Family’s Video Appeals to Iran for Release of American

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/familys-video-appeals-to-iran-for-release-of-american.html

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Anticipating the arrival of Iran’s president in New York on Monday for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the family of Amir Hekmati, a former United States Marine incarcerated in Tehran for three years, has called attention to the case by releasing a video in which his father, who has terminal brain cancer, appeals to Iranian leaders for Mr. Hekmati’s freedom.

The family, from Flint, Mich., has also released a statement sent by Mr. Hekmati from Evin Prison in Tehran, in which he acknowledges the widespread support he has received from the United States and elsewhere, saying the efforts to win his release have given him hope.

“It is this hope that helps me believe that I will return home to Michigan, to my family, and my life,” Mr. Hekmati said in the statement.

Iran’s imprisonment of Mr. Hekmati, 31, is a festering irritant in the antagonistic relationship between the United States and Iran. An American of Iranian descent, he was seized in August 2011 while visiting relatives in Iran for the first time, then tried on espionage charges and sentenced to death. That verdict was overturned, but he was secretly tried and convicted of the lesser crime of cooperating with a hostile power — the United States — and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Throughout the process, Mr. Hekmati’s ability to defend himself has been severely limited. He did not even know about his second trial, his family has said, and Iran’s judiciary has never explained the precise nature of its accusations against him.

He and his family have repeatedly asserted his innocence, and top Obama administration officials, along with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, have called on Iran to release him.

Iranian rights activists regard Mr. Hekmati’s imprisonment as a clearly political case and say Iran may be using him as bargaining leverage in its broad range of grievances with the United States, including American sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program.

Despite some hope a year ago that Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, would free Mr. Hekmati as part of a broader pledge to be more tolerant than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there have been no definitive signs that Iran is preparing to pardon Mr. Hekmati.

His family in Michigan, once reluctant to speak about the case for fear of antagonizing Iran’s hard-line judiciary, has increasingly called attention to it, employing a website and daily Twitter reminders of how long he has been held. The effort has taken on added urgency because Mr. Hekmati’s father, Ali, 63, a microbiology professor, has an inoperable brain tumor and has had multiple strokes.

“It’s been a long time since last I’ve seen you,” his father says in the video, addressing Mr. Hekmati while sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a “Free Amir” shirt. The video also shows members of Congress holding “Free Amir” placards.

Sarah Hekmati, Mr. Hekmati’s sister, said in a telephone interview that there had been recent signals suggesting movement in his case.

Last month, she said, Mr. Hekmati was moved from a wing for political prisoners at Evin Prison to a less restrictive section, and is now permitted weekly phone calls home. She also said Iran’s Supreme Court had agreed to hear an appeal of his conviction and 10-year sentence, although it remains unclear when that might happen.

At the same time, she said, Mr. Hekmati’s Iranian lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, an influential lawyer hired by the family this year, has been pursuing three strategies to seek his release.

In addition to the Supreme Court appeal, she said, the lawyer has collected pleas for mercy from Islamic clerics in Michigan and elsewhere, petitioning the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for a pardon.

The lawyer also intends to seek Mr. Hekmati’s release under a provision of Iranian law that allows some convicts with good behavior records to leave prison after they serve a third of their sentence.

“Whichever one they approve the fastest is the idea,” Ms. Hekmati said. “All three are on the table.”

Iran contends that Mr. Hekmati is an Iranian citizen, even though he was born and raised in the United States and holds an American passport.

Iran has taken the same position in the prosecution of a Washington Post reporter of Iranian descent, Jason Rezaian, an American citizen who was detained in Tehran two months ago on unspecified charges.

“He is facing interrogation in Iran for what he has done as an Iranian citizen,” Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said last week in an interview with NPR.

Mr. Zarif added that Iran’s judiciary had “no obligation to explain” the detention to the United States.