Scientist feared jailed for espionage

AMIR VAHDAT AND JON GAMBRELL TEHRAN • A member of Iran’s team of nuclear negotiators that struck the 2015 deal with world powers has been sentenced to five years in prison on espionage charges, a semi-official news agency reported on Wednesday.

While unnamed in the report, the only negotiator known to be facing criminal charges is dual Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani.

His detention, if confirmed, would make him the latest dual national to be arrested in Iran, part of what a United Nations panel of experts has called an “emerging pattern” since the atomic accord.

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The sentencing was only reported by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a hardline force answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guard has been involved in nearly every case involving dual nationals or those with Western ties being detained.

“The conviction of a member of the nuclear negotiation team who has been arrested before and released on bail has been confirmed in the Tehran provincial appeals court,” the short report read. “This person has been sentenced to five years in prison.”

In August 2016, hardline news outlets said authorities detained Esfahani, who reportedly worked as a member of a parallel team focusing on lifting economic sanctions against Iran as part of the nuclear deal. He was later granted bail, which is rare in Iran for those accused of having committed a serious crime.

It is not clear what type of information Esfahani was accused of providing — or to whom.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Esfahani reportedly served as a member of the Iranian team working at The Hague on disputes between Iran and the United States over pre-revolution purchases of military equipment from the U.S. by Iran. He also has served as an adviser to the head of Iran’s Central Bank.

A person with the same name was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (now called the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario) from 1986 to 2011, a spokesman confirmed on Wednesday. He was unable to provide any details about where in Ontario this person was based.

Esfahani’s family could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for Global Affairs Canada would only say Wednesday that the federal government was “aware of media reports” that a dual national had been sentenced in Iran. “To protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this cannot be released,” he said.

Iran does not recognize dual nationalities, meaning that those it detains cannot receive consular assistance. In most cases, dual nationals have faced secret charges in closed-door hearings before Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which handles cases involving alleged attempts to overthrow the government.

Others with ties to the West detained in Iran include Chinese-American graduate student Xiyue Wang, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for allegedly “infiltrating” the country while doing doctoral research on Iran’s Qajar dynasty. Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe, a British-Iranian woman, was sentenced to five years in prison on allegations of planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while travelling with her young daughter.