Robert Levinson's family confirms former FBI agent died in Iranian custody

Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared
in Iran in 2007, died in Iranian custody, according to a statement from his
family.
The statement said Levinson’s family received the
news from US officials but did not know how or when he died, only that his
death preceded the coronavirus outbreak that has ravaged Iran.
“It is impossible to describe our pain,” the
statement said. “If not for the cruel, heartless actions of the Iranian regime,
Robert Levinson would be alive and home with us today. It has been 13 years
waiting for answers.”
The family added they did not know if or when his
body would be returned.
“This is the very definition of cruelty,” the
statement said.
Levinson disappeared 13 years ago on Iran’s Kish
island. The US initially claimed he was there on his own initiative, but in
2013, the Associated Press revealed he had been sent on a mission there by CIA
analysts who had no authority to run espionage operations. Levinson was a
specialist on Russian organised crime and had not had much previous involvement
in Iran.
Tehran denied knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts
until November last year when it acknowledged that there was an ongoing case
involving him before its revolutionary court.
Levinson, who suffered from diabetes, was last seen
in a hostage video sent anonymously to the family in 2010, and then in still
photographs three years later in which he was wearing an orange jumpsuit, of
the kind used in the US detention camp on Guantánamo Bay. The images did not
make clear who was detaining him.
Levinson’s family thanked Donald Trump and his
administration for doing all they could “to make our family whole again” but
they blamed other, unnamed US officials for their lack of action.
“Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob
Levinson, including those in the US government who for many years repeatedly
left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done,”
their statement said.
“We will spend the rest of our lives making sure of
this, and the Iranian regime must know we will not be going away. We expect
American officials, as well as officials around the world, to continue to press
Iran to seek Bob’s return, and to ensure those Iranian officials involved are
held accountable.”