The family of a US citizen imprisoned in Iran voiced hope Wednesday for his release, saying that authorities were allowing him contact with the outside world including his ill father.
Amir Hekmati, a former US Marine who was born in Arizona to Iranian parents, was arrested nearly two years ago and initially sentenced to death on allegations of espionage.
His family and the US government denied the spying charges. Relatives said that Hekmati, a dual citizen who recently turned 30, went to Iran to visit his grandmother.
Hekmati, whose death sentence was overturned, spent 16 months in solitary confinement but has now been allowed to meet family, receive books and write letters, his family said.
In a letter recently sent to his father, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, Hekmati urged him to quit smoking and to stop eating sweets and red meat.
“I am very sorry that while you have done so much for me I cannot be by your side when you need me the most to help you out,” Hekmati wrote to his father in a letter shared with AFP.
“I die from regret and sadness every day because I cannot be there for you. Every night and day I pray for you,” he said.
Hekmati’s sister Sarah described her brother as family-oriented and physically active and said that his emotional and physical state appeared to be “much better.”
She hoped that the improvement of prison conditions meant that Iranian authorities may “show more consideration” for his release.
“We feel very optimistic and hopeful given that he has been getting a lot of leniency,” she said in a telephone interview from Michigan.
US-Iranian relations have been tense since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but President Hassan Rowhani took office Sunday after sweeping to power on promises of taking a more moderate course at home and abroad.
“What we’re hearing on the ground is that these transitions, they do provide an opportunity for the release of prisoners,” Sarah Hekmati said.
She noted that authorities have also released prisoners during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which falls this week with the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Last month 112 members of the US Congress across the political spectrum voiced hope for a “diplomatic, peaceful and humanitarian resolution” that leads to Hekmati’s release.
“We appreciate that this is a delicate matter, but all faiths and cultures can agree that families, particularly during times of illness, deserve to be together,” they wrote in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Jailed Iranian-American's family sees hopeful signs
