Three members of Congress who represent the U.S. citizens freed by Iran traveled Monday to the U.S. military’s Landstuhl medical center in Germany to greet and join their constituents on the last leg of the journey home.
Five Iranian-Americans were released by Iran Saturday, four as part of a prisoner swap and one other as part of a separate deal between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian officials.
Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini arrived in Germany to return to the U.S. They departed Iran late Saturday and traveled to Switzerland and on to Germany, where they received medical and psychological evaluations at the medical center.
“Think about a person who spent four-and-a-half years much of it in solitary confinement,” Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan’s 5th District said during a press conference Monday. “Re-entering into the world as a free person will take more than just a deep breath. It will take a little bit of help, and that starts here.”
Kildee, who represents Hekmati’s Flint, Mich., home, called the former Marine a “patriot” for his service to America. Hekmati was imprisoned while visiting his family in Iran, and remained there for four and a half years
Amir Hekmati asked to send his own tweet from my page. Here is a personal note from him: #FreedAmir pic.twitter.com/en19rlsdAZ
— Rep. Dan Kildee (@RepDanKildee) January 18, 2016
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., came on behalf of the state’s northern 2nd District, where Jason Rezaian was born and raised. Huffman thanked the State Department for its long-term work and negotiations over the weekend to free the five men.
“I think my entire district stands here this evening with a lot of relief and gratitude and we look forward to very much getting Jason Rezaian back home on American soil,” Huffman said.
Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger of North Carolina, who worked 2 1/2 years with religious leaders to free Abedini, was the only congressman to voice concern about how the Americans were relinquished by Iran.
“We’ve paid a price in a major way to bring them home. Yes, we do rejoice in this moment and we celebrate this moment, but we also recognize that door is open even further for what could happen in the future to other American citizens traveling throughout the world,” Pittenger said at the conference.
Four of the freed Americans, imprisoned despite not breaking any laws, were let go as part of a deal that the U.S. pardon the sentences of six Iranian-Americans and one Iranian.
The fourth man, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, chose to remain in Iran. The fifth person, student Matthew Trevithick, 30, flew out of Iran on his own Saturday.
