Concerns grow for Long Island's Kamran Hekmati, detained in Iran for nearly 300 days

Supporters of a Jewish American man from Great Neck Estates detained for nearly 300 days in Iran say they believe he is alive but concern for his safety is mounting as war there ends its second week.

Kamran Hekmati, 61, one of at least six Americans advocates say are unjustly detained in Iran, has made "intermittent" communication with his family in the past week, said Kieran Ramsey, chief investigative officer of Global Reach, a nonprofit advocating for Hekmati’s release on behalf of his wife and their three adult children. Ramsey declined to describe the communication in detail because doing so would threaten further contact, he said.

"As best we can tell, he’s still getting food and water, but at the same time, he’s not getting the appropriate medical care he needs," said Ramsey. Hekmati is a bladder cancer survivor.

The war has magnified longstanding concerns over Hekmati’s welfare and introduced new ones, Ramsey said. As an American, "He could face reprisals from prison guards and from other prisoners." Supporters also worry about the risk of collateral damage from strikes on or around where he is being held, Ramsey said.

Hekmati is believed held in Evin prison on the northern outskirts of Tehran, whose facilities Human Rights Watch describes as "overcrowded, filthy, and insect-infested," with inmates subjected to "ill-treatment and violence."

Last June during the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran, an Israeli airstrike on the prison killed at least 71 people including staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary said at the time.

Over the past two weeks of intense airstrikes across Iran by the United States and Israel, some explosions have occurred dangerously close to the prison, human rights advocates have said.

Last week, Amnesty International warned that "explosions from airstrikes targeting buildings of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting near the Evin prison complex on 3 March were so powerful that prisoners feared the prison itself had been struck."

Amnesty quoted a March 3 letter from human rights defender Reza Khandan to the Iranian judiciary. The letter warned that prisoners were "under the threat of bombardment day and night, and many essential services to prisoners have been cut off." Amnesty described Khandan as a human rights defender also being held at the prison.

Hekmati and other American detainees lost a key link to the outside world this week when Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, announced it was temporarily closing its embassy there. The U.S. government does not have diplomatic or consular relations with Iran.

On Feb. 27, the U.S. State Department designated Iran a "State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention." That move could have restricted use of U.S. passports to, through or from Iran, a sanction that was rendered somewhat moot after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Hekmati, a jeweler and village zoning official, was detained by Iranian security forces in 2025 when he visited the country on family business; he was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison under an Iranian law that made travel to Israel illegal. Last December, he was charged with meeting agents of Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad.

Hekmati’s family said he has never met with Mossad. They said he had visited Israel for a nephew’s bar mitzvah, but the visit was 13 years before his arrest — outside the Iranian law’s 10-year look-back.

U.S. officials and experts this week described Hekmati’s detention as an example of a longstanding Iranian practice of using prisoners to bargain for political concessions.

A State Department spokesperson this week did not comment in detail on the detainee cases, citing safety concerns, but said in an email that "The Iranian regime has a long and shameful history of unjustly detaining U.S. nationals and other foreign citizens. ... The Iranian regime should immediately release all Americans detained in Iran."

 Elizabeth Richards. director of Hostage Advocacy and Research for the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, said Iran’s detention of Hekmati appeared to fit a decades-old pattern. "Since 2003, there have been at least 30 Americans — we would say innocent Americans — that Iran has taken and then leveraged for their own political reasons." 

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said in a statement: "Hekmati and the other detainees are being held not for any crimes, but for who they are: Americans. In Mr. Hekmati’s case, a Jewish American. Iran is the world’s leading practitioner of state-sponsored hostage diplomacy, and this abuse must end. If Iran wants an off-ramp from this conflict, the release of American citizens must be part of that path."

One of Hekmati’s cousins, Shohreh Nowfar, said the family would not comment out of concern for his safety.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. 

In a phone interview, David Eshaghoff, who has for years sat with Hekmati on Great Neck Estates’ Zoning Board of Appeals, said he and his neighbors saw Hekmati as a victim.

"Not just in Iran, but throughout the world, if one nation has any sort of conflict with another, they will just trump up some charges," Eshaghoff said. "Kamran is a case in point. He was born in Iran and they had a good opportunity to get him. They can allege whatever they want — their court system, their trial system is a sham anyways."

Hekmati is still listed as a zoning board of appeals member, though alternates have been filling in for him, Eshaghoff said. "Right now we all more concerned about him, his well being and his health."