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posted by cmn32480 on Friday September 02 2016, @02:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the after-re-education dept.

Omid Kokabee, a physicist convicted of espionage in Iran, has been granted freedom on parole, his lawyer announced on 29 August. It could be the end of a five-year-long struggle for the Iranian scientist, who has said all along that he was punished for refusing to help a covert nuclear-weapons programme.

Kokabee, who is now 34 years old, was working on his PhD thesis in Spain and in the United States when he was jailed in Tehran in early 2011 while attempting to fly back to the United States after visiting his native country. He was later convicted for "illegal earnings" and "communication with a hostile government", accusations which are tantamount to spying.

Kokabee maintained his innocence and later stated that he had been persecuted for refusing to cooperate with a nuclear military programme in Iran.

[...] In a separate case, Shahram Amiri, another Iranian physicist allegedly related to the country's nuclear programme and accused of espionage, was executed earlier this month in Iran.

http://www.nature.com/news/iran-releases-physicist-after-five-years-in-jail-1.20505
http://www.nature.com/news/the-week-in-science-5-11-august-2016-1.20385


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @03:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @03:22PM (#396672)

    What a bunch of spineless jellyfish they have in Iran. Here we would throw him in a Supermax prison and he would never see sunlight again.

    USA! USA! USA!

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday September 02 2016, @05:14PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday September 02 2016, @05:14PM (#396706)

    The bastard should have had "Communications with hostile governments" from the comfort of his home, using his own hosted server...
    Then again, 5 years in an Iranian jail is less torture to the soul than talking to an investigative subcommittee.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @05:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @05:19PM (#396709)

    2011 - 2016 : Jail

    He'll never work again.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @05:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02 2016, @05:27PM (#396713)

      now 34 years old

      Too old to be a coder. Might as well have died in jail.