Iranian Professor From Tehran Held in U.S. Prison in California
January 30, 2012, 9:32 AM ESTBy Karen Gullo
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi, an Iranian professor, was being held in a U.S. prison in California, federal prison records show.
Atarodi, 54, is an associate professor in the electrical engineering department at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and the author of dozens of scientific papers, according to the school’s website and his attorney, Matthew David Kohn. Atarodi was being held yesterday at a detention facility in Dublin, California, about 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prison’s electronic inmate locater.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that Atarodi had been arrested and charged with buying scientific instruments from the U.S., citing a Sharif University spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity. The AP reported that Atarodi appeared in federal court in San Francisco yesterday at a closed bail bond hearing.
Atarodi’s family said after the hearing that he was scheduled for release on bail subject to electronic monitoring, partly for health reasons, AP reported. The hearing couldn’t be independently confirmed in court records.
Kohn declined to comment on whether Atarodi had been charged. Jack Gillund, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco, also declined to comment.
Agents from the Commerce Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security were “uncompromising and meticulous,” Kohn said in a phone interview.
“I’m hoping for the best possible outcome for Dr. Atarodi,” Kohn said.
--Editors: Peter Blumberg, Stephen Farr
Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
