Landing at Bishop International Airport, Amir Hekmati stepped down from a small plane and waved before speaking briefly with reporters.
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“I’m standing here healthy, tall, and with my head held high”, Hekmati said. “God bless you all”, Hekmati said in a Facebook post on January 20.
On Jan. 16, 2016 news was released that Hekmati, along with three other Americans, were being released from Iran as part of a deal to release seven Iranians in US custody.
On Tuesday, another of the freed Americans, former Marine Amir Hekmati, described the celebrations aboard the special Swiss jet that carried some of the former prisoners from Tehran.
An American man and former marine held in captivity in Iran for more than four years was finally reunited with some of his family on Monday.
Abedini, an Iran native and convert to Christianity, was arrested in 2012 and convicted the next year on charges of attempting to undermine the Iranian government.
– Jason Rezaian, the journalist who was released from an Iranian prison on Saturday, said in a statement Wednesday, he wants to catch up the things he missed during his 18-month incarceration, including the progress of hometown team, the Golden State Warriors.
In a statement posted on social media, Hekmati expressed his gratitude for the outpouring of support that he and his family received.
A former U.S. Marine recently released from an Iranian prison in a prisoner-swap deal is returning to MI.
Hekmati was born in Flagstaff and raised in Flint, Mich. In August 2011, while visiting his sick grandmother in Iran, he was detained and subsequently imprisoned on espionage charges.
“I was at a point where I had just sort of accepted the fact that I would be spending 10 years in prison, and so this is, it was a surprise”. “After I was elected, it was my job”, Kildee said.
Kildee accompanied the family on the trip to Germany and was at the airport Thursday, boarding the plane after Hekmati landed. They were accused of exporting goods ranging from electronic components and satellite services to marine navigation and military equipment to Iran.
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Through the past four years, the “Free Amir” website and Facebook page also brought Hekmati’s situation to the world and kept pressure on leaders to act. Nader Modanlo, Arash Ghahreman and Ali Saboonchi had their sentences commuted, the U.S. Justice Department said.
