Tehran sentences Iranian-American to 18 years in prison — report

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-American held in Tehran has reportedly been sentenced to 18 years in prison for “collaboration with a hostile government.” He is yet another dual national convicted in a secret trial since Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The sentence handed down to Robin Shahini, a 46-year-old graduate student who lives in San Diego, is the harshest yet for those detained in what analysts believe is a hard-liner plan to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations.

Shahini told Vice News in an interview aired late on Monday that he “just laughed” after hearing his sentence. He acknowledged supporting the protests that followed Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, but denied being involved in any sort of spying.

“Whatever information they had is all the pictures I posted in Facebook, in my web blog, and they use all those [pieces of] evidence to accuse me,” Shahini said in a telephone call from prison.

Neither Iranian judiciary officials nor Iran’s mission to the United Nations responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The US State Department said in a statement that it was troubled by reports of Shahini’s sentence.

“We reaffirm our calls on Iran to respect and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, cease arbitrary and politically-motivated detentions and ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings,” it said.

Shahini was detained on July 11 after entering Iran to see his mother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He left Iran in 1998 and has lived in San Diego for 16 years. He graduated in May from San Diego State University with a degree in International Security and Conflict Resolution and had been accepted to SDSU’s graduate program in Homeland Security.

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.

Analysts and family members of those detained in Iran have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic’s security agencies want to negotiate another deal with the West to free the detainees.

A prisoner exchange in January that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the US make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran. In September, Iran freed retired Canadian-Iranian university professor Homa Hoodfar amid negotiations to reopen embassies in the two nations.

Last week, Iran’s judiciary announced it had handed down 10-year prison sentences to Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi. Iran earlier sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman traveling with her young daughter, to five years in prison, on allegations of planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government.

Still missing is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission.

Shahini said he was not sure whether he would file an appeal, but said he also had another option to protest his sentence.

“I [will] do a hunger strike — until either they free me or I die,” he said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.