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A big-hearted, cancer-stricken Long Island jeweler has been jailed in Iran for the alleged crime of visiting Israel 13 years ago — leaving his increasingly desperate family pleading for his release.
Kamran Hekmati, 70, a dual US and Iranian citizen, was rounded up by the saber-rattling regime in the spring, during one of his many travels back to his beloved home country, his cousin Shohreh Nowfar told The Post.
Iranian officials eventually sent Hekmati to the notoriously brutal Evin Prison as punishment for his Israel trip, during which he had attended his son’s bar mitzvah.
The ongoing Kafka-by-way-of-Tehran nightmare prompted Hekmati’s family and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Long Island) to push Secretary of State Marco Rubio for help.
“He just wants to come home,” Nowfar said. “Anytime he talks, he says ‘Get me out of here.’”
Kamran Hekmati, 70, has been imprisoned by Iran.
Kamran Hekmati / LinkedInHekmati, a Persian Jew, immigrated to the US when he was roughly 13 years ago, but never lost ties to Iran, Nowfar said.
Even as Hekmati built a new American life — running a Diamond District business, thriving in Long Island’s large Persian Jewish community and sitting on the Great Neck Estates Zoning Board of Appeals — he regularly returned to his home country for sometimes months-long vacations and family trips, his cousin said.
“He absolutely loved Iran,” Nowfar said. “He goes two, three times a year. He has a lot of friends there.”
Before Hekmati’s fateful spring trip to Iran, he underwent surgery and chemotherapy for aggressive bladder cancer.
Nowfar, who lives in Los Angeles, said Hekmati has to receive treatment every three months — but that fell into limbo when Iranian authorities first confiscated his passport and then ultimately sentenced him to prison.
“The government says that his sentence is because he went to Israel, or what they call occupied land, seven years ago,” she said.
“But in reality, he went there 13 years ago, not seven years ago, and the law passed about going to Israel, about six, seven years ago. So, he went there before the law passed in Iran. That was for his son’s bar mitzvah.”
Hekmati’s sentence was originally four years, but has since been reduced to two, the New York Times first reported.
He’s also one of four Americans being held by Iran, the Times reported.
Hekmati is being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Getty ImagesNowfar said Hekmati is only able to contact family through friends and his Iranian lawyer — and they don’t even know what part of Evin prison he’s in, or if he’s getting proper medical care.
“They don’t allow any outside doctor to go to the prisoner,” she said. “And we don’t know what the situation is with the prison’s hospital. But as far as I know he hasn’t been getting the quarterly treatment he needs.”
The dire situation prompted Suozzi this week to send a formal letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling for immediate action.
“This case is deeply troubling,” Suozzi said in a statement.
“Mr. Hekmati is a cherished member of the Long Island community. He is not only a respected public servant serving on the Great Neck Estates Zoning Board of Appeals, but he is also battling an aggressive form of bladder cancer. He must be released immediately on humanitarian grounds.”
Hekmani’s family — who, aside from Nowfar, declined to comment — has also been in touch with Rubio’s office and foreign dignitaries, his cousin said.
“We’re hoping that they can do something about it,” Nowfar said. “We’re just sitting tight and hoping. He is a very kind, very big-hearted person. And he tries to help anybody in distress.
“The irony is that the country that he loved so much, the country that he adored so much, took him to prison.”
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