Arrest of ‘Kamran Hakmi’: A Family Trip Turned into a Human Rights Case

Kamran Hakmi, an Iranian-born Jewish and American citizen, was arrested in Iran and sentenced to prison following a trip to Israel thirteen years ago.

According to Kamran Hakmi’s family, the 70-year-old Iranian-born Jewish resident of New York was arrested in Iran and sentenced to imprisonment due to a trip he took to Israel thirteen years ago. His family states that the trip was made to participate in a religious ceremony called “Bar Mitzvah” (his son’s religious coming of age) and had no political motivation.

Hakmi, who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, traveled to Iran in May of this year for a brief visit. He has been held in Evin Prison in Tehran since June, following the end of the twelve-day conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic.

His family announced that the Revolutionary Court sentenced him in late August to four years in prison under a law that prohibits Iranians from traveling to Israel. However, according to published reports, Hakmi’s prison sentence was initially reduced to two years and then to one year.

Kamran Hakmi was born in Iran but immigrated to the United States at age thirteen and traveled using an Iranian passport to visit his family; since Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and requires its citizens to use Iranian passports for travel. Family members who refused to be identified said they are concerned about the potential consequences of this case.

Hakmi’s family lawyer submitted a request for appeal of the verdict, but the date for the appeals court hearing has not yet been set. His family expressed hope that Iranian authorities would consider his physical condition and review his release on humanitarian grounds. They said Hakmi suffers from “aggressive bladder cancer” and had no political activities, and that his trip was personal in nature.

It should be noted that Iran’s representation at the United Nations has refrained from commenting on this case.

According to human rights organizations, at least four American citizens are currently detained in Iran: Kamran Hakmi, Reza Vali-Zade (journalist), and two other women whose names have not been disclosed. The U.S. State Department, in response to this news, cited security considerations and privacy protection, and refrained from making direct comments about the case details, but stated in a statement that Washington continues to work with its allies to pursue the issue of “unfair detention in Iran.”

The statement said: “The Iranian regime has a long history of unfair and unlawful detention of nationals of other countries. Iran must immediately release these individuals.”

Human rights analysts also say Hakmi’s arrest is a reminder of the Islamic Republic’s use of dual-national citizens as political leverage in negotiations or prisoner exchanges. However, according to The New York Times, this is the first known case in recent years that has resulted in a prison sentence solely due to a personal trip to Israel.

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen and former prisoner who was released last year as part of an agreement between Tehran and Washington, said in an interview: “With the unlawful detention of Hakmi and others, Tehran is once again fueling tensions with the United States and Israel without cause.”

Kamran Hakmi owns a jewelry workshop in New York’s diamond district and lives in the Great Neck area of Long Island, where a significant population of Iranian-born Jews reside. His family said he was a quiet person, family-oriented and committed to Iranian and Jewish traditions.

“Shahreh Noufer,” one of his relatives in California, said of him: “Kamran was always the one who brought the family together. He was always there for everyone; for his wife, his children, his relatives and everyone he met in Iran. It is strange and painful that the same country he loved and helped is now imprisoning him.”

According to his family, Kamran Hakmi was arrested by security forces in May while exiting Tehran International Airport and his passport was confiscated. Officials then demanded to examine his mobile phone and social media accounts. According to The New York Times, he was interrogated several times from May to early July, and finally in early July, following the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, he was formally arrested.

He was initially tried without a lawyer present, and his family was only able to hire a lawyer after the verdict was issued. While government officials have refrained from commenting on the case, human rights organizations say Hakmi’s arrest and conviction do not comply with fair trial standards.

In recent years, Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly asked Iranians living abroad, including religious minorities, to return to the country with confidence. However, Kamran Hakmi’s case, as The New York Times noted, has raised new questions about the safety of travel for dual-national Iranians and religious freedom in Iran.

This case has now become a symbol of tension between human rights commitments and domestic policies, and remains awaiting a decision from the appeals court.