| After
Professor Jailed For UN Linked Lobbying
For Iran He Is Denied In Person
Arraignment
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT,
Jan 31 – A professor is
charged with violation US law
by lobbying for Iran and its
Mission to the UN, including a
US Congress members, without
registering under the US
Foreign Agents Registration
Act.
The US Attorney
for the EDNY has charged Kaveh
Lotfolah Afrasiabi, also known
as “Lotfolah Kaveh Afrasiabi,”
with acting and conspiring to
act as an unregistered agent
of the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, in
violation of FARA. Full
complaint on Patreon, here.
Afrasiabi was
arrested on January 18 at his
home in Watertown,
Massachusetts, and appeared on
January 19 in federal court in
Boston, Massachusetts, before
United States Magistrate Judge
Jennifer C. Boal. Inner
City Press live tweeted it, here.
On January 29, as
Inner City Press reported that
day, it emerged that lobbyist
Afrasiabi wants to represent
himself. Judge Korman, ruling
on Sunday, January 31, says
that will have to await a
Faretta hearing on February
10, not held in person as
Afrasiabi requested:
"Kaveh Afrasiabi
(the defendant) The
defendant subsequently emailed
the U.S. Attorney that he
intended to represent
himself. The email was then
forwarded to me. I indicated
that the defendant’s request
to appear pro se would be
addressed at the arraignment.
The defendant has now
requested that his arraignment
be held in person. That
request is denied. Although
the defendant may have a right
to an in-person arraignment
(absent his consent to proceed
via videoconference), Local
Rule 50.2 requires only that
the defendant be arraigned as
“promptly as practicable,” and
it is not currently
practicable to hold an
in-person arraignment because
of the coronavirus pandemic
and the restrictions placed by
the Chief Judge on in-person
proceedings....
As for the
defendant’s request to
represent himself, I cannot
permit him to do so without a
hearing to ensure that he
understands the “dangers and
disadvantages of
self-representation.” Faretta
v. California, 422 U.S. 806,
835 (1975)."
Accompanying the
January 29 arrest were some
emails, now on Patreon here.
Watch this site.
Inner City
Press will stay on this case.
On the
morning of January 19, given
the multiple references in the
complaint to the UN, Inner
City Press in writing asked UN
Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres and
his spokespeople Stephane
Dujarric and Melissa Fleming,
"What are comments and actions
if any of SG Guterres on
today's EDNY indictment of
Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi,
a/k/a “Lotfolah Kaveh
Afrasiabi,” with acting and
conspiring to act as an
unregistered agent of the
Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, in violation
of US FARA?"
Hours later, no
answer, on that, or the UN
Federal Credit Union's
role. Inner
City Press was
by Guterres
banned from
attending the
UN noon
briefing to
ask - this
while the UN
gives multiple
taxpayer
funded office
to Iran state
media.
No one else
allowed in
asked about
the case.
In
fact in the UN noon briefing
Inner City Press was banned
from, this from Iranian state
media:
UN Spokesman
Dujarric:
Mohsen?
Question:
Thank you, Stéphane. My
question is about the Iran’s
voting rights over unpaid
dues. The Iranian officials
say they have been in talks
with the Secretariat for now
to resolve this issue. Also,
they believe the main problem
is US [audio gap, inaudible]
unilateral sanctions. Can you
explain the latest
developments and efforts that
have been made to solve this
problem?
Spokesman Dujarric:
There are two... thank you for
the question. There are two
separate issues. As you state,
it is... we have, in fact,
been in close touch with the
Permanent Mission of Iran, as
well as other relevant Iranian
authorities. It's clear from
our side that Iran is keen to
find a way to pay into the UN
budget. But, as you know, I
think there... specific
circumstances are making such
payments difficult to
transfer. But we have been in
discussions; we will continue
to be in discussions and we
fully recognise the goodwill
of the Iranian authorities to
try to find a solution. We're
all trying to find a solution.
Today's UN
is corrupt - Guterres only
cares about getting money, not
complying with any law.
From the complaint:
AFRASIABI
received more than $265,000
from the IMUN in checks
payable to him and drawn on
official bank accounts held in
the name of the Permanent
Mission of the Islamic
Republic of Iran to the United
Nations. The memo lines of
many of the most recently
issued checks have explicitly
described the payments as
“salary.” 78. Many of the
payments made to AFRASIABI by
officials of the GOI assigned
to the IMUN since 2012 have
been drawn on the IMUN’s bank
account at a financial
institution in Long Island
City in Queens, New
York."
Would that be the
UN Federal Credit Union, about
which Inner City Press has
previously reported, before
being banned by Guterres, now
seeking a second term as UNSG?
Watch this site.
***
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