Posted on 04/12/2014 12:16:13 AM PDT by blueplum
(Reuters) - Iranian-American Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine whose previous death sentence in Iran on espionage charges was overturned, has been secretly retried, convicted of collaborating with the U.S. government and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the New York Times reported on Friday, quoting his lawyer.
The newspaper quoted lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei as saying Hekmati, held since 2011, was not told by Iranian officials about the retrial, conviction or prison sentence. The Times quoted Tabatabaei as saying Hekmati was retried by a revolutionary court in December and convicted of "practical collaboration with the American government."
:snip: The Times said Tabatabaei suggested that Hekmati possibly could be released in a matter of months, particularly if the United States frees at least some Iranian prisoners. The newspaper said the lawyer did not name these prisoners.
Tabatabaei said that "a lot depends on the Americans," the Times reported. "If they show their good will, it will become much easier to get Mr. Hekmati freed," the lawyer was quoted as saying.
:snip: Hekmati served as an infantryman, language and cultural adviser and Arabic and Persian linguist in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005, performing some of his service in Iraq.
The Times reported that Tabatabaei, who is well connected to Iran's highest leaders, gave the information about Hekmati in interviews this week at his office in Tehran, providing the first authoritative disclosures in more than two years about the status of the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I don't believe that there is such a thing as a "former" Marine.
I wonder if a thousand stripes would make that fact sink into the al-Reuters cadre.
This guy is a lunatic.
A former member of the US Armed Forces living in a hostile nation has a better chance of survival by playing marbles on a busy freeway.
free amir.
Did he go back to Iran to visit family? Maybe that wasn’t the wisest thing to do.
Update:
Phone call recording released from ex-Marine imprisoned in Iran
By The Associated Press
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=33895539&title=phone-call-recording-released-from-ex-marine-imprisoned-in-iran
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/04/gitmo_docs_link_paki.php
Gitmo docs link Pakistani, Iranian, and Yemeni intelligence agencies to al Qaeda
By Bill Roggio | April 25th, 2011 | billroggio@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio
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