Before the president went into his stand-up routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, making unfunny jokes about himself and his opponents, he urged the release of Jason Rezaian, a journalist being held by Iran on charges of espionage. Obama said “we will not rest” until Rezaian is released from prison and returned to the U.S.
But the family of Marine Corps veteran Amir Hekmati, who is under a death sentence in Iran, says that Iranian guards taunted him over the weekend, telling him that the American government has forgotten him because President Obama mentioned Rezaian and not Hekmati.
The prisoner, Marine Corps veteran Amir Hekmati, called his mother over the weekend from the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, terrified that gaining his release is not a priority for the U.S. government, his family said. Now, in an emotional letter to the White House, Amir’s sister is demanding to know why the president has never said her brother’s name in public. He has been imprisoned for nearly four years.
“He has already been mistreated, abused, and tortured,” writes Sarah Hekmati, Amir’s sister, in a letter to White House counter-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco. “Now the mental torture continues as he is made to feel that the country he put his life on the line for, the one he defended, and the president he voted for has left him behind and are not actively trying to secure his freedom.”
American Detained in Iran Urges US to Impose Consequences
Of the three Americans known to be imprisoned in Iran, Hekmati has been held the longest. He was arrested in 2011 when, according to his family, he was visiting his ailing grandmother in Iran. He was sentenced to death in January 2012 for “espionage, waging war against god and corrupting the earth.”President Obama spoke out for the release of American journalist Jason Rezaian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and earlier this year he spoke out for the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini at the National Prayer Breakfast. The Hekmati family said they have repeatedly asked the White House to push for Amir Hekmati’s release.
“Why has President Obama yet to utter the name Amir Hekmati?” his sister wrote. “Why on days significant for Amir — Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, the anniversary of his death sentence, the anniversary of his imprisonment — President Obama cannot say the name Amir Hekmati out loud, but he can say it for Jason Rezaian and he can say it for Pastor Abedini? Why when we make a request is it ignored? Why am I forced to write this email to you AGAIN, the same subject AGAIN, the same plea AGAIN?”
Incredible. While the president was yucking it up with the lapdog press at the so-called “Nerd Prom,” Iranian guards were putting an American Marine veteran through hell by taunting him with his own government’s inaction in trying to secure his release.
When asked about Hemkati, White House spokesman Josh Earnest gave a halting, lame answer:
“Certainly when considering how best to secure the release of these individuals, a calculation is made about the wisdom of the publicity that surrounds the efforts to secure their release,” Earnest said.
That’s not good enough for the family:
“Please spare us this dignity and give us a straightforward answer as to why in nearly 4 years President Obama has [not] raised Amir’s plight individually outside of the context of the others imprisoned. Not even once. Not even when he was sentenced to death. The only question at this point is why,” Sarah Hekmati wrote.
This is an old game being played by Iran. They are holding the three Americans on trumped-up charges in order to get something valuable in exchange for them. All thug nations do this, knowing that America will move heaven and earth to get our people home.
Usually.
In Obama’s case, there’s always something more important, like enabling Iran’s nuclear program or buddying up to the Iranian leadership. Iran will continue to pluck Americans off the street or drag them out of their homes until the cost of keeping them becomes too high.
Don’t expect that cost to rise while President Obama is in office.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member