Scientist acquitted, deported from US returns to Iran

An Iranian scientist who was imprisoned in the US and later acquitted in a federal trade secrets case, returned home yesterday having been deported.

Sirous Asgari a professor at Iran’s Sharif University of Technology had been arrested in April 2016 and accused by federal prosecutors of attempting to steal trade secrets research from American university, Case Western Reserve University, which had been working on a project for the US Navy in creating anti-corrosive stainless steel.

However, Asgari denied the charges and a judge threw out the case in November last year. According to Associated Press, he was due to be deported the following month, however there were delays after Iran refused to recognise him as an Iranian citizen and to provide him with a valid passport. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on international travel also postponed his return to Iran.

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Iranian media released images of Asgari on his arrival in Tehran being greeted by relatives.

#Iranian scientist Sirous Asgari who was imprisoned in the #US on baseless charges is back home after release pic.twitter.com/cg93LSCfQ3

— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 3, 2020

It has been speculated that his release and deportation could be related to a prisoner swap with Iran. According to BBC, some six US citizens are currently incarcerated in Iran or out on bail, although this has been denied by Iranian officials. Twenty Iranian citizens are believed to be held in the US, most of them dual-nationals facing charges related to evading US-imposed sanctions.

A previous prisoner swap took place at the end of last year between Chinese-American researcher Xiyue Wang and Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani.

READ: Report: Iran, US holding secret prisoner swap talks