An Iranian American Jewish man from Great Neck has been held in an Iranian prison since July.
Iranian authorities charged Kamran Hekmati, 70, for traveling to Israel 13 years ago, members of his family told The New York Times. He was sentenced to four years in prison in late August.
Hekmati, a Great Neck Estates resident and a member of the village’s zoning board, owns a jewelry business based in New York City.
Hekmati visited Israel over a decade ago to celebrate his son’s bar mitzvah, his family members said. He is now being held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court cited a law that bans Iranians from visiting Israel, family members said. Hekmati holds dual citizenship and was born in Iran, but immigrated to the United States at the age of 13. He traveled to Iran to visit family using his Iranian passport, as Iranians are obliged to do, The New York Times reported.
Iran’s government reduced the punishment for traveling to Israel to two years in prison and cut Hekmati’s sentence in half in September, members of his family said.
A lawyer for the family filed an appeal, but a court date has not yet been set, family members said. They told the New York Times they hope they hope Iran releases him on humanitarian grounds because he was not involved in politics, had visited Israel for personal reasons and was in poor health, fighting aggressive bladder cancer.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging immediate action by the State Department to secure the release of Hekmati on Nov. 11.
“This case is deeply troubling,” Suozzi said. “Mr. Hekmati is a cherished member of the Long Island community. He is not only a respected public servant serving on the Great Neck Estates Zoning Board of Appeals, but he is also battling an aggressive form of bladder cancer. He must be released immediately on humanitarian grounds.”
Suozzi said Hekmati’s case has deeply affected the large Persian Jewish community on Long Island and called the imprisonment “part of a dangerous pattern of malign behavior by the Iranian regime.”
“I will not stay silent while one of my constituents suffers under unjust imprisonment by a hostile foreign government,” Suozzi said. “This is about more than one man. It’s about defending the basic rights of American citizens abroad and standing up to regimes that traffic in hostage diplomacy.”
The Great Neck Estates board of trustees discussed Hekmati’s imprisonment at a meeting on Monday, Nov. 10. Residents expressed interest in sending personal letters to the federal government on behalf of Hekmati. Mayor William Warner said he will reach out to the Iranian-American Jewish Federation of New York for support.
