Omid Kokabee

Omid Kokabee (born 1982) is an Iranian graduate physics student studying optics at the University of Texas who was arrested in Iran after returning from the United States to visit his family in February 2011.^[1] He is charged with “communicating with a hostile government” and “illegitimate/illegal earnings.”^[2]

Kokabee is from Iran's mostly Sunni Muslim Turkmen ethnic group.^[2] He went on trial October 4 2011 in Tehran on charges of having relations with a hostile country and receiving illegitimate funds, according to his lawyer Saeed Khalili. He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.^[3] His case may be related to Iran's release of two American hikers (Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer), who had been in prison for more than two years, and the "at least five Iranians" who are believed to be serving prison terms in the United States "on charges of arms trafficking or other violations of economic sanctions," according to NPR.^[1]

The American Physical Society -- the largest group of physicists in the U.S. -- and several other organizations (including the International Optics Society SPIE, the Optical Society of America, the European Optical Society) have lodged protests against his imprisonment, with open letters to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. American Physical Society's letter read in part

“Mr. Kokabee has no training in nuclear physics, is not politically active and is not associated with any political movement in Iran. Rather, his primary concerns were his science studies in the field of optics. This area of physics has essentially no overlap with nuclear technology.”^[2]

Since 2007, a number of U.S.-Iranian dual nationals or Americans of Iranian ancestry have faced arrest, imprisonment or criminal charges when visiting Iran^[3] (examples being Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima, Ali Shakeri,^[4] Esha Momeni, Haleh Esfandiari, and Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Iran Charges Student Who Was In the U.S. by Mike Shuster| npr| 7 October 2011
2. ^ ^{a b c} UT student faces espionage charges By Samian Quazi| dailytexanonline.com| 3 October 2011
3. ^ ^{a b} Iran puts University of Texas student on trial AP, USA Today| 4 October 2011
4. ^ Powers, Ashley; Yvonne Villarreal (2007-05-26). "Popular businessman linked to UC Irvine is missing in Iran". Los Angeles Times: p. B-1. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/26/local/me-missing26. Retrieved 2008-12-01. 

External links

• Omid Kokabee homepage at the University of Texas at Austin