Pastor, retired US Marine freed by Iran back in the US

After 4½ years in an Iranian prison, a former Marine from Flint arrived home Thursday to cheers and congratulations from supporters across the U.S.

He said he’s been hoping for this day since he learned Hekmati was imprisoned, but he didn’t know greeting him would come with a Marine’s welcome.

“I am learning more about the grassroots support I received from ordinary people from across the world over the past 4 1/2 years”. He was one of five Americans released to coincide with the lifting last weekend of economic sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on Tehran’s atomic program.

Former US Marine Amir Hekmati has finally returned home after being held captive in a cramped Iranian cell for more than four years.

Two months later, the Iranian Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and Hekmati was awaiting a second trial while his family worked to get him released. Hekmati said he went to Iran to visit family and spend time with his ailing grandmother. He was sentenced to death the following year but that was commuted to a 10-year prison term. I’ve spent a lot of my life writing about the United States and Iran, and I never imagined – and never wanted – to become a part of the story, particularly at such an extraordinary moment. I love this city and I love these people.

Hekmati, along with Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi, whose name had not been previously made public, were flown from Iran to Switzerland aboard a Swiss aircraft. “You have to be a Marine to understand what that means to us, and he’s a brother, and you don’t leave brothers behind”, Key said. It’s been a very long road.

“I am overjoyed to be reconnecting with my family”, he said in a statement on Friday.

He added that he was ‘healthy, tall and with my head held high’.

Two other Iranian-Americans were aboard the same flight from Tehran. His family is in the Flint area.

The 32-year-old Hekmati has been at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his release over the weekend. They were accused of exporting goods ranging from electronic components and satellite services to marine navigation and military equipment to Iran.