Post reporter released by Iran flying back to US

Amir Hekmati, a marine veteran from Flint, Michigan, who was released alongside Rezaian, told reporters on Tuesday that his release was a complete surprise. “I hope everyone will respect my need for privacy as I take some time for myself and for my family”. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Hekmati’s home state of MI, said he spent several hours with the 32-year-old, who spent 4 ½ years imprisoned in Iran before his release over the weekend.

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Champagne flowed and chocolates were passed around moments after a group of former Iranian American prisoners left Iranian airspace aboard a special Swiss jet that carried them to freedom.

Hekmati was freed over the weekend along with four other Americans held in Iranian prisons.

When asked how he feels now, Hekmati said: “It feels great”.

On their website, the Hekmati family alleges that for the first four months of his detention, Hekmati was held in a cell that was just 3 feet by 3 feet. “I feel really lucky”.

Jason Rezaian, the Tehran correspondent for the Washington Post, spent 545 days behind bars in Iran. He was originally sentenced to death. He said he is looking forward to returning to American soil to see the rest of his family.

“Jason was in good spirits”, his editors said in a memo to newsroom staff following brief telephone conversations with Rezaian. A fourth American released in the deal, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, chose to remain in Iran.

“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.

Former US Marine Amir Hekmati was speaking from a US military base in Germany where the former detainees were flown on Sunday.

Kildee, a Flint-area Democrat who traveled to Germany with Hekmati’s relatives and visited with him there, told reporters at the airport that this was “Amir’s day”.

“Having Jason and our family back together is an incredible feeling after all that has taken place over the past eighteen months”, Rezaian’s mother, Mary, said in the statement”.

Abedini, an Iran native and convert to Christianity, was arrested in 2012 and convicted the next year on charges of attempting to undermine the Iranian government.

He previously said he was eager to catch up on the events he missed while in Iranian jails, including basketball and the latest Star Wars film.

Khamenei, however, noted “pessimism” linked to comments by US politicians as global sanctions were lifted – a provision to the nuclear deal after Iran complied with measures to reduce its nuclear capacities and stockpiles.

Two other Americans freed by Iran, a Christian minister and a former U.S. Marine, returned to the United States on Thursday.