SA man jailed for nuke exports

2005-08-05 08:47

Washington - A Cape Town businessman has been sent to prison in the United States after pleading guilty to the illegal export - to Pakistan via South Africa - of American-made items that can be used in nuclear weapons, SABC news reported on Friday.

A federal judge in Washington DC sentenced Asher Karni to three years, which was well below the maximum possible.

Lawyers for the Israeli national, who is an Orthodox Jew, hope that when time served and good behaviour are taken into account, their client could be out in around a year.

Central to the case against him was the shipment of high speed electrical switches called "triggered spark gaps", which have medical applications, but can also be used to detonate nuclear bombs.

According to the US government, this is "the face of the nuclear black market".

Calling Karni a "proliferator", prosecutor Jay Bratt said it was one of the "most serious" cases he had ever dealt with.

Nathan Lewin, the defence lawyer, said his client was "by no means" a nuclear arms dealer and he emphasised the outpouring of support for Asher Karni from Cape Town's Jewish community.

In his sometimes emotional address, the businessman called himself a peaceful person who loves America and Israel and would do nothing to hurt them.

In the end, Judge Riccardo Urbina was largely persuaded by the defence that Karni was a good man, led astray by greed.

But he rejected their argument that the 19 months already spent in custody were enough.

Karni's sentencing is not the end of this affair. American authorities are still seeking the extradition of the Pakistani man accused of buying the triggered spark gaps.

- SAPA