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Report: Iran Sentences U.S. Man to Death for Alleged Spying

RedAkston

RedAkston

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/09/report-iran-sentences-us-man-to-death-for-alleged-spying/

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday, in a case adding to the accelerating tension between the United States and Iran.
Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the verdict was issued. Under Iranian law, he has 20 days to appeal.

The 28-year-old former military translator was born in Arizona and graduated from a high school in Michigan. His family is of Iranian origin. His father, a professor at a community college in Flint, Michigan, has said his son is not a CIA spy and was visiting his grandmothers in Iran when he was arrested.
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This will test the administration if he's executed. I'm curious as to how this plays out.
 
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I don't know why, but this story put me in mind of the Rosenbergs.
 
This is an unfortunate incident. It was also wholly avoidable. Mr. Hekmati should never have been in Iran. The State Department has been warning for years about travel to Iran. A current warning is posted: Iran. Mr. Hekmati chose to ignore the warnings. He did so even as any rational person would understand that an American's traveling in Iran could be problematic and one with a military background would face even higher odds of being apprehended or worse.

Hopefully, the U.S. and other countries can press Iran to avoid an "execution" at a minimum and hopefully he will be released early. In addition, even if Mr. Hekmati is ultimately released, he should be publicly rebuked for having ignored the travel warnings. Unfortunately, because some people deliberately ignore the travel warnings, it might be helpful for there to be a public face to the warnings. Maybe, if some of those individuals saw that ignoring the warnings can have real consequences, they would take a more prudent course.
 
This is very sad, and we should do everything we can to stop this execution.
 
As backwards as things are in this strange new world, this fellas decision to travel into Iran might have earned him the right to be held without trial at a US approved detention facility.
 
While this is sad, this guy either ignored or understood the risk in travelling to Iran. There is a reason the State Department puts these travel warnings out. On the top of my list of places to go, Iran is not one of them.

When will people (especially Americans) realize to not travel to (or near the border or) these hostile countries?
 
Iran is only doing what any country should do if it catches a spy. I am not to sure if this man is or isn't a spy. I realize that some regular people are stupid enough to deliberatly travel to a country that is hostile to Americans.But he isn't the first American to be in Iran tried and sentenced on spying charges,so I have to wonder if Iran's claims are true. If the man is executed maybe this will be a wake up call to Americans wanting to travel to countries hostile to Americans. There is a reason why there are travel warnings and other **** on countries hostile to Americans.
 
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I'm not sure if this man is or isn't a spy. There are conflicting reports being reported. The Australian Media outlets are reporting that Hekmati was shown on Iranian state television mid-December saying in fluent Farsi and English that he was a CIA operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry which wasn't mentioned in the Fox report.

Iran sentences US man to death for spying - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
 
It is, of course, too early to know whether this guy was, as his US family claims, on a family visit, or if, as the Iranian courts claim and he 'confesses' to doing, he was on a mission on behalf of the CIA. One can be sceptical of both claims. If he were working on behalf of the CIA, his family surely would not have been aware of it. On the other hand 'confessions' extracted under torture of whatever form, are surely not worth the tape they're recorded on. Whichever is the case, the Iranian regime will certainly be looking to use it as a bargaining chip. If they have real evidence of spying activities they'll attempt to extract a greater benefit from it. Whatever the case, the guy is in a very unenviable situation.
 
donsutherland1 said:
This is an unfortunate incident. It was also wholly avoidable. Mr. Hekmati should never have been in Iran. The State Department has been warning for years about travel to Iran. A current warning is posted: Iran. Mr. Hekmati chose to ignore the warnings. He did so even as any rational person would understand that an American's traveling in Iran could be problematic and one with a military background would face even higher odds of being apprehended or worse.

Hopefully, the U.S. and other countries can press Iran to avoid an "execution" at a minimum and hopefully he will be released early. In addition, even if Mr. Hekmati is ultimately released, he should be publicly rebuked for having ignored the travel warnings. Unfortunately, because some people deliberately ignore the travel warnings, it might be helpful for there to be a public face to the warnings. Maybe, if some of those individuals saw that ignoring the warnings can have real consequences, they would take a more prudent course.
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Iran have executed 40 people already since January 1st. What part of "they don't mess around" don't people understand? If this man is a spy he won't be getting any special treatment. If he is not then i hope for his sake the US will use all available diplomatic efforts to try and secure his release.
 
He is innocent for sure but Iran wants that little bargaining chip in the face sanctions etc.
 
RDS said:
He is innocent for sure but Iran wants that little bargaining chip in the face sanctions etc.
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We can't possibly know that. He sounds like an ideal candidate for undercover ops: ex-military, fluent Farsi and Arabic speaker, legit reason for being there; but at the same time I wouldn't believe the Iranian regime if they told me that guns go bang. Who knows?
 
donsutherland1 said:
This is an unfortunate incident. It was also wholly avoidable. Mr. Hekmati should never have been in Iran. The State Department has been warning for years about travel to Iran. A current warning is posted: Iran. Mr. Hekmati chose to ignore the warnings. He did so even as any rational person would understand that an American's traveling in Iran could be problematic and one with a military background would face even higher odds of being apprehended or worse.

Hopefully, the U.S. and other countries can press Iran to avoid an "execution" at a minimum and hopefully he will be released early. In addition, even if Mr. Hekmati is ultimately released, he should be publicly rebuked for having ignored the travel warnings. Unfortunately, because some people deliberately ignore the travel warnings, it might be helpful for there to be a public face to the warnings. Maybe, if some of those individuals saw that ignoring the warnings can have real consequences, they would take a more prudent course.
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You have failed to acknowledge the possibility that he might be a spy. He fits the profile of a person you would seek as an agent in Iran. Language, descent, relatives, all good cover. There is no way one can believe what either the US or Iran says when spying is involved. We, as a Nation, certainly are diligently working at developing informational sources in Iran and this guy is a natural. I also don't think he was just arrested out of the blue. I would like to read the details of the Iranian version of events. I don't think that it is patriotic to jump to someone's defense without facts. That would be idiotic.
 
Your Star said:
This is very sad, and we should do everything we can to stop this execution.
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Why? If I walk into a dog fighting ring clothed only in raw steak, should I get any special treatment when the dogs tear me to pieces? Why ANY American would be going to Iran is beyond me. Why a former US Marine would be doing it is even further beyond my comprehension. I held the members of the USMC in much higher esteem than to make a stupid decision like that.
 
Tigger said:
Why ANY American would be going to Iran is beyond me. Why a former US Marine would be doing it is even further beyond my comprehension.
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Unless he was on a mission for the CIA?
 
Well: when they uncovered our ring of spies - they didn't report anything . . . they executed them at the speed of light. Why would this guy go through a trial to be convicted?
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Well: when they uncovered our ring of spies - they didn't report anything . . . they executed them at the speed of light. Why would this guy go through a trial to be convicted?
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To make a public example out of. Maybe they want something from us.
 
Andalublue said:
It is, of course, too early to know whether this guy was, as his US family claims, on a family visit, or if, as the Iranian courts claim and he 'confesses' to doing, he was on a mission on behalf of the CIA.
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We don't know if the alleged confession was extracted by coercion e.g., inhuman treatment, even torture. Iran has well-documented abuses of human rights (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc.), so such coercion cannot be discounted.
 
I just read this today.

[You beat me to it Hugh. :lol:]

If he's executed, then that's just another reason to go to war against Iran/Tehran.
 
The guy was taught Arabic by the Marines, and after his stint there worked for a government defense contractor.

Our governments silence on the matter is deafening. If this guy was really being railroaded, we would be bitching up one side and down the other.

I'm fairly certain he is a U.S. intelligence agent that got caught with his hand in the nan-e nokhodchi jar.

Sometimes soldiers die in the line of duty. Godspeed to this American patriot.
 
Yeah, he's disposable. :roll:
 
jamesrage said:
Iran is only doing what any country should do if it catches a spy. I am not to sure if this man is or isn't a spy. I realize that some regular people are stupid enough to deliberatly travel to a country that is hostile to Americans.But he isn't the first American to be in Iran tried and sentenced on spying charges,so I have to wonder if Iran's claims are true. If the man is executed maybe this will be a wake up call to Americans wanting to travel to countries hostile to Americans. There is a reason why there are travel warnings and other **** on countries hostile to Americans.
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Dude, Iran accuses a couple of twenty-something-year-old hikers of being American spies. Their credibility is shot.
 
Wake said:
Yeah, he's disposable. :roll:
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Unfortunately in the greater sense of things, he is.

Because really, what are you going to do? Go in there and get him out and start a war that has the capacity to kill millions for one man?

It's like when North Korea sunk that South Korean ship, blatantly and obviously, but we didn't go to war over it... Why? Because if we had tens of millions of people would have died. Those soldiers took that Torpedo so the rest of the South Korean people and the armed forces of NATO didn't have to.
 
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