Former Ann Arbor man who targeted Iran critics skips LA court date
A purported Iranian government agent and former Ann Arbor painter who pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to kill a broadcaster critical of the Iranian regime is a fugitive from justice after missing a Los Angeles court date, the Associated Press reported.
Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia, 43, was granted permission to travel to his native Iran earlier this fall to visit his ailing father and apparently never returned. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at Tuesday's hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, deputy district attorney Ron Goudy told the AP.
Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia
As AnnArbor.com reported on Monday, Sadeghnia's name appears among the trove of U.S. government documents posted by the WikiLeaks website last weekend.
Sadeghnia, 43, formerly of Ann Arbor, is on probation after serving a year in the Men’s Central Jail at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for solicitation to commit murder. He was given permission to leave the country and go to Iran on the condition he return by Oct. 25. On Tuesday, Sadeghnia was supposed to give the court a progress report on his probation, according to the AP.
AnnArbor.com was the first to report in June that Sadeghnia was under investigation by the FBI after being arrested in July 2009 by Glendora, Calif., police. Officers arrested Sadeghnia after he offered a man $27,000 to kill Djamshid Sharmahd, who runs radio and television programming for Los Angeles-based Tondar. The man rejected the offer, and Sadeghnia later pleaded guilty, police said.
The Iranian government claims Tondar is a terrorist organization because it took responsibility for the 2008 Shiraz bombing at a mosque in southern Iran that killed 14 people. But Tondar spokesman Iman Afar denied the organization is a terrorist group during an interview with AnnArbor.com in June.
According to the Jan. 21 cable from the U.S. Embassy in London, Sadeghnia “apparently admitted his surveillance” of Sharmahd and Ali Reza Nourizadeh, a vocal London-based critic of the Iranian regime. Sadeghnia introduced himself as a "big fan" of Nourizadeh and visited him several times in London and Washington D.C., the cable says.
Sadeghnia's lawyer, Michael Zimbert, told the AP he hasn't heard directly from Sadeghnia but received an e-mail from his brother that said Sadeghnia couldn't return from Iran in time for the court date.
Comments
bedrog
Sat, Dec 4, 2010 : 7:27 a.m.
cibachrome...the suspect's name of 'reza'is just a a first name and in no way suggests he is a member of the former 'Pahlavi' family of the former shah. and his support of the current regime which ousted the shah definitely doesn't either.
cibachrome
Fri, Dec 3, 2010 : 10:28 p.m.
Can't they just post an ad on Craigslist in the area? It could be that he's just not been given his mail. As a Reza, he's related to the former Shah, so you can understand why he's so apprehensive about revealing more about himself. Maybe they should worry more about people who don't wash their hands after restroom use instead of singling out people like this.
Mick52
Fri, Dec 3, 2010 : 6:52 p.m.
Let me get this straight. In LA you can hire a hit man to murder someone serve only one year, and get released on bond and allowed to travel out of the country. Is it possible to secede a state from the union? I suppose it is not so bad since he is in Iran, but to get back to killing his target all he has to do is fly to Mexico and walk across the border to get back in.
jcj
Fri, Dec 3, 2010 : 6:30 p.m.
Dah! Another fine example of our judicial system.