ICBPS- Iranian Americans for Liberty (IAL) has applauded U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for arresting Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi for acting as an unregistered agent of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran.
In a statement, the IAL on Wednesday said that it applauded DOJ for arresting and charging “political Scientist” Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi for acting as an unregistered agent of Tehran.
The IAL put out its statement applauding the arrest, declared that there are many Iranian nationals like Afrasiabi in America who are lobbying for the Islamic Republic regime.
“We call on DOJ to take decisive action and hold people accountable,” according to the Iranians Americans for Liberty’s statement.
“One of those individuals is Mr. Hossein Mousavian. He has been a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs since 2009. Mousavian served as Iran’s Ambassador to Germany from 1990-1997, where he presided over the assassination of over 90 dissidents across Europe by the Islamic Republic death squads. Individuals like Mousavian are a clear and present danger to the life and safety of Americans, and Iranian- Americans in particular, and should not be given shelter in America.”
“We urge the Department of Justice and President Joe Biden to take a strong stance and decisive action against Islamic Republic regime officials that are hiding in plain sight throughout America,” said IAL.
The Iranian Americans for Liberty applaud the Department of Justice (DOJ) for arresting and charging “Political Scientist” Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi for acting as an unregistered agent of the Islamic Republic regime. https://t.co/Y5r9eegAOa pic.twitter.com/ZZGaVdxRRa
— Iranian Americans for Liberty (@LibertyIranian) January 20, 2021
U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that “a criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging 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 the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”
Afrasiabi “was allegedly paid, directed, and controlled by the Government of Iran to lobby U.S. government officials, including a Congressman; and to create and disseminate information favorable to the Iranian government,” stated FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Bonavolonta.
“Federal prosecutors said the 63-year-old agent was to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts Tuesday after his arrest one day earlier at his home in Watertown on charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent and acting as a foreign agent without registration.”
“Afrasiabi allegedly sought to influence the American public and American policymakers for the benefit of his employer, the Iranian government, by disguising propaganda as objective policy analysis and expertise,” said Acting U.S. Attorney DuCharme. “This Office is committed to the robust enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which provides the American people the tools they need to evaluate opinions and arguments in the marketplace of ideas by requiring foreign agents to declare their paymasters. Those, like the defendant, who conceal the full extent of their work for a foreign government when the law requires disclosure will face consequences for their actions,” Seth DuCharme, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
