Iranian Released in Prisoner Exchange Finds Fault With Its HandlingSitting in a federal prison, the Iranian-American former aerospace executive felt optimistic after years of frustration and despondency. His lawyers had filed what they regarded as a strong appeal, and he had reason to believe that his 2013 conviction, on illicit business dealings with Iran, might soon be reversed.
The former executive, Nader Modanlo, was one of seven people released by the United States this month in a high-profile prisoner exchange deal with Iran, but he is hardly celebrating. The price of freedom was to abandon his appeal and keep the felony conviction on his record, an agonizing choice for a man who insists he never broke any laws.
Mr. Modanlo, 55, said in an interview that he was shocked when he learned of the proposed deal on Jan. 14, and was given only two hours to decide whether to accept it. He angrily rejected the terms, and the deadline passed, starting what would become a two-day frenzy of phone calls from prison involving his lawyers, relatives, the Justice Department and Iranian consular officials.
The pressure on him was intense. Hours before he even made a decision, Iranian news services leaked details of the deal, and Obama administration officials briefed reporters about it.
He eventually signed on and was able to reunite with his family in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, where he has lived for many years. But the conviction he had been vigorously contesting, for brokering a deal to help Iran launch its first communications satellite into space on a Russian rocket, almost certainly means he will never again be able to work in the aerospace business: his ambition since his childhood in Iran, when he watched American astronauts walk on the moon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/world/middleeast/iranian-released-in-prisoner-exchange-finds-fault-with-its-handling.html?ref=world&_r=0
