INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Man Held in Sales of Electronics to Iran Hires New Attorney

Reza (Raymond) Amiri, one of two Iranian nationals arrested two weeks ago for allegedly selling electronics equipment to their homeland without an export license, is expected to have a new attorney at his bail hearing today.

Victor Sherman, a Santa Monica criminal lawyer, is set to represent Amiri before U.S. Magistrate John R. Kronenberg in federal court in Los Angeles.

In a statement through his new lawyer, Amiri said he replaced Bruce M. Margolin, a Los Angeles attorney, because he wanted a more experienced lawyer handling his case.

Sherman, 50, represented Donald Segretti, the political saboteur who tried to undermine primary campaigns of Nixon’s potential 1972 Democratic opponents. Segretti, who now practices law in Newport Beach, was sentenced to four months in jail. Sherman said the government’s request to deny Amiri bail is unreasonable. He cited a similar case in 1985, when an Iranian businessman operating in West Los Angeles was accused of selling sophisticated military equipment to Iran but received bail of $750,000. The man was eventually fined $50,000 and served a three-month jail term.

Amiri, owner of Ray Amiri Computer Consultants in Newport Beach, and Mohammed (Don) Danesh, the company’s operations manager, were arrested Aug. 28 for the allegedly illegal sale to Iran of portable oscilloscopes, which can be used to make missile guidance systems more efficient. Amiri was out of the country when federal agents searched the company’s office in February and he was not arrested until he returned in late August.

The U.S. government embargoed the sale of military hardware to Iran in 1979 after the fall of the shah.