It is an interesting question as to who compiled the list since it includes one man awaiting trial in Germany, another serving a term in Canada and a third who was freed by a French court and is now back in Iran.
Furthermore, the latest list of 10 imprisoned Iranians only includes nine names.
The list—with a 10th name—was actually put out last year shortly before the trial of three American hikers was due to open. The new list was put out last Monday, 10 days before the latest session of the trial was scheduled to be held May 11. The Islamic Republic has spoken before of trading the hikers for Iranians in jail in the United States, so that may be the reason for the juxtaposition.
News reports said the list comprised the 10 Iranians in jail in the United States. Actually, there are many dozens of Iranians in US prisons, most of them for drug offenses.
But there are more than two dozen jailed for trying to smuggle military goods to Iran. It is not known why Iran abandoned the majority of those people and has focused on just 10. But actually only five of them are in jail in the United States.
Masud Yadegari, the 10th name on the list issued last year but missing from this year’s list of nine names, recently lost his appeal in a Canadian court and is serving time for trying to smuggle gear useable in nuclear programs to Iran.
Majid Kakavand is listed both times. The United States was trying to extradite him from France on charges of buying military goods in the United States. But France refused to extradite him last May and he is back in Iran.
Mohsen Afrasiabl is in a jail in Germany where he was charged last year with violating a German law against exporting missile components to Iran.
Nasrollah Tajik is living in his home in northern England awaiting a decision by the British government over whether he will be extradited to the United States to face trial for trying to buy military goods for Iran.
The whereabouts of Ali-Reza Asgari, a former deputy defense minister of Iran, are unknown. He disappeared in Turkey in December 2006. Iranian officials sometimes say he is being held in jail in the United States and other times say he is imprisoned in Israel. He is presumed to have defected and to be living another life somewhere in the West.
The other five actually are in US jails or prisons, so the Islamic Republic’s list is 50 percent correct, not exactly a passing grade.
Baktash Fattahi was arrested in California in April 2009 on charges of trying to export US aircraft parts to Iran.
Hassan Keshari pleaded guilty more than two years ago to charges of trying to send Iran parts for F-14 fighters, C-130 cargo planes and AH-1 attack helicopters.
Amir-Hossain Ardebili was lured from Iran to Georgia and then extradited to the United States where he has confessed and been imprisoned for buying military parts.
Amir Nazmi, a chemist, was convicted in 2009 of providing software illegally to Iran.
Shahrzad Mir-Qolikhan is the one woman in the group. She came to the United States voluntarily believing she had a deal with prosecutors to accept conviction on one charge of helping to get night vision goggles for Iran and then go free. But the deal fell apart and she is now in federal prison with expected release in 2012.
