NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 An Iranian American jeweler from New York has been released from prison in Iran, but he is prohibited from leaving the country, according to his family and federal officials.<\/p>\n
Kamran Hekmati<\/a> was let out of Tehran\u2019s notorious Evin prison on Sept. 5 after completing about half of a two-year sentence, his family recently wrote on a website advocating for his release.<\/p>\n The family said they are also \u201cdesperately afraid for his health and well-being\u201d as he requires regular medical checkups to ensure his bladder cancer doesn\u2019t relapse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Iranian regime couldn\u2019t care less,\u201d the family wrote of Hekmati\u2019s medical challenges. \u201cMuch like other wrongful detention cases in Iran, Kamran appears to be caught up in Iran\u2019s traditional approach of detaining Americans to obtain political concessions from the US.\u201d<\/p>\n Representatives for the family and the federal government didn\u2019t say where Hekmati, who turned 62 in August, is currently staying in Iran.<\/p>\n But Shohreh Nowfar, Hekmati\u2019s cousin in California, said Friday that the family is \u201cexcited\u201d and hopeful that his passport can be returned soon so he can leave the country, which has been at war with the U.S. and Israel for more than six months<\/a> now.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to hope this is a signal from the Iranian side as to their willingness to send Kamran home,\u201d added Kieran Ramsey, chief investigative officer at Global Reach, a U.S. nonprofit working on Hekmati\u2019s case.<\/p>\n The Iranian American, who is also Jewish, owns a jewelry business in Manhattan\u2019s Diamond District and has lived with his family for years in Great Neck Estates, on suburban Long Island.<\/p>\n He was arrested by Iranian authorities last July after having his passport seized while trying to fly out of the airport in Tehran that May.<\/p>\n Hekmati\u2019s family says he was charged under an Iranian law that bans Iranian citizens from visiting Israel within the last 10 years. But they maintain his last trip to Israel was 13 years ago — prior to the passage of the law — for his son\u2019s bar mitzvah.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Hekmati did nothing wrong,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat who advocated for the State Department to officially designate Hekmati as wrongfully detained earlier this year. \u201cWe cannot rest until he is reunited with his family.\u201d<\/p>\n The State Department similarly called on Iran to lift its so-called exit ban so Hekmati can return to the U.S. It also said the country should \u201cimmediately release\u201d Iranian American journalist Reza Valizadeh and other Americans \u201cunjustly detained in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n Valizadeh and Hekmati are the two Americans so far officially designated as wrongfully detained in Iran, while up to eight others who have not been publicly named are prohibited from leaving the country, according to Ramsey.<\/p>\n Valizadeh\u2019s lawyer, Ryan Fayhee, declined to comment Friday, citing the risks his client could face behind bars.<\/p>\n But in recent months, the journalist has sent voice messages describing conditions inside Evin prison, a high-security facility that holds<\/a> many of the Islamic Republic\u2019s political prisoners.<\/p>\n In an August recording, Valizadeh, who has been imprisoned since 2024, said prison officials have not allowed his family to visit for the past five months. He also said medical care is \u201calmost non-existent,\u201d save for the most basic medications.<\/p>\n \u201cDiseases that were eradicated decades ago have returned inside the prison, including pulmonary and gastrointestinal tuberculosis,\u201d he said in the voice message, which was shared by CBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Valizadeh also said that prior to his release, Hekmati had been granted a medical furlough for cancer treatment but was ordered back to prison after about a month, rather than being allowed to begin chemotherapy.<\/p>\n