US Acquits Two Iranian Scientists for Sanctions Violations

Federal prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against two more individuals linked to a prisoner swap deal with Iran announced by the Trump administration on Saturday, ‘Politico’ periodical reported.

An Atlanta-based federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the sanctions-violation cases against scientists Mahboobe Ghaedi and Maryam Jazayeri.

Both women were co-defendants in the prosecution of Masoud Soleimani, a renowned Iranian stem-cell researcher who was arrested last year in the US on baseless charges.

Massoud Soleimani, a stem cell researcher and associate professor at Tarbiat Modarres University, which is among 1% top scientists in the world with regard to scientific citations in prestigious scientific journals, departed for the US on a study agenda on October 7, 2018 but was arrested upon arrival in US.