Hekmati after Iran prison release: ‘I feel alive’

Jason Rezaian, the American journalist released by Iran on Saturday, has made his first public appearance today outside a medical center in Germany where he is being treated before returning to the U.S.

“I’m staying with my family at a very comfortable guesthouse on the base, which has been a great place to begin my recovery”, he said.

While not specifically included as part of the deal, Iran agreed to release four Americans it was holding prisoner. “The hospitality, chocolates, veal was served” aboard the private jet provided by the Swiss, who handle American diplomatic affairs with Iran.

Hekmati was convicted in a secretive trial and sentenced to death in 2012, but the sentence was later overturned.

While noting the “grace and dignity” Hekmati, 32, carries himself with even after the ordeal, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, added that “anyone who meets him would recognize this is a person coming out of something that’s really hard”. Rezaian shared his experiences in prison, stating that at one point he spent 49 days in solitary confinement.

Rezaian, a dual US-Iranian citizen born in California, was detained in Iran on July 22, 2014.

He was jailed in 2011 on spying charges while visiting his grandmother.

Hekmati said he was incredibly grateful to everyone who worked to gain his freedom, and he was in awe and “humbled” by the outpouring of support.

Hekmati did not elaborate on his four-and-a-half years in prison, but when asked how he was feeling, he responded, “I am well, and I’m only going to get better, I hope”.

“While I am thankful that the State Department and the Obama administration has called for my release and that of my fellow Americans, there has been no serious response to this blatant and ongoing mistreatment of Americans by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and they continue on with impunity”, Hekmati wrote to congressional leaders in April.

A Swiss plane took Hekmati along with Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief and Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, as well as some family members, from Tehran to Geneva on Sunday.

“It’s Jason’s story and I think the world wants to hear directly from him”, Huffman said.

On a regional level, Iran plays a central role in supporting Syria’s government and could have important sway in any U.S.-backed political settlement to end the more than five-year crisis. “But what amazed me about my time with him last night is his spirit – if the Republican Guard thought they’d break the spirit of this guy, they failed miserably”.

The deal between Washington and Tehran came under criticism from many Republican presidential contenders, but Hekmati said he was grateful to the president for agreeing to the swap after years of efforts to free the men.