An Iranian-American held in Tehran has reportedly been sentenced to 18 years in prison for “collaboration with a hostile government”.
The sentence handed down to 46-year-old Robin Shahini after a secret trial is the harshest yet for those detained in what analysts believe is a plan to use them in future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Shahini, a graduate student from San Diego, California, told Vice News in an interview aired late on Monday that he “just laughed” after hearing his sentence. He acknowledged supporting the protests that followed Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, but denied being involved in any sort of spying.
“Whatever information they had is all the pictures I posted in Facebook, in my web blog, and they use all those evidence to accuse me,” Shahini said in a telephone call from prison.
Iranian judiciary officials did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday, nor did the Iranian mission to the United Nations.
A statement from the US state department said: “We reaffirm our calls on Iran to respect and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, cease arbitrary and politically motivated detentions and ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings.”
Shahini left Iran in 1998 and has lived in San Diego for 16 years. He graduated in May from San Diego State University with a degree in International Security and Conflict Resolution and had been accepted on to SDSU’s graduate programme in Homeland Security. He was detained on July 11 when he travelled to Iran to see his mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Iran does not recognise the concept of dual nationality, meaning that those it detains cannot receive consular assistance. In most cases, dual nationals have faced secret charges in closed-door hearings before Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which handles cases involving alleged attempts to overthrow the government.
Analysts and family members of those detained in Iran have suggested that hardliners in the Islamic Republic’s security agencies want to negotiate another deal with the West to free the detainees.
In January Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans were freed at the same time the US made a US$400 million (Dh1.5 billion) cash delivery to Iran. In September, Iran freed retired Canadian-Iranian university professor Homa Hoodfar amid negotiations to reopen embassies in the two nations.
Last week, Iran’s judiciary announced that Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, had been sentenced to ten years in prison. Earlier, Iran sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman travelling with her young daughter, to five years in prison on allegations of planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government.
Still missing is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorised CIA mission.
Shahini said he was unsure whether to appeal against his sentence but was considering another option. “I do a hunger strike – until either they free me or I die,” he said.
* Associated Press