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The Dangers of Being a Physicist in Iran

Omid Kokabee, an Iranian physics student, "faces trial":http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110715/full/news.2011.420.html?s=news_rss in Tehran for "communicating with a hostile government" and collecting "illegal earnings." The accusation is that an U.S...

Omid Kokabee, an Iranian physics student, faces trial in Tehran for “communicating with a hostile government” and collecting “illegal earnings.” The accusation is that an U.S. intelligence agent paid Kokabee money for information on Iran’s nuclear program. Kokabee’s specialty, however, is lasers.

A letter sent to Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamene'I by the Committee of Concerned Scientists, explains,“his research and studies had nothing to do with nuclear energy. His education and his Ph.D. project are in optics. . . If Omid is given opportunity to continue his research, he will be able to bring important skills and honor to your great country.”

After studying in Iran, Kokabee had moved to Barcelona to continue his work, and eventually to the University of Texas in Austin, where he was pursuing his doctorate. Last February, he was arrested while leaving Iran after a family visit. He spent 30 days in solitary and was interrogated. Kokabee’s been in prison ever since.

Perhaps it’s less that practicing physics in Iran is a dangerous prospect so much as it is daring to do it outside of Iran. Last year, Masoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed in a bombing on his way to work. He also had nothing to do with the country’s nuclear program, but his work did involve the international SESAME project, a “science-for-peace” collaboration based in Jordan.

Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.

Image: Evin Prison in Tehran