Wednesday, March 12, 2008

California Muslim jailed for attempted Iranian weapons deal

An update on this story, in which Maghloubi's lawyer had claimed his client had intended "to actually try and help a rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran" by arming a rival of Ahmadinejad. There are many unanswered questions there, not the least of which concerns the truth of that claim, but even if it were the case, would this supposed rival of Ahmadinejad still be committed to the perpetuation of the Sharia state, and the destruction of Israel? For that matter, how could Maghloubi be sure these weapons would not cross the border into Iraq and endanger U.S. and British troops? "American jailed for attempted Iran weapons deal: prosecutors," from Agence France-Presse:

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A Los Angeles court jailed an American of Iranian origin for three years and five months Monday for trying to buy up to 100,000 submachine guns and sell them to Iran, prosecutors said.

Seyed Mostafa Maghloubi, 50, was arrested in early 2007 by police acting on a tip-off and pleaded guilty last August to violating the US trade embargo against Iran.

Prosecutors said Maghloubi admitted trying to buy up to 100,000 Uzi submachine guns and night-vision goggles, which he wanted to export to Iran through Dubai.

"These were very dangerous actions," said US District Judge George King, quoted by local media.

He said Maghloubi's actions could have caused many deaths and destabilized "an area of the world that has suffered enough from continuing upheaval."

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