Jan

31

With Friends Like That . . .


Posted by at 11:18 am on January 31, 2012
Category: Criminal PenaltiesIran Sanctions

Sharif University of Technology
ABOVE: Sharif Univ. of Technology

Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi, a professor at Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology was arrested on December 7, 2011, when he stepped off a plane in Los Angeles where he had arrived for a medical visit to his brother’s cardiologist. The criminal complaint against him is sealed and the arrest was only made known because his name shows up in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

A bail hearing was held last week and Atarodi has been released on bail, partly due to his health problems. He has recently had two heart attacks, two heart surgeries and a stroke. Articles published by Atarodi that can be found on the web appear to deal mainly with semiconductor and microchip technology without any specific defense applications.

The U.S. government has still not released any information on the charges against Atarodi, although it is widely, and legitimately, assumed that they are export related. A spokesman for Sharif University said that Professor Atarodi was charged with buying scientific equipment from the United States, stating:

He was trying to buy some equipment for his lab, and the equipment was very, very simple, ridiculously simple stuff that anybody can buy. …

An official statement released by Sharif University, which appears to be aware somehow of the items mentioned in the indictment, said this about the items in question:

The items mentioned in the indictment, if truly purchased by him are all simple, basic, and elementary components and equipment that are easily sourced and can be found in every electrical engineering department. It is so disappointing to note that most of the items in question are not even the so called “dual use” equipment.

Of course, the Iran sanctions cover all items of any sort exported from the U.S., although an arrest and criminal prosecution is rare for items without some further strategic significance.

Even though the U.S. government’s lips are sealed, Atarodi’s defense counsel is not quite so taciturn and said to the Associated Press reporter that his client was more or less guilty:

Kohn said prosecutors “meticulously” built their case against Atarodi, who had come to Los Angeles seeking treatment from his brother’s cardiologist.

Meticulously? A statement like that, if he has been accurately quoted, makes you wonder which side of the case the defense attorney is being paid to argue. I suppose that if the government case is so “meticulous,” the alleged defense attorney can just teach Mr. Atarodi how to say “guilty” in English, collect his CJA reimbursement, and wait for another appointment.

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Copyright © 2012 Clif Burns. All Rights Reserved.
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3 Comments:


It appears to be another example of the American Government’s obsession with persecuting and prosecuting Persian or Arab or Chinese nationals or persons with names that seem somehow “foreign”.

Comment by Peter Quinter on February 1st, 2012 @ 8:42 am

Well, Wallach, the big jammers smuggler is not Iranian and even bears an Israeli citizenship and a German passport but nontheless wasn’t treated much better by the US prosecution. It all comes up to mistreating of foreigners….. Its easier to hold them in jail and claim flight risk, its easier to extort a guilty plea from them etc. If Iranian, even better, as it connects with the public’s and country’s common enemy.

Comment by Andrew on February 1st, 2012 @ 2:00 pm

I agree with Peter. As recent revelations about the “training materials” used by the FBI and DoJ suggest, there is a deep set anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern bias at DoJ, and it is even more pronounced when it involves Persians.

I would respectfully disagree that “an arrest and criminal prosecution is rare for items without some further strategic significance”. If the target is Persian or Arab, no violation is too small. Many of the criminal cases against Persians involve hardware and technology that if exported by companies run by good ol’ boys would be the subject of a consent agreement and civil penalty.

Comment by Hillbilly on February 1st, 2012 @ 3:25 pm