Iran's Supreme Court has overturned a death sentence for spying handed down to former US Marine Amir Mirzai Hekmati, Iranian media reported on Monday, quoting a top judiciary official. "The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court ... The case has been sent back" to the court for retrial, prosecutor general Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei told a press conference, ISNA news agency reported without elaborating.
Another news agency, Fars, similarly reported Mohseni Ejei's comments but it too gave no further details. Hekmati, an ex-Marine born in the United States to an Iranian immigrant family, was sentenced to death on January 9 by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Hekmati, who also holds Iranian nationality, was "sentenced to death for co-operating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism," according to Iranian media. The 28-year-old Hekmati was shown on Iranian state television in December saying in Farsi and English that he was an operative for the Central Intelligence Agency sent to infiltrate Iran's intelligence ministry.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.