Xiyue Wang

Xiyue Wang (Chinese: 王夕越; pinyin: Wáng Xīyuè; born December 31, 1980) is a Chinese-American academic who was imprisoned in Iran from 2016 to 2019 after being accused of espionage. Iran released Wang in a prisoner swap between the two countries, with the U.S. freeing Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani. U.S. law enforcement arrested the Iranian stem cell scientist in Fall 2018 upon his landing in Chicago for violating the sanctions against Iran. A PhD candidate in the Department of History at Princeton University, Wang was arrested in Iran on 8 August 2016 on charges of espionage while he was conducting research on the Qajar dynasty. It was alleged that he had sought access to confidential areas of Tehran libraries, paid thousands of dollars for access, and recorded 4,500 pages of digital documents. In July 2017, he was sentenced to ten years in prison by Iran. In response to the sentencing, the United States Department of State released a press statement saying "The Iranian regime continues to detain US citizens and other foreigners on fabricated national-security related charges." In January 2021, Wang joined the American Enterprise Institute as a Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow.