Lebanese President Michel Aoun (R) meets with Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national who was released by Iranian authorities, in Beirut, Lebanon, June 11, 2019. Lebanese President Michel Aoun met on Tuesday with Nizar Zakka, who has a permanent residency in the United States, the National News Agency reported. Zakka, 52, had been imprisoned in Iran for about four years over charges of spying for the United States. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)
BEIRUT, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun met on Tuesday with Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national who was released by Iranian authorities earlier in the day, the National News Agency reported.
Zakka, 52, who had been imprisoned in Iran for about four years over charges of spying for the United States, visited Aoun upon his arrival in Beirut.
"I do not want to go into details of accusations and my imprisonment in Iran. I just want to tell you one thing: I have never done anything wrong or hurt anyone ever," Zakka said during the meeting.
Aoun thanked Iranian authorities for their positive response to his demand for freeing Zakka.
The move to free Zakka was the result of intense negotiations between Lebanese and Iranian officials who said Zakka was released out of respect for the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, a Shiite group backed by Iran.
