Ex-Marine Held in Iranian Prison Suspends Hunger Strike
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Version 0 of 1. A former Marine imprisoned in Iran who began a hunger strike last week has suspended it after receiving assurances from Iranian penal officials that his case will be revisited, his family in the United States reported on Tuesday. The prisoner, Amir Hekmati, 31, from Flint, Mich., has spent more than three years in Tehran’s Evin Prison. He is the longest-serving among the three Americans of Iranian descent known to be incarcerated by the Iranian authorities. “Apparently, Evin Prison officials have implored Amir to end his hunger strike,” read a statement by the family posted on the Facebook page of Free Amir Hekmati, a support group. “Evin Prison officials, in return, said they would take certain steps to have his case revisited by appropriate Iranian government authorities.” The statement said Mr. Hekmati had “agreed to suspend his hunger strike, reluctantly and temporarily,” but would resume it “if real action is not taken on his case with real results.” Mr. Hekmati’s imprisonment in Iran has become an emotional cause among Marines and politicians of both parties in the United States, and symbolizes the difficult relations between the two countries after more than three decades of estrangement and hostility. The Iranians have never explained in any detail why he was prosecuted and imprisoned. He was arrested in August 2011 while visiting relatives in Iran for the first time, convicted of espionage and sentenced to death, but that verdict was overturned. He was later convicted of helping a hostile power and sentenced to 10 years. An appeal of that conviction has languished. Mr. Hekmati has always asserted his innocence and has been given only limited access to legal counsel. American officials repeatedly raise his case in the talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program, which have been extended twice and now face a deadline of July. Last week, Mr. Hekmati began a hunger strike and sent letters via his family to President Obama and to the Iranian ministers of justice and intelligence as part of an effort to increase the pressure over his appeal and call attention to the poor conditions at Evin, including unheated quarters, power blackouts, ticks and lice. Some of his Marine colleagues in the United States showed their support by fasting as well. Mr. Hekmati’s congressman, Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who has helped lead efforts to publicize his imprisonment, said in a statement that the suspension of the hunger strike was a “positive development,” and he expressed hope that it would lead to Mr. Hekmati’s release. “Many of Amir’s Marine brethren, however, will continue the strike in an act of solidarity and support so that Amir does not have to,” Mr. Kildee added. The two other Americans known to be imprisoned in Iran are Jason Rezaian, 38, The Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent, held on unspecified charges since July; and Saeed Abedini, 34, a pastor sentenced in 2013 to eight years of imprisonment on charges that he created a private network of churches, disturbing national security. |