Rubio designates Iranian-American Kamran Hekmati as wrongfully detained by Iran, cousin says

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 61-year-old Jewish Iranian-American Kamran Hekmati was wrongfully detained in Iran, his cousin said on Monday.

“This appointment is an official recognition by the US Government that Kamran is being held by the Iranians on false charges for the purpose of gaining an advantage for the US Government,” Shohreh Nowfar said in a statement. he said.

News of this appointment comes as the US-Israeli war against Iran enters its third week.

The Special Presidential Embassy for Hostage Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Designating wrongful detainees means that an American citizen is considered a political hostage whose case is handled by SPEHA and whose release is provided with high levels of diplomatic attention and dedicated resources.

Nowfar said the appointment “reassures us that our government has our back in the effort to bring Kamran home safely.”

Hekmati, who has bladder cancer, is one of at least six U.S. citizens or permanent residents detained by Iran. He is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, according to the detainee’s lawyers.

The jewelry store owner was arrested last year and convicted of visiting Israel under a law that bans such visits in the past 10 years, according to Kieran Ramsey, a former FBI assistant director at the advocacy group Global Reach, who represented the Hekmati family. However, he had documents showing that his last trip was 13 years before his arrest.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)