Paris court to decide Iranian’s fate in February

A French court will rule on a US application to extradite an Iranian engineer accused of breaking the US trade embargo on Iran next month.

The appeals court in Paris will rule on the extradition application launched against Majid Kakavand by the US on February 17, according to his lawyer.

US authorities have accused the 37-year-old Kakavand of breaking the US trade embargo on Iran by sending electrical components and measuring devices purchased in the US and shipped to Iran via Malaysia.

Kakavand was arrested at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport in March 2009 while vacationing in France.

“With the Reiss case, Majid Kakavand understands he has been caught in the midst of something beyond his control,” one of his lawyers, Marie-Laure Bonaldi-Nut said on Wednesday.

Clotilde Reiss, a French woman detained in Iran on charges of taking part in a Western plot against the Islamic Republic a few months ago, currently resides at the French Embassy in Tehran awaiting her final verdict.

She is also accused of carrying out a series of offenses, such as illegal residence, participation in illegal protests and intelligence gathering for the French Embassy.

Last December, Paris claimed that Tehran had offered to exchange Reiss, on trial in Tehran at the time, with Kakavand.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry, however, has strongly rejected the allegation, emphasizing that it had never made such an offer. Tehran says Reiss must face trial in Iran because of the seriousness of the charges against her.