FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A former
U.S. Marine recently released from Iran in a prisoner-swap deal returned
to his home state of Michigan on Thursday and thanked those who
"traveled this road with me."
"Many people have traveled this road with me," said Hekmati, 32, on the tarmac. Despite his ordeal, he added, "I'm standing here healthy ... with my head held high."
Hekmati had been at the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his weekend release. He recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he and three fellow Americans realized they were being freed.
Asked about his 4½ years in an Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.
Hekmati was born in Arizona and raised in Michigan. His family is in the Flint area. He was detained in August 2011 on espionage charges. He says he went to Iran to visit family and spend time with his ailing grandmother. After his arrest, family members say they were told to keep the matter quiet.
Convicted by an Iranian
court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later
retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.
"I
was at a point where I had just sort of accepted the fact that I was
going to be spending 10 years in prison, so this was a surprise and I
just feel truly blessed to see my government do so much for me and the
other Americans," Hekmati had told reporters outside Landstuhl.
Hekmati
and his family deny any wrongdoing, and say his imprisonment included
physical and mental torture and long periods of solitary confinement in a
tiny cell.
He has said he
feels lucky and humbled by the support he received from those
campaigning for his release. He also has expressed gratitude to
President Barack Obama, the U.S. Congress and his other supporters,
reserving special thanks for the U.S. Marine Corps
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