Hekmati Condemns Call for Prisoner Exchange

Amir Hekmati, the Iranian-American former marine who has been held in an Iranian jail since 2011, has condemned the suggestion that a prisoner exchange deal should secure his release.

Responding to comments made by Yousef Pirzadeh, a member of the Campaign to Defend the Rights of Iranians Abroad, Hekmati said the Iranian judiciary must free him, and that the move had nothing to do with the behavior of the United States government.

“Freeing Iranian prisoners in the US must be a condition for considering the release of American prisoners,” Pirzadeh said, according to a short news report published by Tasnim News Agency on July 30. “Obama should show his good will towards the nuclear agreement by freeing Iranians imprisoned in America,” the campaigner said, appealing to President Rouhani’s government to identify individuals affected by imprisonment and sanctions and seek compensation through international forums and courts.

But in an open letter to Pirzadeh, Hekmati accused the campaigner of exploiting the current situation to make a name for himself on the international stage. “The only acceptable condition for my freedom must be the consent of the Islamic Republic Judiciary. And this has nothing to do with the behavior of the American government,” Hekmati wrote. “Are you a decision-making authority or the judiciary?” he asked Pirzadeh. “With your statement, are you excluding the judiciary?

Hekmati has appealed to Congress to take stronger measures to secure his release, insisting that US officials had not offered any “serious response to this blatant and ongoing mistreatment of Americans by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.” Hekmati has also repeatedly appealed to Iranian officials — including the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, and President Rouhani — to free him.

Iran does not accept dual nationality, so Iranian authorities regard Hekmati as an Iranian citizen. “First of all, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Ms. [Marzieh] Afkham has repeatedly said, ‘we have no American prisoners,’” Hekmati wrote. “According to the laws of the Islamic Republic, I am thoroughly Iranian and the persons whom you call ‘American prisoners in Iran’ are thoroughly Iranian. You cannot exploit the situation to your advantage by calling me an Iranian whenever it is to your benefit, and an American when it is not.

“I am proud of my Iranian identity,” he wrote. “I consider myself an Iranian and your insult to my Iranian passport and national ID card is unacceptable. You claim to defend the rights of Iranians abroad and yet treat me, an Iranian abroad, as a commodity to be used for wheeling and dealing or for propaganda. I have to remind you that I was born to an Iranian family and have many relatives in Iran. My family has travelled to Iran and they are religiously observant.

“Is it justice that now my old parents should be worried sick because I am far away and in prison in my own motherland? Is it just to use me as a tool as an American to launch an extensive propaganda campaign and play with the honor and the dignity of me and my family to free Iranian prisoners in America? Should I stay in prison and pay for a sin that I have not committed when the country’s Supreme Court vacated the verdict against me for insufficient evidence?”

“Why have we never heard of you?”

Hekmati’s recent public statement reveals his growing frustration and anger with the Iranian authorities, who, in his view, have continually used him as a “bargaining chip” with the US, and as a propaganda tool.

“My defense bill for the Supreme Court has been published,” Hekmati wrote to Pirzadeh, who he accused of not really being committed to securing the freedom of Iranian prisoners in the US. “You are only after exploiting the issue for your own propaganda benefit. Otherwise, why, after so many years that many Iranians have been in the US, have we never heard of you or your campaign? Now that the Americans have taken the first step because of the importance of the fate of their citizens, you are exploiting the situation and are taking action for your own benefit — especially with this title [the Campaign to Defend the Rights of Iranians Abroad]. I am surprised that you, without any official position and without any diplomatic experience, have set conditions for the release of prisoners, which show that in no way you are after the freedom of these loved ones and only want to make a name for yourself.

“Do you know that most Iranians in the US have American citizenship?” he asked. Hekmati said he did not believe there was a “country in the world that takes its own citizens hostage for propaganda purposes,” or that tries to enter into prisoner exchange deals involving only its own citizens (in other words, swapping one Iranian citizen for another Iranian citizen). He said he did not believe the Islamic Republic engaged in this sort of behavior, not least because it “is founded on Imam Ali’s justice and on defending the right of the victims of injustice.”

“If you are after [protecting] the rights of Iranians abroad you can visit Evin Prison and start with your compatriot — i.e. me, who is an Iranian who resides abroad. Mr. Pirzadeh! With your irrational statement, meaning exchanging Iranians for Iranians, don’t you think that all Iranians abroad would avoid travelling to Iran out of the fear that they would share my fate?

“I am fully aware that hundreds of Iranian families who live in the US have told my parents that they try hard to prevent their children from traveling to Iran because of what has happened to their son. Your statements confirm their ideas about traveling to Iran. The Organization of Iranian Affairs in the US, which is endorsed by Iranians abroad and even by the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly demanded my immediate and unconditional release and considers my detention illegal and unjust. The Organization for the Defense of Muslims in the US shares the same view.

“Do not play with the fate of prisoners in Iran or abroad for your personal gain. Give thanks to God that neither you nor people close to you are under these difficult and painful conditions. As the Commander of the Faithful [Imam Ali] has said, walk only in the path of truth and justice.”

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Amir Hekmati’s Letter to President Hassan Rouhani

Amir Hekmati's Letter to Two Senior Iranian Officials

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