With Iran 's president in New York for the UN General Assembly , an Iranian-American family in Michigan is appealing to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly to have their son - imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges - released before his father dies of brain cancer . In a hospital interview with CNN , the father of former US marine Amir Mirzaei Hekmati , says if his son is not released soon , he will pass away without ever seeing him again . `` Please , please , please release an innocent man , '' pleaded the father , Ali Hekmati , who had a cancerous tumor removed from his brain . `` Reunite him with his father , his mother . '' Ali Hekmati 's doctor says the cancer is incurable and that he has just months to live . He will undergo radiation treatment and chemotherapy in hopes of extending his life long enough embrace his son one last time . Family pleads for son 's release . `` That 's my biggest fear , that he may not see me and that 's my last wish , to hug him and kiss him before I pass to the other side , '' Ali Hekmati said . Amir Hekmati , a former marine and decorated Iraq war veteran , was born in Arizona and raised in Nebraska and Michigan . Within weeks of setting foot in Iran for the first time in August 2011 to visit his grandmother , he was arrested , interrogated , imprisoned . Months later he appeared on Iranian TV , showcased as a confessed CIA operative . `` They forced him to do that . That 's not true , '' said Hekmati 's mother , Behnaz , referring to the alleged confession . `` They knew he was a military ( soldier ) because he told the Embassy of Iran he was in the military , '' she adds , explaining that her son checked with Iranian authorities in the United States before making the trip . The U.S. State Department also denies Hekmati was spying for the U.S. government and calls the case a gross miscarriage of justice . `` We never thought he should have been arrested . We 've been trying , because he 's a dual U.S.-Iranian national , we 've been trying to get access to him since he was originally locked up , '' said State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland . `` The Iranians have never allowed us to go to see him . '' Mother of accused U.S. spy says Iranian charges are false . A court convicted Hekmati of espionage , sentencing him to death , but he has since been granted a retrial . He remains in prison in Iran and has no idea that his father is dying , his family said . He has a government-approved lawyer in Iran , but contact with him has been sporadic . His father 's neurosurgeon , Dr. Ryan Barrett , believes the emotional stress of his son 's imprisonment will make cancer treatment more challenging . Although the Iranian president has thus far declined to meet with the Hekmatis or discuss Amir 's case , the former marine 's mother is convinced Ahmadinejad will hear their pleas . `` I 'm sure that he 's going to hear my voice . He 's in the United States ; he 's going to listen to me , '' said Amir 's mother . `` I just want him to hear my voice as a mother . '' She has traveled to Iran three times and been granted limited visits . She described her son as disheartened and completely confused as to why he was arrested . `` He is skinny , pale , like a chalk , his face was like chalk . Hair was shaved , had a beard , he walked like this and the feet was together he walked like a robot , '' she said . `` He could n't stop crying and he was ( saying ) ' I do n't know why I 'm here , ' Mom . '' Opinion : Can Iran and America be friends ?
Mother appeals publicly to President Ahmadinejad for Amir Hekmati 's release . Iran says it has no information about the American's whereabouts and is not holding him. `` That 's my last wish , to hug him and kiss him , '' his father says . `` They forced him '' to confess to espionage , his mother says . `` That 's not true ''