By AP
FLINT, MI –
A family friend of a Michigan high school graduate accused by Iran of working for the CIA says efforts continue to free him.
Flint-area lawyer Muna Jondy told The Flint Journal for a story Wednesday that 28-year-old Amir Mirzaei Hekmati's family in Michigan was "frantic" following a report Tuesday from the semiofficial Fars news agency that he could face the death penalty.
Messages seeking comment from Jondy and Hekmati's father, a professor at Mott Community College in Flint, were left Wednesday by The Associated Press.
In a closed court hearing, the prosecution applied for capital punishment, the Fars report said, in part because Hekmati "planned to imply that Iran was involved in terrorist activities."
Hekmati's family has said he is not a CIA spy.