After Secret Conviction, Marine Vet Sends Letter From Iranian Prison
A former U.S. Marine accused by Iran of being a CIA spy pleaded his case to the Iranian leadership in a letter written from detention, a few days after he was sentenced in a secret court to 10 years in prison.
Arizona-born Amir Hekmati, who holds dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, wrote directly to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, asking that his "judicial file not to be entangled with the historic diplomatic problems between two countries," according to a translation by IranWire, which posted portions of the letter. "What I ask of you as an Iranian citizen, a compatriot, as someone who has been separated from his family for 30 months, is freedom from prison."
In the letter Hekmati rejected all the charges against him and swore he did not collaborate with the U.S. government against Iran. A representative for the Hekmati family authenticated the letter and confirmed IranWire's translation.
Hekmati disappeared in Iran in August 2011 while he was on a trip to visit his grandmother, his family said. Weeks later, Hekmati, then 28 years old, appeared on Iranian state television in December where he seemed to calmly "confess" to being a spy sent by the CIA to infiltrate Iranian intelligence.
Days after the Iranian broadcast, Amir Hekmati's father, Ali, told ABC News that the accusations against his son were a "bunch of lies."
"My son is no spy. He is innocent. He's a good fellow, a good citizen, a good man," the elder Hekmati said.
Service records provided to ABC News in December 2011 show Hekmati enlisted in the Marines after graduating high school in Flint, Mich., in 2001 and joined the infantry, completing basic training at Camp Pendleton in California. He briefly attended the Defense Language Institute for the Marines in Monterey, Calif., and his father told ABC News he worked as a translator, but records show Hekmati was officially a rifleman only. A Marine spokesperson said it was possible he could have served as a translator for his Marine unit in a more informal capacity.
Hekmati said in his letter to Zarif that he worked as an Arabic translator with the U.S. military and it had nothing to do with Iran. He never had any military intelligence training, records show.
After his military service, Hekmati worked for a defense contractor, The Associated Press reported. In his letter, Hekmati said he had then planned to pursue a graduate degree in economics in the U.S. - plans interrupted by his arrest.
In early January 2012, the Iranian government sentenced Hekmati to death. At the time, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said it 'strongly condemn[ed] this verdict" and said allegations the Hekmati worked for the CIA or was sent to Iran by the agency were " simply untrue."
"The Iranian regime has a history of falsely accusing people of being spies, of eliciting forced confessions, and of holding innocent Americans for political reasons," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said then.
Iran later overturned the sentence. The case was then in limbo for months until last week when Hekmati's lawyer said his client had been convicted again after deliberations in a secret court and given 10 years in prison.
The Hekmati family said they took the news with a "very heavy heart" and said the conviction is "unsettling specifically because Amir was born and raised in the United States and committed no crime, choosing only to visit Iran to spend time with his ailing grandmother."
"The Hekmati family respectfully asks senior Iranian officials to review Amir's conviction, and to resolve this grave misunderstanding by granting Amir his freedom and a safe return home," a family statement posted online says. "Despite these afflictions, Amir's family continues to show faith in God that after this hardship will come ease… Our family's love and resolve is emboldened by a diverse and growing global community of support that believes in justice, freedom and humanity."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.