American Student Jailed For 3 Years In Iran Released As Part Of Prisoner Swap

In August 2016, Xiyue Wang was in Iran researching the country’s Qajar dynasty for his doctoral program at Princeton University.

Wang, 38, is a Chinese-born naturalized American citizen who was working toward his Ph.D. when he was arrested on charges of espionage by the Iranian government, NBC News reported. In April 2017, Wang was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in an Iranian prison. Months after Wang was convicted, Iran released video it claimed showed the U.S. graduate student smuggling documents. “Then-State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert explicitly denied Wang was working on behalf of any U.S. government agency,” NBC reported. Wang’s wife, Qu Hua, worked for years to secure her husband’s release.