Hossein Alikhani was an Iranian

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

founder, political scientist, and author who was abducted in a

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role a ...

by undercover

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

agents in 1992, and released after being held for 130 days.

Life and career

Alikhani was the author of ''In the Claw of The Eagle: A Guide to U.S Sanctions Against Libya'' and ''Sanctioning Iran: Anatomy of a Failed Policy'', and was an authority on the subject of unilateral trade sanctions and the

Iran and Libya Sanctions Act The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 (ILSA) was a 1996 act of the United States Congress that imposed economic sanctions on firms doing business with Iran and Libya. On September 20, 2004, the President signed an Executive Order to terminate ...

of 1996. He founded the NGO

Centre for World Dialogue The Centre for World Dialogue is an independent, privately funded think tank based in Nicosia, Cyprus. The Centre was founded by Hossein Alikhani and his wife Jila Faramarzi in 1996. Its conception is based on the premise that global dialogue ca ...

based in

Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, Romanization of Armenian, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, Capital city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is ...

. Despite his own troubles in the United States, Alikhani was an avid proponent of improving US-Iran relations and enabled the first meeting between the former Iranian hostage-taker of the United States embassy in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Abbas Abdi Abbas Abdi (; fa, عباس عبدی; born 1 October 1956) is one of Iran's most influential reformists, journalist, self-taught sociologist and social activist. Biography Abdi was born in 1956. He studied polymer engineering at Tehran Polytec ...

and his former hostage,

Barry Rosen Barry Rosen is an American former diplomat who was held hostage during the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis. Rosen was the press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was seized by militants on November 4, 1979. He was held for 444 days, ...

. The reconciliation meeting in 1998 was organized by the Centre for World Dialogue and took place at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

headquarters in Paris. Hossein Alikhani died on 4 March 2008 at the age of 63 after battling acute

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. His children include the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning producer

Borna Alikhani Borna may refer to: Places * Borna, Leipzig, a town in Saxony, Germany * Borna, a subdivision of Bahretal municipality, Saxony, German * Borna Dam, an earthfill dam on Borna river near Ambejogai, Beed district, Maharashtra, India People * Borna ...

Kidnapping

Alikhani was seized in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

in 1992, accused of violating American sanctions against

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, and held for 130 days. His seizure was a "kidnapping" because the sanctions did not apply to non-American citizens living outside the United States.Tehran court rules against US
''The Christian Science Monitor'' Alikhani filed a suit in Iran against the United States for "kidnapping" him and, won the first lawsuit by an Iranian against the United States for supporting terrorism. Iran informed the U.S. government through the Swiss consulate in Tehran. According to the court decision the US government was required to pay $550 million to Alikhani. As the United States refused to pay the money, Alikhani asked the court to put the American embassy in Tehran on sale. Alikhani expected to make as much as $200 million from the sale, much less than the $550 million awarded him by the Tehran court. This was a symbolic victory for Alikhani considering that the sale has not taken place; the US embassy compound is still housed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Gary Sick Gary G. Sick (born April 4, 1935) is an American academic and analyst of Middle East affairs, with special expertise on Iran, who served on the U.S. National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and for a couple weeks under Reagan as w ...

, an Iran expert at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, says the U.S. made a mistake by allowing Americans to collect such large damages in these uncontested cases. "If we could play that game, others can play that game too," says Mr. Sick, who served at the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

under three presidents. Independent human rights bodies in the US also took up Alikhani's case much after the case was decided, presenting the case as one of

extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

Life and career

Kidnapping

Notes

See also