American on Iran's Death Row Visited by His Mother The mother of an American man sentenced to death in Iran for espionage visited her gaunt and frightened son on death row in a Tehran prison this month, as his lawyers in Iran began an appeal of his conviction, an American lawyer representing the family said on Tuesday. Benhaz Hekmati traveled alone to Tehran on Jan. 28 to visit her son, Amir Mizraei Hekmati, a former Marine who, according to rights activists, is the first American citizen sentenced to death in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Mrs. Hekmati stayed with close relatives, and visited her son at Evin Prison three times, spending roughly an hour with him each time, before returning to the United States last week. "She had no restrictions on her movement - she was able to meet her son, to see her son and to hug and hold him," said the lawyer, Pierre-Richard Prosper, a former diplomat who negotiated the release of another American of Iranian descent in 2010. Her purpose for being there was to be the mother. According to his mother, Mr. Hekmati, 28, appeared to have lost weight and remained in a state of shock about his situation. "While he is disappointed by the circumstances he finds himself in, he is hopeful that the truth will be known and he will be able to come home very soon," Mrs. Hekmati said in a prepared statement. She described the Iranian officials she met as "hospitable" and "respectful." Shortly before her trip to Tehran, a court-appointed attorney in Iran filed an appeal of Mr. Hekmati's sentence, which under Iranian law can be done only within 20 days of sentencing. The family has since hired a private lawyer in Tehran to represent him. Mr. Prosper and a public-relations company representing Mr. Hekmati's interests have largely remained tight-lipped about their efforts, choosing to operate behind the scenes rather than mount the kind of public campaign that has often followed the imprisonment of other Americans. A Web site calling for Mr. Hekmati's release, FreeAmir.org, has not been updated since January, shortly after the death sentence was handed down by the Islamic Revolution Court Branch 15 in Tehran. "By remaining discreet," Mr. Prosper said, "you are not ruling out the option to be more public later. A more visible campaign has not been ruled out. The arc of Mr. Hekmati's case has closely tracked the international war of words over Iran's nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing weapons but which Tehran insists is peaceful. Mr. Prosper said the Hekmati family wanted to avoid having Mr. Hekmati's situation get caught up in the broader back-and-forth between Iran and the United States or in the speculation over a pre-emptive military strike by Israel. "We're interested in making this about Amir, and not about geopolitical issues," he said. The next step for the family and its lawyers would be to gain access to the case file to learn exactly what facts underpin the Iranian conviction. The details have remained mysterious since Mr. Hekmati was detained in August, when, according to his family he had been visiting his grandparents in Iran. Iran did not even confirm that he was in custody until December, when he was put in front of Iranian state television cameras for a national broadcast. In the interview, shown on Dec. 18, Mr. Hekmati was heard to say that he had enlisted in the military out of high school in 2001, had received language and espionage training and had been sent to Iran by the Central Intelligence Agency. The C.I.A. has declined to comment on the case. The White House and the State Department have denied that Mr. Hekmati, who was born in Flagstaff, Ariz., was a spy and have called for his immediate release. Iran has a history of arresting Americans and convicting them of spying, and then freeing them once bail money is paid. Two American hikers who received harsh eight-year prison sentences were released in September after two years of diplomatic skirmishes and a very public media campaign by supporters. A $500,000 bail was paid for each of them. "Experience shows that the Iranian officials are very concerned about public relations and how they are reflected in global media," said Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University. The more public this becomes, the more political it becomes. Haleh Esfandiari, who was jailed in Iran for more than three months in 2007, said that public attention helped secure her freedom. "Everywhere the Iranian diplomats went, they were asked about me," she said. But Ms. Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said that though Mr. Hekmati's death sentence might never be carried out, negotiations over his fate would probably not be swift. "I don't want to sound pessimistic," she said, "but this might stretch on for years."