Long Island jeweler, 71, released from brutal Iranian prison after more than a year but still banned from leaving the country

A Long Island jeweler held in captivity for over a year has been freed from a notorious Iranian prison known for torturing inmates, the US State Department announced Tuesday.Kamran Hekmati, of Great Neck Estates, was detained by Iranian authorities in May 2025 while visiting family in Iran — and was accused of illegally traveling to Israel for his son’s bar mitzvah in 2012.“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, Radio Free Europe’s Persian-language outlet.US Rep.

Tom Suozzi, whose district includes Great Neck Estates, called it “a wonderful first step.”“His health is OK, but we need the Iranians to go the next step and let him come home,” Suozzi told Newsday.Hekmati — a 71-year-old Jewish Iranian-American who runs a jewelry business in Manhattan’s Diamond District — is believed to have been released on Friday, but is still unable to leave Iran because of a travel ban.Iranian passport holders are barred from visiting Israel, which has been locked in bitter conflict with the Islamic Republic ever since the 12-Day War in June 2025.

Following Hekmati’s arrest by Iranian authorities in July 2025, Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced the American to four years in prison for his trip to Israel. His sentence was later reduced to two years after the statute was amended.Hekmati spent over a year of his sentence imprisoned in Iran’s Evin Prison, a harsh facility known for excessive crackdowns, harsh beatings and other harrowing uses of unlawful force against prisoners, according to Amnesty International.Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist who has been held in Evin since September 2024 in connection with his work for Radio Farda, was also wrongly detained in May 2025.A voice recording made by Valizadeh, 49, inside the prison has raised alarms about the treatment of the hostages.Valizadeh descr...