So Much for Smart Diplomacy: Iranian-American Academic Gets 12 Years in Prison

They brought out all the heavy hitters for this guy but ultimately failed yet again.

How's that smart power working out there, Mrs. Clinton?

Iran sentenced an Iranian-American scholar to more than 12 years in prison Tuesday for his purported role in post-election unrest there, despite appeals for his release by supporters as diverse as Hillary Clinton and the rock star Sting.

Academic Kian Tajbakhsh was arrested July 9 during a violent crackdown by security forces on street protests by Iranians who claimed the June election was rigged in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Charges against Tajbakhsh reportedly included espionage, contacting foreign elements and acting against national security of Iran.

In August, Secretary of State Clinton appealed for the release of Tajbakhsh, who was the only American charged in the mass trial of Iranian opposition members. He also was specially named in a call by the British rock star Sting to free all political prisoners in Iran.

The Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Tajbakhsh's lawyer, Houshang Azhari, as confirming he had been sentenced to "more than 12 years." He said the law prohibits him from divulging further details.

Back in 2007, Tajbakhsh had been imprisoned in Iran before winning his freedom.

On September 20, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a respected scholar, former New School professor of urban planning, and current consultant to the Open Society Institute, was released from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. One of four Iranian-Americans arrested in May, he spent 131 days in solitary confinement. From the very beginning, New School President Bob Kerrey condemned Tajbakhsh's arrest and detention as "unprovoked and without justification."

For what it's worth, the Open Society Institute is another plaything of George Soros, whose influence, apparently, is limited to puppets of the Democratic Party and not so much with the mullahs.