Posted on: Thursday, October 4, 2001

Detention of man from Iran ordered

Associated Press

A man charged with falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen was ordered detained in Honolulu yesterday by U.S. Magistrate Barry Kurren.

Manoochehr Kavehpisheh, 44, of Honolulu, arrived in the United States from his native Iran in 1974 on a student visa, but never became a U.S. citizen, prosecutors said.

Kurren made his ruling after a deputy public defender admitted that Kavehpisheh has no legal standing in the United States. Kurren also cited the difficulty of trying to extradite someone from Iran.

Kavehpisheh had claimed to be a U.S. citizen, but said his citizenship papers were in Chicago with his parents.

At the time of Kavehpisheh's arrest, federal agents seized materials used to produce alternative identification, such as "international driving permits" and a so-called "world passport."

"They can be used as identity documents. They can be used to gain access to a country," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Sorenson said. "It looks like he's been selling those commercially."