suggestion that something is about to happen. And having talked to you and your family, I think of you and wonder what those moments are like for you.

SHARGHI: You think you can get used to it, but you never do. You go from thinking that next week, next month, you will have your loved one sitting at home with you, to finding out that, no, nothing. It's a roller coaster. We all describe it as, you know, a roller coaster where you get excited, you lose hope, you get excited, you lose hope. And it never gets easier. You don't get used to it.

INSKEEP: You hear from Emad from time to time, right?

SHARGHI: I do.

INSKEEP: When's the last time?

SHARGHI: I spoke to him a couple of days ago. We're fortunate that if the internet is working and if he's allowed to call, he's able to call for a few minutes.

INSKEEP: And what is his current situation inside the prison?

SHARGHI: This is one of those questions that's always difficult to answer. Is my brother alive? Yes. Is he trying to keep his spirits high? Yes. But just - Steve, put yourself in his shoes. He is an innocent American citizen. I imagine he's wondering why he's there, why he's still there and why no one is coming to get him. That takes a toll on your physical well-being, on your mental well-being.

INSKEEP: Now, when we record an interview for NPR, we sometimes listen for the closing thought, the ending of the story. Sometimes you know at the very second it's said. That's the end. We stood a little longer in that alley with Neda Sharghi, looking at the decaying mural, and I was listening for the end. And then I realized there is no end - not yet.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIGRAN HAMASYAN'S "LILAC") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.