and then flew off to Iran with their daughter has been freed from jail after the estranged wife testified she no longer fears her husband might kidnap their 9-year-old daughter.
The case essentially dissolved when the wife backed the husband against whom she had originally complained.
The husband was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Baton Rouge from Iran with the daughter six weeks late. He was held on charges of international parental kidnapping until ordered released from custody last Tuesday by US Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Riedlinger.
The judge announced his decision after the man’s wife testified she does not believe her husband would attempt to return their daughter to Iran permanently.
The criminal file of Iraj Burakhshan remained sealed, The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reported. Tuesday.
Farinaz “Parvin” Nikzaeol-hosseini, Burakhshan’s wife, told Riedlinger, defense attorney Rod Messina and Assistant US Attorney Fred Menner she no longer fears there will be repercussions from the marital problems she has with her husband.
“I don’t believe he’s going to take my daughter without my permission,” Nikzaeolhosseini testified.
Called to the witness stand by Messina, Nikzaeolhosseini said she and her husband had argued for some time before he took their daughter to Iran for a family visit June 16.
Nikzaeolhosseini said she could not travel because she was enrolled in college courses for the summer.
Her husband and daughter were supposed to return to Baton Rouge on July 7. They did not return until August 15, just in time for the daughter to begin the school year.
Defense attorney Messina asked whether Nikzaeol-hosseini’s husband called her and told her, “You will never see your daughter again?”
“No, he did not say that,” Nikzaeolhosseini replied.
Why didn’t Burakhshan bring their daughter to Baton Rouge on schedule? Messina asked.
“He asked me to sign that paper, and I refused,” Nikzaeolhosseini said of a proposed abdication of her parental rights.
“Is he a danger to the community?” Messina asked.
“No, sir,” Nikzaeolhosseini testified. “He is a good man.”
Prosecutor Menner asked if Burakhshan told his wife he would never return their daughter to Baton Rouge if she did not surrender her parental rights.
“Yes, he told me so,” Nikzaeolhosseini replied. But she repeated that she does not now believe her husband would take her daughter from her.
“Her testimony seemed genuine to me,” said Judge Riedlinger. “She expresses now no real concern.”
Riedlinger added: “I find he’s just not a flight risk anymore. I just don’t see any justification to detain this person.”
Prosecutors now must decide whether to dismiss the charge, which would never been filed but for the wife.
