NOVI, Mich. (AP) — The father of an ex-Marine held on spying charges in Iran has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is pleading to see his son before he dies.
Amir Hekmati was born in Arizona and raised in Michigan. His parents live in the Flint area, where father Ali Hekmati teaches at Mott Community College.
His family says the elder Hekmati had a stroke, and surgery at Providence Park Hospital in the Detroit suburb of Novi found he had a brain tumor.
Ali Hekmati's son-in-law Bilal Kurdi says he hopes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance Wednesday at the U.N. in New York offers a chance to plea again for Amir Hekmati's release on humanitarian grounds.
The U.S. State Department denies Iran's accusation that Amir Hekmati was a CIA spy.
