Two Iranian nationals, including one with dual US citizenship, entered guilty pleas on charges related to surveillance of dissident Iranian group's activities in the United States, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) Two Iranian nationals, including one with dual US citizenship, entered guilty pleas on charges related to surveillance of dissident Iranian group's activities in the United States, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Wednesday."Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, 39, a dual US-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, 60, an Iranian citizen and resident of California, have entered pleas of guilty to charges stemming from their conduct conducting surveillance of and collecting identifying information about American citizens and US nationals who are members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)," the release said.
Doostdar pleaded guilty of acting as an agent of the government of Iran without registering with the Justice Department, while Ghorbani's guilty plea involved violations of US sanctions against the Islamist republic, the release said.
As part of his plea, Doostdar admitted under oath that he traveled to the United States from Iran on three occasions in order to meet with Ghorbani and to convey directions for Ghorbani's activities on behalf of the government of Iran, the release added.
Doostdar and Ghorbani admitted attending MEK rallies, photographing MEK leaders and annotating the images with hand-written notes identifying officials and their positions in the group, the release said. Doostdar later took the images back to Iran.
The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years; ten years for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign power and 20 years for violating US sanctions, according to the release.
