Iranian-American jailed for spying seeks case review

Amir Mirzai Hekmati’s lawyer reports that he has filed a request for a review of his client’s file for the charge of “spying for the United States.”

Hekmati, an Iranian-U.S. citizen and former U.S. marine, had been sentenced to death in the preliminary court but that sentence was reduced to 10 years in jail in the appeals court.

His lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabayi, told ISNA that his request for a review has not yet been forwarded to the Supreme Court.

Hekmati recently wrote to Iran’s foreign minister, insisting that he is innocent and urging the minister not to allow his case to be sacrificed to the long history of diplomatic differences between Iran and the U.S.

In his letter, Hekmati denied the charges brought against him, saying he has never collaborated with the U.S. against Iran. He wrote that he worked in the U.S. military as an Arabic translator and has never been trained in spying or intelligence work.

Hekmati says that he entered Iran in August of 2011 to visit his grandmother.

He served as a U.S. marine from 2001 to 2005 as a language and cultural adviser familiar with Persian and Arabic, and some of his service was done in Iraq.

zamaneh