{"id":85243,"date":"2021-04-16T17:05:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T15:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=85243"},"modified":"2021-04-16T16:25:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T14:25:42","slug":"23-05-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=85243","title":{"rendered":"Accused Iranian-Agent New York Times Writer Claims \u2018Memory Loss,\u2019 Asks for Court Delay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Accused Iranian-Agent New York Times Writer Claims \u2018Memory Loss,\u2019 Asks for Court Delay<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Ira Stoll<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters \/ Carlo Allegri \/ File.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The frequent\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0contributor facing criminal charges for allegedly serving as an unregistered, paid agent of the government of Iran is asking for a three-month delay in his case, citing health problems including \u201cmemory loss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaveh Afrasiabi, an Iranian national who is a US permanent resident, or green card holder,\u00a0pleaded not guilty in February<\/a>. Prosecutors say he was paid approximately $265,000 by the Iranian UN mission since 2007 and also received health insurance benefits. Afrasiabi has\u00a0acknowledged<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Algemeiner<\/em>\u00a0that he received the money.<\/span><\/p>\n

A status conference in the case had been set for April 21. In a recent filing, Afrasiabi, who is representing himself, asked Judge Edward Korman of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, \u201cto postpone the hearing to sometime in late June or early July, by which time a clearer picture of his medical condition will emerge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs grounds for this Motion, Defendant states that he is still suffering from the head injuries inflicted upon him by police brutality as well as a highly suspicious car accident in February 2020 when his car was totaled by a tow truck backing into him on a broad day light when the Defendant was on his routine library visit in Watertown. Defendant has repeatedly asked the Justice Department to investigate that matter, that caused his hospitalization, and has been ignored, just as his pleas regarding police brutality against him have been ignored,\u201d the motion says. \u201cPresently, the Defendant is under treatment at the Neurology Department at a local hospital, and is scheduled to undergo an MRI and other tests, e.g., concerning his memory loss \u2026 the MRI department is backed up and have informed Afrasiabi that it may take up to a month or more before they can do the test. Depending on the outcome of these tests and the effectiveness of the medication he is taking to deal with perpetual migraine headache, Defendant Afrasiabi may be physically and medically unable to represent himself in this instant action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 9, Judge Korman denied Afrasiabi\u2019s motion requesting to continue the paid consulting work for Iran. \u201cDefendant is free to pursue any form of employment that does not cause him to violate the terms of his release, which include the condition that he will not violate the law,\u201d Korman ordered. Afrasiabi replied in an email: \u201cI am 64 years old, publicly smeared, under house arrest \u2026 what kind of employment can I possibly got? It is not realistic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prosecutors had opposed allowing Afrasiabi to continue the paid work for Iran\u2019s UN mission. \u201cThe defendant in essence asks the Court to permit him to resume committing the crimes with which he is currently charged. The Court lacks the authority to permit the defendant to commit further crimes, and the motion should be denied,\u201d the federal prosecutor handling the case, Ian Richardson, wrote to Judge Korman. Richardson wrote that unrestricted contact with the Iranian officials would \u201ccreate an unacceptable risk that the defendant could arrange with them to flee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Afrasiabi also asked Korman to delay the hearing on the grounds that the US government had failed to provide him with material related to the case. \u201cAs a result, I will be unable to properly prepare myself for the April 21st status hearing,\u201d Afrasiabi wrote April 14. He followed up on the afternoon of April 15: \u201cWith the status hearing only a few days away, I still have not received the discovery as promised by US attorney Richardson over three weeks ago. This is abusive of my rights as a pro se and puts me at a marked disadvantage for the upcoming hearing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The record of pre-trial motions is lively, with Afrasiabi, even while injured and representing himself, keeping up a steady flow of correspondence. He filed a copy of a 1998 letter supporting him from Howard Zinn, the prominent left-leaning Boston University professor. On February 19, Afrasiabi told Judge Korman, \u201cI intend to commence an indefinite hunger strike as of next week to protest the racist, thinly veiled abuse of my human rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the hunger-strike letter, Afrasiabi wrote, \u201cWhereas I worked legally and transparently as an Iran international affairs consultant for over 13 years with the full knowledge of US government from day one, I am today treated like a criminal and \u2018national security threat\u2019 subjected to dehumanizing and harsh treatment, contrary to the Declaration of Human Rights and UN Charter.\u201d Said Afrasiabi, \u201cThe US attorney in New York and his henchmen have made outrageous extrajudicial statements defaming me publicly and seriously harming my hard-earned academic credential over 35 years, completely disregarding my serious contributions to the cause of peace and dialogue between the US and Iran, invading my privacy and having zero respect for my private life and personal property, and treating me like an animal by attaching a device to me that has caused recurrent physical pain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In arguing to be allowed to continue working for the Iranian UN Mission, Afrasiabi says he \u201cwas under the impression that his work was legal.\u201d He says he was unfamiliar with the Foreign Agents Registration Act and therefore couldn\u2019t have been conspiring to break it. \u201cDefendant never once discussed FARA with any Iranian official and, in fact, was only vaguely aware of it and had never read it until after his arrest. The US government\u2019s claim that he engaged in a conspiracy to violate FARA is completely baseless,\u201d Afrasiabi told the court. \u201cIt is in US\u2019s national interest to allow the Defendant to continue his consulting role, in light of the continuing hostilities between US and Iran and the need for voices like the Defendant seeking de-escalation of tensions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Afrasiabi wrote that if the court allowed him to continue the work, \u201cI am prepared to register under the FARA Act\u2026I am and have been an agent of peace committed to US-Iran reconciliation and peace and dialogue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In an email to\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Algemeiner<\/em>, Afrasiabi said that for family reasons he decided not to go through with the hunger strike. He said he did not know whether his case had come up in the talks at Vienna over the US re-entering the Iran nuclear deal it left during the Trump administration, but said he was hoping that the Biden administration \u201cdoes not continue this crusade against me,\u201d launched in the closing hours of the previous administration. Afrasiabi recently published a book,\u00a0Agent of Peace<\/em>, which he also submitted as a court filing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/em>\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0has yet to mention the case in its news columns, according to a search on its archives. The\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0also has not appended any note to Afrasiabi\u2019s op-ed pieces, still available on the\u00a0Times\u2019<\/em>\u00a0website, that would disclose to Times readers that he was being paid by the Iranian government while writing for the paper about Iran. In a court affidavit, Afrasiabi writes, \u201cI never wrote any book or article at the instruction of Iran Mission, nor did I ever waiver from my own independent standards in my publications. At times, my writings were at variance with Iran\u2019s positions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ira Stoll<\/strong> was managing editor of\u00a0The Forward\u00a0and North American editor of\u00a0The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular\u00a0Algemeiner\u00a0feature, can be found\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Accused Iranian-Agent New York Times Writer Claims \u2018Memory Loss,\u2019 Asks for Court Delay Ira Stoll A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters \/ Carlo Allegri \/ File. The frequent\u00a0New York Times\u00a0contributor facing criminal charges for allegedly serving as an unregistered, paid agent of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85257,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85243\/revisions\/85257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}