Shahram Amiri, Iranian nuclear scientist, Died at 38

  Reseacher

Shahram Amiri was born on November 8, 1977, and died on August 3, 2016.

He was an Iranian Kurdish nuclear scientist.

Amiri disappeared from Iran during 2009–2010 under disputed circumstances, and was subsequently executed by Iran in August 2016.

During the spring of 2009, he disappeared while apparently on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Tehran Bureau noted conflicting information on September 27, 2009 regarding the date of his disappearance: Tehran Times claimed that Amiri disappeared on May 31 , but Press TV claimed he disappeared in June.

During that same announcement by Tehran Bureau, it was claimed that Amiri conducted research on particle physics at the Malek-Ashtar University of Technology in Tehran and that this institution was controlled by the “Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp”.

Around a year after his disappearance, two videos appeared, each purporting to be declarations by Amiri, but with contradictory stories.

Reportedly, One showed him (or the person claiming to be him), stating that he had been kidnapped and tortured by Saudis and Americans; the other that he was in America of his own free will.

During July 2010, Shahram Amiri reappeared in Washington, D.C. at the Iran interests section of the Embassy of Pakistan, seeking help to return to Tehran.

Not long after, he spoke at a press conference in Tehran, telling journalists he had been kidnapped, tortured and bribed to cooperate with the CIA, but had refused.

During 2009, the Iranian government accused the US government of kidnapping him, while Iranian government media later reported that he was working for Iranian intelligence.

Following his return to Iran, American sources confirmed he had arrived in, or was taken to, the United States with the help of the CIA, but insisted he had not been taken or kept against his will.

Reports were that the ABC News and the newspaper Haaretz suggested Amiri “wanted to seek asylum abroad.”

Apparently, a 2011 report by NPR news, he “was believed to be an agent-in-place for the CIA”, who decided “he wanted out of Iran”, but once in the US “got cold feet” and “made his way back to Iran”.

However, Amiri was sentenced to ten years in prison after returning.

Nonetheless, he was reported as executed in August 2016, and his body was returned to his family with rope marks around his neck.

Shahram Amiri passed away at 38 years old.