(Reuters) – Iranian-American Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine whose previous death sentence in Iran on espionage charges was overturned, has been secretly retried, convicted of collaborating with the U.S. government and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the New York Times reported on Friday, quoting his lawyer.
The newspaper quoted lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei as saying Hekmati, held since 2011, was not told by Iranian officials about the retrial, conviction or prison sentence. The Times quoted Tabatabaei as saying Hekmati was retried by a revolutionary court in December and convicted of “practical collaboration with the American government.”
The U.S. State Department did not confirm the developments but reiterated America calls for his release.
“We remain concerned about the fate of Mr. Hekmati, who has been detained by Iranian officials for over two years and was sentenced on fabricated espionage charges. We again ask Iranian authorities to release him so he may be safely reunited with his family,” said a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.