Iran Frees Michigan Native in Prisoner Swap

Once sentenced to death by an Iranian court, Amir Mirza Hekmati of Michigan appears to be on his way home after four years of captivity in Iran. Hekmati was the first American sentenced to death in Iran in more than three decades.

Hekmati, 32, who graduated from high school in Flint, Michigan, enlisted in the U.S. Marines and later worked as a military contractor and Arabic translator, was visiting his grandmother in Iran when he was arrested in 2011 and put on trial. Iran accused him of being a CIA spy.

Hekmati and three other Americans imprisoned in Iran appear to be on their way back to the United States as part of a prisoner swap announced by the Iranian government on Saturday. The U.S. is returning seven Iranians accused or convicted of violating economic sanctions against Iran.

One of the Americans is Washington Post Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian, a California native who was arrested in 2014. The third man is Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor who converted from Islam and was detained in 2012. The fourth person is as yet unidentified.

All of the captives are of Iranian descent.

Amir Hekmati on Iranian TV during his trial

Hekmati, whose father is a community college professor in Flint, graduated from Flint Central High School in 2001, went into the Marines after Navy JROTC and later founded his own company that specialized in translating Arabic and Persian. He found work as a military contractor in the Middle East after his stint in the Marines.

He entered Iran to visit his grandmother and was arrested by Iranian police and accused of being a CIA spy. At the time of his arrest in 2011, the U.S. had imposed tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Hekmati went on trial and was sentenced to death. His conviction was overturned, and he sat in prison awaiting a new trial.

Many rallied to his cause, including talk show host and Marine Corps veteran Montel Williams.

Hekmati’s arrest is explained on the Free Amir website:

In 2011, Amir traveled to Iran to visit his ailing grandmother. Two weeks into his visit, just days before he was to return home to start school at the University of Michigan, he was arrested at the home of a relative by Iranian intelligence agents. For four months, Amir’s whereabouts were unknown. It wasn’t until a forced confession, a tactic commonly used by Iranian intelligence, that it was confirmed for his family that Amir was imprisoned. In January of 2012, Amir was charged with espionage, waging war against God, and corrupting the earth and was sentenced to death in January of 2012. He was the first American to receive the death penalty in Iran in over 33 years. His death sentence was overturned by a higher court in March 2012, citing insufficient evidence and a new trial was ordered. Amir languished behind the walls of Evin prison, much of this time in solitary confinement, with his fate looming over his head. In April of 2014, it was discovered that Amir was tried in a secret, closed-door proceeding in December of 2013. Neither Amir nor his attorney were notified of this proceeding and were not allowed to present a defense. As a result of this hearing, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the charge of “cooperating with hostile governments.”

Now that the U.S. and Iran have entered into an agreement over its nuclear program, brokered in July, Iran appears to be releasing these Americans and sending them home in exchange for the seven unnamed Iranians.

CNN reports the U.S. government confirms the exchange with Iran is under way after a year of secret negotiations.

On Monday, the U.S. is scheduled to announce that sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program will end.