A Look at What's Making Montel Williams Cry

By JOHN PARKINSON

Talk-show host Montel Williams made an emotional plea to President Obama today -- calling on the president to gain the release of an American veteran imprisoned in Iran for nearly four years.

Williams, a retired lieutenant commander with the U.S. Navy, joined the family of Amir Hekmati at the U.S. Capitol to lobby Congress for his release from the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

“This young man that's there, 1340 days, he is there because he wore the uniform to protect us, to allow us to be here and have the freedoms that we have,” Williams said, his voice cracking. “How dare we turn a back on him right now when we see ships on the horizon heading in a way that may send us all into harm's way again?”

Hekmati, an American-Iranian dual national, was arrested in August 2011 on a trip to visit his grandmother, according to his family. He later confessed to traveling to Iran to infiltrate the country on behalf of CIA and was initially sentenced to death. An Iranian court later overturned his sentence and ordered a retrial, which the 31-year-old still awaits.

Williams questioned how Obama is able to send men and women in the military into harm’s way “when we know that we won't step up and protect them when they're arrested by a country just because they wore our uniform?”

“Let this country understand, we love you, we respect you, we will put our lives on the line for you. Defend us, that's all we're asking. Bring this young man home,” Williams added, choking through tears. “I look to our commander-in-chief. You look to him as the president, I look to him as that fictional six-star general. The same applies for him. We leave no soldier behind.”

To date, President Obama has not uttered Hekmati’s name in public. Hours after Obama used his appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to call for the release of another American held prisoner in Iran, Hekmati told his family that he was taunted by Iranian prison guards who told him the president did not mention his name.

While she’s visiting the nation’s capital this week, Hekmati’s sister, Sarah, said that she wants to meet with White House officials to question the president’s silence and discuss her brother’s case.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, Hekmati’s hometown congressman, today introduced a bipartisan resolution expressing the sense of congress that Iran should immediately release all detained Americans held within its borders.

“It’s never enough until we know that he’s home,” Sarah Hekmati said. “We hope and pray that this message reaches the ears of the Iranian authorities that are holding Amir and we want to see a resolution that will be progress for not only Amir and the others, but an attempt for Amir to be able to be sent home back to our family.”