Prague – RFERL, Sept. 07, 2026
An Iranian-American citizen, Kamran Hekmati, has been released from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, but he is unable to leave the country due to a travel ban.
The release has not yet been officially confirmed by Iranian authorities but was welcomed by US authorities on September 8.
“We welcome Mr. Hekmati’s release from detention and continue to call on the Iranian regime to lift the exit ban so that he may return home,” the State Department told Radio Farda.
Hekmati, who was designated as a wrongfully detained person by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March, is believed to have been released on September 5.
The 71-year-old traveled to Iran to visit relatives on his Iranian passport in May 2025 and was detained by the authorities two months later. Tehran’s Revolutionary Court subsequently sentenced him to four years in prison for having traveled to Israel for a religious ceremony over a decade earlier. Holders of Iranian passports are barred from traveling to Israel.
His sentence was later reduced to two years after a change in the law governing such travel.
