A photographer traveling with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UN General Assembly last week stayed behind and has sought asylum in the United States, CNN reported.
His lawyer, Paul O’Dwyer, told CNN on Monday that Hassan Golkanbhan feared persecution over his opposition to the Iranian government, and that his wife and two children had fled Iran for an undisclosed safe haven.
“He’s afraid to return to Iran... He’s perceived as not being a supporter, or being an opponent of the Iranian regime,” O’Dwyer said. “Somebody who has betrayed the regime and who can no longer be trusted by them.”
The lawyer said suspicions about Golkanbhan’s political views had arisen during the trip, on which Ahmadinejad addressed the world body for the last time as president amid mounting pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme.
“There were things that he was expected to do that he was uncomfortable with doing,” O’Dwyer said, without providing further details. “While he was here... his position on certain things became known to the Iranian government.”
O’Dwyer declined to comment on Golkanbhan’s whereabouts, but said he was awaiting an asylum interview with US authorities that could take months.