A New York jeweler is free from an Iranian prison — but he can't go home yet

A Jewish Iranian American jeweler from New York has been let out of a prison in Iran, but he is still not allowed to leave the country. Kamran Hekmati, 62, was released from Tehran's Evin prison on September 5 after serving about half of a two-year sentence. His family says they are relieved he is out of prison, but they are very worried about his health and about when he will be able to come home.

Hekmati owns a jewelry business in Manhattan's Diamond District and has lived with his family in Great Neck Estates, on Long Island in New York. He was arrested by Iranian authorities in July of last year after trying to fly home from Tehran. Iranian officials had taken his passport at the airport months earlier in May, making it impossible for him to leave. His family says he was charged under an Iranian law that bans Iranian citizens from visiting Israel in the last 10 years. But they say his most recent trip to Israel was 13 years ago — before that law existed — when he attended his son's bar mitzvah.

Hekmati's family is especially worried because he has bladder cancer and needs regular medical checkups to make sure it does not come back. His cousin in California, Shohreh Nowfar, said the family is 'excited' about his release but hopes his passport will be returned soon. A nonprofit organization called Global Reach, which has been working on his case, also expressed hope. 'We continue to hope this is a signal from the Iranian side as to their willingness to send Kamran home,' said Kieran Ramsey, the group's chief investigative officer. The family believes Iran may be using Hekmati as a bargaining chip to get something it wants from the United States government.

U.S. Representative Thomas Suozzi from New York has been pushing for Hekmati's release and called for the U.S. government to officially label him as wrongfully detained, which it did earlier this year. 'Mr. Hekmati did nothing wrong,' Suozzi said. 'We cannot rest until he is reunited with his family.' The U.S. State Department also called on Iran to lift its so-called 'exit ban,' which is stopping Hekmati from leaving. It urged Iran to let him return to the United States as soon as possible.

Evin prison, where Hekmati was held, is known as one of Iran's most severe jails. It holds many political prisoners — people locked up because of their beliefs or actions related to politics. An Iranian American journalist named Reza Valizadeh is also being held there and has sent voice recordings describing terrible conditions inside the prison. He said medical care is 'almost nonexistent' and that diseases once thought to be wiped out, like tuberculosis, have come back inside the prison walls. Valizadeh has not been allowed to see his family for months.

Valizadeh became a U.S. citizen in 2022 while working in Washington, D.C., for a Persian-language radio station called Radio Farda. He was arrested after traveling to Iran to visit his elderly parents and was charged with working with the U.S. government, which he denies. Like Hekmati, the U.S. government has officially labeled him as wrongfully detained. He is one of at least nine journalists currently held in Iranian prisons, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Both men's cases shine a light on Iran's history of holding Americans to gain political advantages from the U.S.