A Massachusetts-based political scientist and author who was charged in 2021 with secretly working for the government of Iran while lobbying U.S. officials on issues like nuclear policy is one of the five prisoners freed by the U.S. in a swap on Monday. Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Watertown in January 2021. He was charged in New York City federal court with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of Iran.Afrasiabi said he strongly denied the charges. Afrasiabi was born in Iran in 1957 and came to the United States in 1973. Court records indicate he became a lawful permanent resident in 1984. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1980 and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from Boston University in 1988. Court documents alleged that he was paid by the government of Iran through diplomats assigned to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in New York City. During the period from 2007 through his arrest, Afrasiabi was accused of making TV appearances, writing articles and lobbying U.S. officials to support the Iranian government’s agenda.”During his interactions with these U.S. officials, Afrasiabi did not identify himself as an agent of the (Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran),” an application for an arrest warrant from 2021 states. Afrasiabi and four other prisoners held by the U.S. were part of the prisoner swap carried out on Monday. Afrasiabi, whose case was in its pre-trial stages, was pardoned. “I’m absolutely thrilled about it. It’s been the end of a terrible nightmare and I’m very happy that it’s over now and I can resume my normal life,” he said. Afrasiabi, who has already published 34 books, said he’s working on another and hopes to resume teaching. He plans to continue living in Watertown. Iran also freed five prisoners sought by the U.S.”This is a step forward,” Afrasiabi said. “It represents breaking some ice in the glacier of hostility between the two countries.””Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar.The deal also included the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian assets. Federal officials said that two of the freed Iranian prisoners planned to stay in the U.S. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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