TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/caps/80/80capts.5

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                ╘╓                                                          July 21, 1980

IRAN

A Hostage is Set Free


But Khomeini's decision may not help the other Americans


Last Thursday Radio Tehran broadcast the text of a message from
the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to President Abolhassan
Banisadr. "Considering the humane reasons that are seriously
observed by Islam," decreed the Ayatullah, ailing Vice Consul
Richard Queen, 28, "should be handed over to his parents so that
they may provide treatment for him wherever they wish."

The announcement came as a surprise, even to most Iranian
officials. Banisadr learned of Khomeini's decision only a few
hours before the radio announcement. Half a world away, Jimmy
Carter heard the news in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was
stopping over on his way home from his visit to Japan.
Declaring that the U.S. would be "very thankful" for Queen's
release, the President quickly added:  "The humanitarian thing
to do would be to release all the hostages immediately."  The
next day he spoke with Queen for ten minutes by telephone.
Happiest of all were Queen's parents, who have been residents
of Lincolnville, Me., since December but last week were visiting
a niece in Scarsdale, N.Y., where they used to live. Said
Queen's father Harold, a retired RCA executive:  "We're
tremendously excited. We are just waiting to hear. We're
standing by the telephone."  Next morning the Queens were flown
to London aboard a British Airways jetliner and on to Zurich
aboard a U.S. Air Force JetStar for a late- evening reunion with
their son.

At first, U.S. reaction was guarded, partly because of so many
previous promises from Tehran that have not been honored. But
barely six hours aster the announcement, the Iranians moved
Queen from Martyrs' Hospital in north Tehran, where he had been
undergoing treatment for four days, to Tehran International
Airport. Queen appeared gaunt but smiled broadly as he told
reports that his illness was "something with the brain, some
sort of virus. I'm not sure." Exhilarated by the prospect of
gaining his freedom, he continued:  "I feel a lot better right
now, in the last hour. I'll be going home as soon as possible."
Then he walked aboard a Swissair flight to Zurich.

On arrival in Switzerland early Friday morning, Queen was taken
from the plane on a stretcher and driven to a Zurich hospital,
where he was examined by a group of Swiss doctors as well as a
U.S. State Department psychiatrist. The next day Queen and his
parents were put aboard a U.S. Air Force jet and flown to the
U.S. military hospital at Wiesbaden, West Germany, where the
U.S. has set up special medical facilities to car for any of the
hostages who may be released. At Wiesbaden a team of doctors
were waiting to give Queen a battery of tests. his father was
optimistic:  "There has been tremendous improvement almost hour
by hour. His spirits are great, his mind is clear and his mood
is excellent."

Though no final diagnosis had been made at week's end, one of
the Wiesbaden doctors told TIME that "it does not appear to be
anything terribly serious."  In Washington, State Department
Spokesman John Trattner denied early reports from Tehran that
Queen had a psychiatric problem. Instead, said Trattner, the
young diplomat was suffering from some sort of neurological
disorder. Among his symptoms:  a lack of coordination in his
movements, stiffness in his left arm and occasional dizziness.
In Zurich, Queen told a reporter that he had been hospitalized
in Tehran because his captors thought he "might have a brain
virus."  He added, "From what I know, I haven't a brain tumor.
I really can't say what I do have."

Queen is a graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. and
the University of Michigan, where he studied Balkan history.
Friends last week described him as a likable, studious young man
who had long been preoccupied by Communism, in part, perhaps,
because his mother is from Bulgaria and his family still has
relatives there. He applied for admission to the U.S. Military
Academy, was rejected because of poor eyesight, and decided on
a diplomatic career instead. Queen chose Tehran as his first
overseas post because, as his father explained earlier this
year, "he thought it would be extremely exciting to go to a
country in revolution. He wanted to witness history, to witness
an important moment."  But by the time he reached Tehran last
August, American diplomats were confined to Tehran and unable
to travel around the country. After the embassy seizure, Queen
was apparently in a group of five hostages, including two women,
that was isolated from the other American captives.

The news of Queen's release was greeted with excitement by the
relatives of other hostages. Most agreed with Theresa Gallegos,
of Pueblo, Colo, mother of marine Corporal William Gallegos, who
said: "This gives me hope for all of them. I hope he is not too
ill to tell us how the others are doing."  Aware of the emotions
aroused in the other relatives, Queen's father remarked last
week:  "We hope this means more than just the release of one
young man. My first thought goes out to my son, and just split
seconds after that, to the fact that there are 52 comrades of
my son who are left behind, and that you can never forget."

The view in Washington was that Queen's release was an isolated
case and that Khomeini had not had any change of heart on the
hostage question. Indeed Iran's chief national prosecutor,
Ayatullah Seyyed Karim Mousavi Ardebili, insisted on Friday that
the Iranian Parliament would still make the final decision on
the hostages--and in its own sweet time. Concluded one top
Carter Administration official:  "If Queen is in good shape,
this could be a gesture of good will, a breaching of the
psychological dam. If he is in bad shape, the political
significance is diminished."  Obviously, he added, "they didn't
want a dead hostage on their hands."

In Tehran, some Western diplomats interpreted the release of
Queen as "a good signal," possible even a sort of trial balloon
by Iranian authorities to determine how the populace would
react. Others saw the release of Queen as a convoluted maneuver
by Iran's clerical establishment to embarrass the beleaguered
Banisadr. Observed a senior civil servant:  "If Banisadr's
rivals in the clergy were indeed trying to prove who is boss in
Iran, they did an excellent job."  Most Iranians believed that
Khomeini, who chose to release five women and eight black male
hostages last November, had simply decided, once again, to
exercise his own arbitrary quality of mercy.