An Iranian Arms Dealer's Path to US Prison

(Dec. 23) -- Amir Hossein Ardebili was not your typical merchant of death. He didn't travel the world buying up Kalashnikovs to sell to insurgents fighting brutal civil wars, or fly airplanes loaded with deadly rockets into strife-ridden countries. Instead, he worked as an obscure businessman buying spare parts, such as solid-state gyro chips, for his own government.

The problem, at least from the U.S. government's perspective, was that his client was the government of Iran, which is under U.S. sanctions. And for violating U.S. export laws, he was sentenced last week to five years in U.S. federal prison.

The sentencing was lauded by the U.S. government, which even released video of the sting that netted Ardebili. But the case has also stirred concerns about what is known as extraterritorial jurisdiction, meaning, the application of U.S. law to acts committed beyond its borders. It has also heightened concerns for U.S. citizens held in Iran, including three American hikers.

Ardebili, who had never left Iran before, was lured to Tbilisi, Georgia, where he agreed to meet with what he thought were potential sellers, but who were really U.S. law enforcement officials. From Tbilisi, Ardebili was then taken to the United States, where he has remained in solitary confinement for much of the past two years.

Ardebili, who broke down in tears during his sentencing hearing, has apparently not done well in prison. In court filings prior to sentencing, Ardebili's lawyer, Edmund Lyons, said that two years in prison left the now 36-year old with serious depression. He has had only limited contact with his family, almost all of whom remain in Iran.

In arguing for a tough sentence, however, the U.S. Justice Department pointed out that the items Ardebili was trying to buy were critical parts and components for weapons systems that could be used against the United States. His shopping list included, for example, a computer for the F-4 fighter aircraft.

But Ardebili was also caught up in a much larger game of cat and mouse when it comes to Iran and weapons. Facing U.S. and international sanctions, Iran has resorted using middlemen, such as Ardebili, to purchase weapons and spare parts, prompting the U.S. government to find ways to cut off its supply.

It's been an uphill battle. The Pentagon in 2007 stopped selling surplus F-14 parts after an investigation found that many of the spare parts were being bought up and sold to Iran, which flies U.S. aircraft bought in the 1970s.

While the U.S. government clearly hoped the Ardebili case would send a message to other would-be buyers, it's not likely to end Iran's shopping trips abroad. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that a mysterious cargo plane loaded with weapons that had been impounded recently in Thailand was believed to have been on its way to Iran.

Clif Burns, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based firm Bryan Cave, called it a "charmingly medieval notion" that the U.S. government could kidnap a foreign citizen from a third country, transport him to a U.S. courtroom and then apply U.S. laws to his actions abroad. The concern, says Burns, would be if Iran tried to accuse a U.S. citizen of somehow violating Iranian law, for example, when Iranians used popular Internet tools, such as YouTube, after this year's elections to organize protests.

"You can just imagine if a Google executive were traveling in Lebanon and got spirited out by Iranian agents, and thrown into solitary confinement in Iran," says Burns. "We'd be beside ourselves, and there would be people rattling sabers on Capitol Hill threatening invasion, and rightfully so."