FBI agents allegedly “harassed” an
Iranian man detained by ICE in Alabama
to keep his wife from talking to reporters, according to his attorney.
Michael Shabani told AL.com that two FBI agents visited his client,
Ribvar Karimi, and said that Karimi’s wife, Morgan Karimi
, should stop talking to the media.
“The agents who went there told my client, ‘It’s best that your wife .. not go around and talk to the media, she is not looking after your best interest,’” Shabani said.
“You call her and tell her it’s best not to go around and do what she’s doing in the media,’” Shabani said
the agents told Ribvar.
The FBI’s National Press Office told AL.com that the agency declines to comment.
Karimi was detained by ICE on June 22 in Locust Fork and initially placed in custody at the Etowah County Detention Center.
He was moved to Pickens County Jail last week, according to Shabani. The ICE Detainee Locator does not provide a facility for Ribvar’s current whereabouts.
Shabani said that unlike other ICE detainees Ribvar is not being moved to the ICE processing center in Louisiana.
Ribvar served as a sniper in the Iranian Army from 2018 to 2021. However, Morgan has said his military service is being “
exaggerated” and her husband is not a terrorist
and has never harmed an American.
Shabani, also from Iran, stated that Ribvar’s military service was compulsory not by choice.
Shabani emphasized that Ribvar is
Kurdish, an ethnic group within Iran
that has historically opposed the country‘s government.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, has routinely referenced Ribvar’s military past in Iran while saying
he was eligible to be deported
due to not completing a procedural step to become a citizen.
Despite entering legally and getting married in the 90 day window Morgan and Ribvar did not file an adjustment of status.
Morgan told Newsweek she intended to but health complications with her pregnancy derailed those plans.
However, Shabani said there is no deadline to file an adjustment of status.
