Omid Kokabee, 28, was a doctoral student at the University of Texas when he retuned to Iran December to visit his family. As he was about to board a plane to return to Texas in February, he was arrested. His lawyer, Saeed Khalili, said he was charged with receiving “illicit payments” from the United States and having relations with a “hostile country.”
Khalili told Reuters he had no more details on the case. “Unfortunately, I was denied access to visit my client or study the file over the course of eight months,” he said. He told the Associated Press he wasn’t even allowed to talk to Kokabee at the trial session Tuesday.
Khalili said Kokabee pleaded innocent to both charges. Apart from that, Khalili said the session was devoted to procedural matters. Another session will be scheduled for the actual trial.
While Kokabee is often described as a student of nuclear physics, John Keto, one of his academic advisers in Texas, said he was studying optics in the physics department in Texas and had previously specialized in lasers, but had never been involved in nuclear studies.