Relatives of detained US citizen in Iran urge his release at nuclear talks

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/28/iran-nuclear-talks-amir-hekmati-detained

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Relatives of a US citizen who was jailed by Iran on spying charges in 2011 attended a nuclear summit in Vienna to call for his release.

Amir Hekmati, a 31-year-old Iranian American, was arrested by Iranian authorities and convicted of espionage, a charge his relatives and the US deny. An initial death sentence was commuted to a 10-year prison term. This was appealed last November but the case has stagnated since then, family members say.

“We want to … put pressure on these talks and to make sure that Amir has to be a priority,” the prisoner’s sister, Sarah Hekmati, told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna.

World powers are negotiating a possible end to a 12-year standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme.

In March, President Barack Obama urged Iran’s government to release Hekmati and two other detained Americans – Saeed Abedini and the Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian – and to help find Robert Levinson, an American who disappeared in Iran eight years ago.

Iran and the US have no direct diplomatic relations, hampering efforts to free the detainees. Ties were cut following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“Diplomacy, even if there is a [nuclear] deal, will be seriously affected if they’re not released. We’re not political, but that’s a fact,” said Ramy Kurdi, Hekmati’s brother-in-law.

Hekmati served as an infantryman, language and cultural adviser and Arabic and Persian linguist in the US marine corps from 2001 to 2005, performing some of his service in Iraq.