Tagged: Iran

 A state House committee takes up legislation tomorrow to prevent companies with ties to Iran from doing business with the state of Michigan.

Republican lawmaker Marty Knollenberg admits he doesn’t know of any Michigan businesses working with Iran. But he says it sends an important message.

“This brings attention to the problems of Iran," says Knollenberg, " They are a threat. They are a rogue nation.  We need to put this issue on the forefront.”  

Knollenberg says state and federal sanctions may help prevent the Iranian government from developing nuclear weapons. 

An Iranian semiofficial news agency reports that the country's Supreme Court has ordered the retrial of an ex-Marine who was sentenced to death for working for the CIA.

Amir Hekmati's family lives in Flint. 

The Monday report by ISNA quotes state prosecutor Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehei as saying the Supreme Court has found shortcomings in the case and sent it for review by another court.

In January an Iranian court sentenced Arizona-born Amir Hekmati to death for allegedly being a CIA spy.

It was the first time an American citizen has been sentenced to death in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Michigan man accused by Iran of being a CIA spy had ties to a gaming company. Those ties could help explain his detention. The Flint Journal reports Amir Hekmati was listed as a main contact in a Pentagon language-training contract by Kuma Games. Kuma Games produces the game "Assault on Iran."

The New York Times says this tie could help explain why Iran has suspicions about Hekmati. Iran has detained Hekmati and has sentenced him to death. Hekmati and is family say he was visiting family in Iran when he was detained.

Hekmati was born in Arizona and grew up in the Flint area. His father is a professor at a community college in Flint.

The Michigan family of an Iranian-American detained in Iran for four months on espionage charges says he's not getting adequate legal representation. 

The family of Amir Hekmati said in a statement that his "only advocate in Iran is a government-appointed lawyer who he first met on the day of his trial." The statement says the family has tried to hire "at least 10 different attorneys ... but to no avail."

The family also says they tried to contact at least five different high officials in the Iranian government, including Iran's president and the country's representatives in the U.S., but have not received any reply.