A State Department cable released by WikiLeaks has bolstered the contention that former FBI agent Robert Levinson has been held in Iran after vanishing on March 9, 2007, while working as a private investigator on Kish Island, a popular tourist resort in the Persian Gulf.

 

The diplomatic document cites an informant who told American officials he spent time in a secret jail operated by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. There, the political prisoner saw the words “B. LEVINSON” written on the frame of his cell, beneath three lines of English which he assumed to be a “plea for help.”

 

It was not until sometime after his release that the informant realized the connection with Levinson, who was investigating a cigarette smuggling ring as a private investigator when he disappeared.

 

The source told the State Department that conditions inside the prison were deplorable, where the confines reeked of blood and prisoners were subjected to abuse.

 

The Iranian government has denied it is holding Levinson prisoner, even though back in 2007 it claimed that he was “in the hands of Iranian security forces.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Wikileaks: Vanished FBI Officer Robert Levinson 'Held by Iranian Revolutionary Guards' (by Matthew Moore, The Telegraph)

Iran Guards Deny Holding Former FBI Agent (Inside of Iran)

A Daughter's Plea (by Sarah Levinson, Huffington Post)

The Strange Case of the Missing Ex-FBI Agent (AllGov)