AFP: A Canadian court on Thursday sentenced a Toronto man to four years and three months prison for attempting to export dual-use nuclear-related items to Iran, in violation of UN resolutions.
MONTREAL (AFP) — A Canadian court on Thursday sentenced a Toronto man to four years and three months prison for attempting to export dual-use nuclear-related items to Iran, in violation of UN resolutions.
Mahmoud Yadegari was sentenced in the Ontario Court of Justice to 20 months in jail, as well as the 15.5 months of pre-sentence custody, Canada’s public prosecution service said in a statement.
“Because the court granted double credit for pre-sentence custody, this amounts to a four-year, three-month sentence,” the statement read.
Prosecutors were seeking 6.5 years prison for Yadegari, 37, who was born in Iran but has been living in Canada since 1988.
On March 4, 2009, Yadegari “attempted to export controlled material to Iran” via Dubai, read the statement.
“The goods, known as pressure transducers, are subject to a United Nations embargo on nuclear-related exports to Iran.”
The items, it said, “are also on Canada’s Export Control List.”
Yadegari was arrested in April 2009 following a two-month investigation carried out jointly with US officials.
He was found guilty on July 6 of nine out of 10 charges, including offences under the Customs Act, the United Nations Act, and the Criminal Code.
Yadegari is the first person convicted of violating UN anti-nuclear proliferation resolutions against the Tehran regime, Crown prosecutor Bradley Reitz said earlier.
Western powers believe that Iran is building nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.
