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Iranian Physics Student From UT Gets 10 Years In Jail For Spying

Posted by Soulskill on from the darn-it-we-just-got-canada-taken-care-of dept.

scibri writes "Omid Kokabee, a laser physics graduate student from the University of Texas who has been imprisoned in Tehran for the past 15 months, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Sunday for allegedly conspiring with foreign countries against Iran. Kokabee was arrested in February 2011 while on a trip home, and charged with 'communicating with a hostile government' (i.e. Israel) and 'illegal earnings.' He has consistently denied the charges, and refused to speak at his trial, where no evidence against him was presented. Several international science groups, including the American Physical Society, have spoken up in his defense, and an online petition has been set up in support."

7 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing new here by s.petry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sadly, this is a very common theme with the Iranian Government. Usually this is to get the person on board with them. They get out when they are on-board, and often family members are jailed to be sure that they stay on-board.

    As long as crap is in power, crap like this happens. How many brilliant people did Stalin and Hitler kill? So many that we have no way of knowing.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:Nothing new here by Bigby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It sounds like the trial-less imprisonment here in the US. He's a "terrorist" and doesn't deserve a (fair) trial.

    2. Re:Nothing new here by crazyjj · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is so far away from the US that it's laughable

      Agreed. In the U.S. he'd never get a trial.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    3. Re:Nothing new here by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I believe you're mistaken in calling the parent a "sheltered fool".

      We've suspended Habeus Corpus for anyone branded a terrorist. We've suspended the 4th Amendment any time the NSA wants to wiretap all phone traffic. We torture people. We have secret evidence in trials, which defense attorneys can't see. And National Security Letters can make it a crime to even talk about what the government is up to, even if it's illegal.

      So we have a government capable of *exactly* what Iran did to this guy.

      And if you're arguing that America isn't as bad because we don't to it as often, there are two points to be made. First, Bigby never talked about how the relative frequency of this kind of trial in the U.S. vs. Iran; just that the U.S. has done these things at least once in recent history. Secondly, given that our our handling of alleged terrorism is secret, none of us has real information on how often the U.S. conducts "trials" of the sort Iran did with this guy.

    4. Re:Nothing new here by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What's the difference between a trial with no evidence, and a trial with classified evidence that the defense is not allowed to see or contest?

      What's the difference if you're held in prison for "indefinite detention", and you have never been charged, and you cannot file a habeas corpus petition to determine if the government even has any evidence to justify imprisoning you? At least in this case, there was a trial. That's more than some folks at Gitmo get.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    5. Re:Nothing new here by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Your characterization of American justice is incorrect. You seem to be talking about the dangerously-close-to-entrapment behavior that the FBI engages in, cooking up plots and luring idiots into taking the bait, and then waving them around as evidence that the FBI is protecting us.

      What about foreign nationals like Kahlid el-Masri? He was some innocent German guy who the CIA had kidnapped. The CIA agent who recommended his detention wasn't punished; she was promoted!

      Or Maher Arar? Kidnapped and rendered to Syria for torture. The Canadian government paid him restitution for their part in his detention, rendition, and torture. But when he tried to sue the US? Nope, sorry, State Secrets.

      Or perhaps Lakhdar Boumediene? He was a member of the Red Crescent (think of it like the Muslim version of the Red Cross) He was held for 7 years until a federal judge finally ruled that the government had no evidence. When one side of his nose was broken, US personnel force fed him (twice a day) through the other nostril. Sometimes they missed his stomach and the tube went into his lungs instead. Oops.

      Murat Kurnaz? Another German, held for five years in Gitmo. There's a DoD memo stating that he was cleared for release about one year about his detention, and yet he languished for four more years anyway.

      What about the Uighurs? Everyone admits they aren't guilty of any crimes, and yet many are still stuck in Gitmo after nearly a decade.

      These are ALL perfectly fucking innocent human beings, who were never charged or tried despite spending years and years in detention, sometimes almost as long as this student has been sentenced. There was no plot. There was hardly an investigation.

      I say again, at least this student was given a sham trial before being imprisoned. That sham trial is more than any of those folks I listed above got before they were imprisoned and tortured. The difference between a sham trial with no evidence and no trial at all is in practice negligible.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
  2. Re:Is Iran crazy? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they next imprison a biologist specializing in cold blooded, carnivorous sea fauna, we know what's going on!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.