Hekmati spotted at Super Bowl

Three weeks after being freed from an Iranian prison, Flint resident and former Marine Amir Hekmati popped up in social media photographs Sunday at Super Bowl 50.

Photos of Hekmati were posted on Facebook by Greta Van Susteren, a Fox News channel anchor, with his arms outstretched with a backdrop of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the Denver Broncos prevailed over the Carolina Panthers, 24-10.

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“(Four) weeks ago Marine Hekmati was in an Iranian prison with no hope...and tonight? with his brother in law Dr. Ramy Kurdi in SF at the Super Bowl. What a difference!!!” Van Susteran wrote. “I love these pics. And I am so glad our marine is finally home!”

She also posted the picture on Twitter, thanking House of Switzerland and Martin Dahinden, ambassador of Switzerland to the United States.

She also asked about Bob Levinson, an American private investigator and retired from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who was also an FBI agent. He disappeared while visiting Kish Island in Iran in 2007.

Hekmati, 32, was the longest-held American prisoner in Iran. He was arrested while visiting his grandmother in 2011, and spent 41/2 years in prison allegedly for spying. He returned home to Flint on Jan. 21.

Hekmati could not be reached for comment.

But Van Susteran’s post of Hekmati was shared 3,000 times and liked by nearly 30,000 people.

“Welcome Home, Warrior!!!!” wrote Aubrey Sloan Lambert. “May God continue to bless you abundantly and your time of trials not be in vain! You are a better person than most to endure what you did. Never again. That is my hope for you and so many others.”