By DOUGLAS BIRCH
Prison records show the U.S. has been holding Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi, 54, a microchip expert and assistant professor at Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology, in a federal facility in Dublin, Calif., outside San Francisco. The Iranian interest section in the Pakistani embassy in Washington said it was aware of the arrest.
Atarodi arrived at a bond hearing in federal district court in San Francisco Thursday wearing a green jump suit and politely bowed to his attorney. Before the hearing began, the judge closed the courtroom except to attorneys and members of the family. He was detained Dec. 7 after stepping off a plane in Los Angeles.
Following the 10-minute hearing, Atarodi’s family said he was scheduled for release on bail subject to electronic monitoring. He is being released, they said, in part for medical reasons. The scientist has suffered two heart attacks, a stroke and has undergone two heart surgeries in the last 14 months.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kearney declined comment. Neither would other U.S. law enforcement officials discuss Atarodi’s case. Records indicate the charges have been sealed.
But a Sharif University spokesman said he has been charged with buying scientific instruments from the United States. The university official spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the potential repercussions of the case.
The arrest comes as the U.S., Israel and their allies are using diplomacy, sanctions and intelligence efforts to try to cripple what they suspect is Iran’s drive to lay the foundations of a nuclear weapons program.
Atarodi is listed as the author or coauthor of dozens of scientific papers dealing with microchip technology, though none appears to be explicitly related to military work. U.S. officials in the past have targeted suspected export control violators dealing in so-called dual-use technology, which can have both civilian and military applications.
The Sharif University spokesman said Atarodi was engaged only in civilian research. “The fact of the matter is that he was just a professor, and he was trying to buy some equipment for his lab, and the equipment was very, very simple, ridiculously simple stuff that anybody can buy,” the spokesman said.
Atarodi’s lawyer Matthew David Kohn said his client was treated well while in custody and that the prison officials stayed on top of his health concerns. Kohn said prosecutors “meticulously” built their case against Atarodi, who had come to Los Angeles seeking treatment from his brother’s cardiologist.
The arrest of an Iranian scientist in a U.S. embargo case is rare, with most involving low-level middlemen living in the U.S. recruited to act as fronts for purchasers in Iran.
But Iranian researchers in recent years have become central figures in the struggle between Tehran and the West over the country’s extensive nuclear programs, which the International Atomic Energy Agency says has included arms-related research.
At least four Iranian scientists have died under mysterious circumstances over about the past two years, and Israel is suspected of playing a role in the attacks.
In the most recent incident, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemist and official at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant, was killed by a car bomb Jan. 11, reportedly while on his way to a memorial service for a scientist slain a year earlier.
For years, Iran has insisted it is only interested in the peaceful uses of atomic energy and has resisted United Nation demands that it abandon its extensive uranium enrichment efforts. Enrichment technology can be used to make fuel for nuclear reactors or fissile material for bombs.
The U.S. and Israel, meanwhile, are believed to have recruited Iranian scientists as agents or encouraged them to defect. Some other Iranian researchers say they have been subject to harassment.
Dr. Fredun Hojabri, a former vice chancellor of Sharif University who now lives in the U.S., noted that friction between the U.S. and Iran has long posed problems for Iran’s scientists.
Hojabri cited an incident in 2006 when more than 50 researchers, executives and engineers from Iran headed for a forum on disaster management in Santa Clara, Calif., were detained and expelled after their arrival because their visas were revoked. The event was organized by a Sharif University alumni group.
Elias reported from San Francisco.
