A former US Marine who claimed he was tortured by Iran has accused the United States of unlawfully revoking his eligibility for $20 million in federal government compensation for victims of foreign terrorism.
Michigan resident Amir Hekmati in a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday claimed that the US Justice Department and others violated his US constitutional rights and other protections after he endured nearly five years of detention in Iran.
Hekmati said he suffered “prolonged and continuous” physical abuse in an Iranian prison. He said his interrogators accused him of being a US spy.
He was returned to the United States in 2016 as part of a prisoner trade between the two countries brokered under US President Barack Obama.
According to the lawsuit, Hekmati was told in 2017 that he would receive a $20 million payment from the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, established by the US Congress in 2015 to compensate US citizens for torture abroad.
But the funds were not released to him, and the fund’s then-administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, in 2020 said Hekmati was not eligible after the Justice Department determined that he lied about his reasons for being in Iran.
Hekmati has said he was visiting an ailing family member on his 2011 trip to Iran. But the Justice Department said he traveled to Iran “primarily for reasons unrelated to a family visit.”
Hekmati’s lawsuit said the Justice Department falsely maintained he wanted to sell classified information to Iran.
His lawyers have said he had “no motive to put his life at risk by selling secrets to a hostile government.” He was never charged with a crime.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department on Thursday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hekmati’s lawyers at plaintiffs’ firm Gilbert also did not immediately respond to a similar request.
Hekmati served in the US Marines from 2001 to 2005 as an infantry rifleman and translator. From 2005 to 2011 he was a military contractor focused on Farsi translation and cultural education, according to his lawsuit, before briefly serving in Afghanistan as a US intelligence analyst.
The Justice Department said Hekmati accessed classified materials while in Afghanistan that were outside the scope of his work there, shortly before he visited Iran.
Hekmati’s lawsuit said he should have an “opportunity to confront and cross-examine” unidentified witnesses against him that he believes caused the government to backtrack on granting his terror victims’ payment.
He said he has provided written evidence and testimony that contradicts the Justice Department’s allegations.
