Great Neck Village Official Locked-up in Iranian Jail

By Rupert Deedes

In May 2025, Kamran Hekmati, a 70-year-old "Persian" Jewish-Iranian American citizen from Great Neck, traveled to Iran for what he believed would be a routine visit to see his family.

He entered Iran using an Iranian passport, which is required by Iran under Iranian law for those who were born in Iran, regardless of whether they hold dual nationality.

Then he was arrested in July 2025 in Tehran and charged with the crime of  "making a trip to Israel" - 13 years ago.

Hekmati had traveled to Israel in 2012 for his son’s Bar Mitzvah. Iranian law prohibits its citizens from traveling to Israel, even if they are citizens of another country.

In August 2025, Iran’s "Islamic Revolutionary Court" sentenced Hekmati to four years in prison. His legal team has filed an appeal, but as of now there is no confirmed date for a hearing.

Since his arrest, Hekmati has been held in Evin Prison, a notoriously brutal prison, and his health is deteriorating.

Hekmati, a longtime Long Island resident, runs a successful jewelry business in New York City’s Diamond District. He also serves as a member of the Great Neck Estates Village Zoning Board of Appeals.

"Iran needs to release Hekmati now," stated North Hempstead Councilman David Adhami (R-Great Neck), whose own family fled from Iran after the country was taken over by the Ayatollahs. "He is an American and is being held hostage by a criminal regime that has no respect for decency, law or human rights." 

Adhami has pledged to fight hard to secure Hetmati's release.  

Hekmati was born in Iran and moved to the US over 55 years ago - when he was about 13. He has been a US citizen for decades, but still holds Iranian dual citizenship because Iran will not allow its emigres to give up Iranian citizenship. 

His family says he is battling aggressive bladder cancer, which makes his detention particularly dangerous and possibly lethal.

US Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY3), who represents Great Neck, has pressed the US State Department to try to intervene.

In a letter to the State Department, Suozzi asks for an immediate diplomatic engagement with Iran to gain Hekmati’s release, and for a classified update to Congress about the danger to Americans currently detained by Iran. 

Observers note that Hekmati’s imprisonment fits a pattern of what critics call “hostage diplomacy” by Iran, using dual nationals as bargaining chips.

Hekmati’s case underscores the risks dual nationals face in Iran, especially Jewish Iranians who have ties to Israel.

The Persian-Jewish community on Long Island is particularly sensitive: Great Neck has the largest population of Persian Jews in the United States.