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Imprisoned Physicist Honored For Refusing To Work On Iran's Nuclear Program
New submitter I3MOUNTAINS writes "Omid Kokabee, a University of Texas graduate student who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than two years, received the American Physical Society's Andrei Sakharov human rights prize for refusing to collaborate on the country's nuclear program. In May, an Iranian court sentenced him to ten years in prison for 'communicating with a hostile government' and receiving 'illegal earnings.' The so-called 'illegal earnings' were the student loans he received while in Texas."
This guy has 'em. There are other ways to sacrifice for worthy principles than warfare.
Hook 'em.
Any prizes for Mordechai Vanunu?
--Joakim Ziegler
Wouldn't it be nice if the west had the entire moral high ground on this? Considering iranian physicists and physics professors are murdered by foreign agents over a low shoe, you can't blame Iran for being paranoid.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
For plutonium nukes, the sphere of explosive around the plutonium must be perfectly shaped. What else must be perfectly shaped: mirrors and lenses for telescopes.
The article says he was studying lasers and optics. This makes him an unlikely choice for a nuclear anything program.
Congratulation!
You are the one-millionth poster on /. to post without reading the article! Great job! Keep up the good work!
[Balloons drop] [Confetti mortars fire]
"Iran has been pursuing a kind of uranium enrichment called SILEX which uses carbon dioxide lasers, the same kind of lasers that Kokabee was using in his graduate studies."
Answer to 2) is in TFM#1:
Answer to 1) took a few more Google cycles:
You can find the quote here:
http://iran.usembassy.gov/education.html
The background story for this is: "Iran is currently trying really hard to make a deal with the West, if not with the US then at least with Europe. We've got to stop that. Throw everything at them that you got."
The so-called 'illegal earnings' were the student loans he received while in Texas.
I hate to think how much compound interest he will have accumulated while in jail.
Islam generally frowns on "usury", so I guess a determined Iranian Religious Judge could easily fudge a conviction with a trumped up charge about that. Islamic Banking jumps through all kind of hoops to keep the Imams happy when making loans and paying interest.
But I'm curious if student loans are a general problem with Islam . . . ? Do pious students avoid them . . . ?
This would be a catastrophe for the US, if it would wake up tomorrow an Islamic Republic . . . all those students saddled with debt that will never be able to pay back would face prison, as well!
My wacky thought for the morning . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
1) Why was an Iranian national studying in the US to begin with?
Entering US is quite regulated, so I think US government knows and accepts that students or workers from Iran go there, and think it's an advantage for both. The world is no more the one from the cold war era, and many people from Bin Laden's country (for example) always were and are in USA (even his relatives if I remember correctly).
But you took a lot of money off them in the process.
That's all that matters, right?
Yeah, fsvo "trial":
(This was from the second article linked at the top of this discussion, BTW.)
What a bunch of BS. there.
I am Iranian scholar staying outside Iran. Your post does not make any sense whatsoever.
Bin Laden's country is Saudi Arabia, which is a major US ally.
Well, something that will never get nuked are that guys student loans.
"Iran is now 22nd among the top 25 places of origin for international students."
Yes, yes, but how high is it among the top 100?
This is like saying he was studying computer aided design, and got arrested for refusing to join their computer hacking program, that happened to use similar computer systems.
Just b/c he had used the same kind of lasers, would not of meant he could do anything with uranium enrichment
Yes, because studying the usage and calibration of the exact necessary type of lasers will in no way qualify you to perform a job where you are required to select and calibrate those lasers.
Just because he doesn't know anything about uranium doesn't mean he can't take a sheet of paper from a nuclear physicist saying "set energy output to X for period Y or until target reaches maximum temperature Z."
Well, obviously if they're 22nd among 25 they would be 88th among 100th. /. these days.
Really, it's depressing how down is math level in
And strangely the american dissident did not win the american prize, even if, on a pure theoretical plane, refusing to spy emails is less damage to a nation than refusing to work on a nuclear program. And I think Snowden would get no less prison years than Kobabee. The only difference is the more civil trial he would have in USA (even if... even if... let's not start mentioning things happening somewhere outside USA...). I see a lot of hypocrisy in those cases, accuse one and defend the other one. I'm not talking about USA only, this happen in every country. Take Putin: he keeps the Pussy Riot girl in a prison camp for years, without seeing her daughter, for a contestation, then give asylum to Snowden... Human rights are quite optional when it comes to your own interests.
Fun to see it transition from "Iran imprisons scientist for having the courage of his convictions" to "USA / Israel evil". Good to know Slashthink is alive & well.
Well, something that will never get nuked are that guys student loans.
Not until the lawyers get their hands on this. I think they are the only ones able to get him out of prison, out of Iran, to the US, just so he can pay off his loan.
Christianity obligates the US into a suicide pact with Israel. Christian (j)ihad requires it.
There is nothing to be done about that, but at least most of the casualties are Superstitionist so not much of value is lost.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."