Tuesday is Robert Levinson’s 67th birthday. For his family, however, it is just another anxious 24 hours wondering whether he lives or dies. For all they know, he is still languishing in an Iranian prison.
Levinson was working for the CIA when he disappeared in Iran in 2007. A few years later, his wife Christine received anonymous messages indicating that her husband had been arrested and detained by Iranian authorities. While the FBI has aggressively pursued the case, they have not garnered any promising information as to his whereabouts.
That’s why, when five American prisoners were released from Iran this weekend, four as part of a prisoner swap, Levinson’s family could not fully share in the joyful occasion.
"We are happy for the other families,” they wrote on their Facebook page. “But once again, Bob Levinson has been left behind. We are devastated."
Should Levinson still be living, he is the longest-held hostage in American history.
