Paris court mulls extradition of Iranian engineer Kakavand

A Paris court on Wednesday asked for additional information before deciding on a request to extradite Majid Kakavand, a little-known Iranian engineer, to the US.

The case has further strained relations between Paris and Tehran. France awaiting a verdict for Clotilde Reiss, a French national held in Tehran, while Iran has demanded the liberation of Kavakand and accused France of bowing to US demands in the matter.

Kakavand was arrested in March 2009 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on an international arrest warrant issued by the USA. He subsequently spent five months in prison before being released on bail. The US is demanding, and expecting, his extradition for having purchased electronic products over the Internet from US firms in violation of a US embargo on exporting goods to Iran.

The Paris court is soliciting a "technical opinion” from a wing of the Ministry of Defence in order to determine the nature of the goods Kakavand bought in the US and sent to Iran.

The case will be reopened on March 31.

The matter went largely unnoticed by Paris until the arrest of French national Clotilde Reiss on July 1 in Iran. The young academic was accused by Iranian authorities of acting against Iranian national security during anti-government protests. She is currently under house arrest in the French embassy in Tehran where she awaits the conclusion of a long drawn-out trial. Her last court appearance for which was on Jan. 16.

Marion Gaudin, a FRANCE 24 correspondent covering the Kakavand trial at the Paris appeals court, said, “Iranian justice has been dragging its feet on making a decision on Clotilde Reiss; perhaps Iran is waiting to see how the Kakavand case pans out.”

The destiny of both Reiss and Kakavand are closely tied to diplomatic tensions between France and Iran. The two nations have found themselves at political and legal loggerheads, with insults and accusations on both ends. In Dec. 2009, Iranian authorities called for the liberation of Kavakand, accusing France of “acting under pressure from the US.”

Kavakand’s own lawyers are similarly concerned about the role of the US  in the affair. FRANCE 24 correspondent Catherine Nicholson, also covering the trial, cited Kakavand’s barrister, Diane François, as saying that an extradition to the US would be illegal by French law. Should the French courts approve the extradition, François intends to bring the case to the supreme court, according to Nicholson.

Both France and Iran eagerly await the court’s decision. If Kakavand is extradited to the US, he may face up to 20 years in prison.