Amir Hekmati, 29, was arrested while visiting family in Iran in 2011 and was subsequently sentenced to death on charges of spying for the United States. His conviction was overturned in January but he has not been released or sent to a new trial since then.
The family held a press conference in Detroit last week and hoped that Ahmadi-nejad’s visit to the United Nations in New York would bring publicity to Hekmati’s case. His sister, Sarah Hekmati, said: “We have been tirelessly working with Iranian officials to locate him.” They have had limited contact with him since January and his father has an inoperable brain tumor.
The Michigan director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Dawud Walid, wrote to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi appealing for Hekmati’s release on humanitarian grounds. The US government denies that Hekmati is or was a spy.