for alleged espionage has gone before a camera to speak about her son and the suffering she has endured since the arrest of her “typical American boy.”
“Everywhere I go I see him. His face is in front of me everywhere,” Behnaz Hekmati, mother of Amir Hekmati, says as tears stream down her face in the new video posted on FreeAmir.org. “I miss him so much. I miss him so much…. [But] I keep myself strong because I know my boy needs me. I need to help him.”
Amir Hekmati, an Arizona-born ex-Marine, was arrested last August while on his first trip ever to Iran. His family says he went against the advice of relatives to see his grandmothers.
Iran accused Amir of being a spy, and in December an Iranian television station broadcast a “confession” from the 28-year-old in which he says he was sent into Iran by the CIA to become a double agent.
A day after that broadcast, Amir’s father, Ali, a collge professor, told the Iranian claims were “lies.” He said, “My son is no spy. He is innocent. He’s a good fellow, a good citizen, a good man. These are all unfounded allegations and a bunch of lies.” Until this week, Amir’s mother had not spoken in public about the case.
In January, an Iranian court found Amir guilty of espionage and sentenced him to death. However, Iranian media reported in March that the court verdict had been annulled and Amir would be retried.
In the new video, neither Amir’s father nor mother mention Iran or the allegations against their son, but talk about Amir when he was a child and describe the effect his arrest has had on the family.
“I am in very bad shape. I am just deteriorating every day. Every day I get worse and worse,” Hekmati’s mother says. “I try to be strong because maybe it’s only me and his family…. We are his voice. He doesn’t have a voice.”
On the video, Hekmati’s father says he thinks about his imprisoned son “all the time” and says he sometimes prays to dream about him, if only to see his face. Maybe I will share a dream of him,” Ali Hekmati says. “I sure miss him.”
