Not one of the seven Iranians freed from U.S. custody in a prisoner swap over the weekend has chosen to return to Iran, ABC News reported Tuesday.
After secret negotiations paved the way for the prisoners’ release, a plane carrying Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini departed Tehran for Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday. The fourth prisoner freed, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, decided not to leave Iran.
But none of the Iranian-Americans freed from U.S. custody after being accused or convicted of violating sanctions boarded the flight that would have returned them to Iran, according to ABC. Six of the seven men are U.S./Iran dual citizens.
Kent Schaffer, an attorney representing Tooraj Faridi, one of the men released, said his client would stay in the U.S. and hasn’t traveled to Iran in years.
“He has not been in Iran in years, has no plans to go there, and will remain here at his home. He is an American and will remain in America,” Schaffer told ABC.
Here’s a look at the men freed from American custody from The Associated Press:
Nader Modanlo
Modanlo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced to eight years in prison for violating the trade embargo and helping Iran launch its first-ever satellite into orbit.
According to court documents, Modanlo was a mechanical engineer who received science and engineering degrees from George Washington University. Modanlo said in court he was an internationally recognized expert on strategic policy and finances affecting the space-based telecommunications industry, and that he managed space and science programs for private companies, the Department of Defense and NASA.
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Bahram Mechanic
Mechanic, a dual citizen who lives in Houston, was indicted last year on charges he illegally exported millions of dollars in U.S. technology to Iran.
Mechanic, 69, is the co-owner of Iran-based Faratel Corporation and its Houston-based sister company Smart Power Systems. Faratel designs and builds uninterruptible power supplies for several Iranian government agencies, including the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian Centrifuge Technology Company, according to the charges.
The technology Mechanic sold to Iran is used in a wide range of military systems, including surface-air and cruise missiles. Between July 2010 and 2015, Mechanic’s network allegedly obtained 28 million parts valued at about $24 million worth and shipped them to Iran through Taiwan and Turkey. Among the parts shipped were microelectronics and digital signal processors, according to the indictment.
“Everything about the government’s allegations were false,” Houston-based attorney Joel Androphy said. “The government created an aura of hysteria to keep him incarcerated.”
Androphy said that Mechanic, who was released early Sunday morning, plans to continue living in Houston.
“He’s going to enjoy a nice rest of the weekend with his wife and then get back to work probably tomorrow,” Androphy said.
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Khosrow Afghahi
Afghahi co-owns Faratel Corporation in Iran and Houston-based Smart Power Systems with Mechanic, according to an indictment.
U.S. prosecutors say Afghahi helped Mechanic to illegally provide U.S. technology to Iran.
Houston-based attorney David Gerger says the charges against his client were “wrong.”
“Freeing Khosrow Afghahi is the correct result,” Gerger said. “He is a 72 year old businessman who has never been in trouble. He is a good man, and we will be happy to put this ordeal behind him.”
Gerger said that Afghahi lived mostly in Iran but became a U.S. citizen so he could more easily visit his family. Gerger said Afghahi was arrested in April while visiting family in Los Angeles.
Gerger said his client was released from the federal detention center in Houston early Sunday morning.
He said that Afghahi is getting to “spend precious time with his family . and probably have his first cup of hot coffee in nine months.”
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Tooraj Faridi
Faridi, 46, is vice president of a Smart Power Systems and along with Afghahi assisted Mechanic in the illegal transfer of U.S. technology to Iran, according to court documents.
Mechanic, assisted by Afghahi and Faridi, also of Houston, regularly received lists of commodities, including U.S.-origin microelectronics, sought by Faratel in Iran, according to an indictment.
Houston-based attorney Kent Schaffer said Faridi, who had remained free on bond, did nothing to jeopardize national security or violate trade sanctions.
“I always felt he would be vindicated at trial, but at least the president’s action allows him to get on with his life,” Schaffer said.
He said his client plans to continue living in Houston.
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Arash Ghahraman
Ghahraman, 46, was sentenced to more than six years in prison last year for violating the trade embargo after he participated in a scheme to purchase marine navigation equipment and military electronic equipment for illegal export to Iran.
Prosecutors argued in court the naturalized U.S. citizen, who lived in Staten Island, New York, acted as an agent of an Iranian procurement network and used a front company in Dubai to illegally acquire U.S. goods and technologies to be sent to Iran.
A maritime engineer, Ghahraman also worked at shipyards in the U.S.
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Nima Golestaneh
Golestaneh, an Iranian national, pleaded guilty to hacking the computer system of Arrow Tech, a Vermont-based aerodynamics company and U.S. defense contractor, to steal software.
Golestaneh, 30, was arrested in Turkey in 2013 and extradited to the United States last year. He was the only Iranian released Saturday who doesn’t have dual citizenship.
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Ali Saboonchi
Saboonchi, 35, was convicted in 2014 of exporting industrial products to Iran though companies in China and the United Arab Emirates.
A U.S. citizen who was living in Parkville, Maryland at the time of his arrest, Saboonchi conspired with others to evade the Iran Trade Embargo and export to Iran numerous industrial parts, including hydraulic valves and connectors; and liquid pumps and valves, which can be used in the oil, gas, energy, aerospace and defense industries, authorities said.
His public defenders, Lucius Outlaw and Elizabeth Oyer, said in a statement Sunday morning that Saboonchi’s release “shows that he poses no danger to the American people.”
“Ali Saboonchi is a beloved and hard-working family man and American. He was born in the U.S. and is proud to be raising his young family here. His arrest and incarceration were devastating to his many friends and family,” the attorneys said. “Ali is thrilled and grateful for his release and return to his family.”
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AP photo: former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati
