Iranian academic writes of US detention 'hell' over link to 1979 hostage crisis

An Iranian woman detained for months in Texas has accused the US government of "bloodline punishment" after it revoked her family's green cards over her husband's ties to a prominent figure in Iran. Maryam Tahmasebi, a professor of psychology and statistics in Los Angeles, her husband, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, and their teenage son - all permanent residents of the US - were detained by immigration agents in April. Her husband's mother was a spokesperson for the group that took dozens of Americans captive during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The State department has cited those ties as the reason for revoking the family's status. Tahmasebi and her son remain at a detention centre in Dilley, Texas, while her husband endures "horrible conditions" at a separate South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall, she wrote in The Nation magazine , external . "We have been put through hell for the past four months, and our physical and mental health have deteriorated in ways that might not be reversible for years," Tahmasebi wrote.

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Scoop News DeskUs · Published Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 3:12 AM UTCUpdated Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 11:03 PM UTC

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Tahmasebi wrote her account from inside her detention facility, where she has limited access to email, according to Jack Mirkinson, a senior editor at The Nation. A DHS spokesperson, when asked to comment on the family's request, pointed the BBC to its app-based voluntary departure programme as a means for non-citizens to leave the country. "Being in detention is a choice," the DHS statement said. "We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App." The US government has also terminated the legal status of two Iranian women it initially identified as the niece and grandniece of IRGC Major General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in 2020. Maria Kari, a member of Tahmasebi-Hashemi's legal team, told the BBC that the state department "has not charged this family under any national security provision of the immigration laws". "If the government had any evidence that this family threatened national security, it has had several opportunities to say so but the government has not," Kari said. "In fact, no US government agency has presented any evidence to support their allegations." Prior to their arrest, Tahmasebi and Hashemi lived in Los Angeles and worked in academia.

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