Spanish citizen The martyrdom of Santiago in the wildest prison in Iran after being accused of espionage: "I lose hope and faith"
Nearly a hundred people gathered at the doors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in (Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca number 8) to demand the release of Santiago Sánchez Cogedor, the Spaniard who has been imprisoned
in Iran for five months accused of espionage
.
They have done so silently and carrying a large banner that reads
FREEDOM FOR SANTIAGO
(Freedom for Santiago, in Spanish) with the hope that the Persian authorities will allow him to return to our country thanks to Spanish diplomatic mediation. .
«My son called us yesterday afternoon and always asks us the day, week and time of his release.
We try to reassure him so that he does not set goals of hours or days,
that he continues teaching Spanish, playing soccer, going to the carpentry shop
.
That his release will come in the same way that Ana [the other Spanish citizen who was detained in Iran and who has recently been released thanks to diplomatic efforts] did,” Santiago's father said in a handwritten statement delivered to the press.
That of Santiago is a story of misfortune and false accusations by the regime of the ayatollahs.
He is a seasoned adventurer who has visited more than 40 countries.
His friends remember how
he spent the hardest months of the pandemic collaborating in a refugee camp in Greece
- "we sent him boxes with soccer shoes for the boys who were there," recalls a friend - or in the favelas of Brazil, where he helped the most vulnerable in an environment of violence.
However, misfortune befell Santiago during
his last great adventure
.
A solidarity trip on foot from the Community of Madrid to Qatar -to watch the World Cup there and cheer on the Spanish team- during which he proposed to plant 2,000 trees and collect the rubbish that was found in his path.
The trip passed without incident until on October 2, 2022, he crossed the Iraqi border with Iran.
There he is photographed smiling next to the entry sign to the country.
A day later
he was arrested and his trace was lost for weeks
when he was detained by the Iranian authorities.
"He meets some Iranians at the border.
They say 'Welcome to Iran' and
they take him to the grave of the murdered girl [Masha Amini]
”, a friend explained to Gran Madrid.
A tomb in which Santiago Sánchez "oblivious to the current situation in the country" took some photographs.
At that moment, "non-uniformed policemen arrived, the Iranians ran away and
Santi stood still because he had not done anything
," explains his friend.
"Then," he continues, "three guys blindfolded him, put him in a car and took him to jail."
He was charged with espionage and
locked up in Tabriz prison
in East Azerbaijan province.
After weeks of disappearance, the Spanish ambassador managed to find his whereabouts and was transferred to module 209 of the infamous Evin prison, where he spent 40 days in hell before being transferred to a quieter module from which he asks his colleagues by phone every
day
. friends and family about your release date.
During the concentration, the parents assured that they are "in telephone contact" with Santiago and highlight "
the hard work and good work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the Spanish ambassador in Tehran."
Likewise, his friends have told Gran Madrid that they are "very grateful for the institutional effort" but they ask José Manuel Albares' portfolio for "one more step, one more
impulse
, for his release."
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