A Hostage Is Set Free

But Khomeini's decision may not help the other Americans

On the 250th day of captivity for the 53 American hostages in Iran, one of them unexpectedly found himself on the way to freedom. 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 after 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 reporters 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 care 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," possibly 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.

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