Briton gets 33 months for weapons-to-Iran plot

A US judge sentenced a British businessman to nearly three years in prison Wednesday for trying to buy surface-to-air missile parts from undercover US agents to resell to Iran, Today's Zaman quoted AP as reporting.

Christopher Tappin, 65, pleaded guilty in November in a deal that opened the door for him to serve part of his sentence in Britain near his ailing wife. US District Judge David Briones in El Paso said Wednesday that he would recommend that the US Department of Justice approve any request by Tappin to be transferred to the United Kingdom.

Tappin must report to prison by March 8. His lawyers asked that he be allowed to report to a Pennsylvania prison, something the judge said he did not oppose. Tappin will likely spend six to nine months in the United States before being sent back to Britain, Tappin's attorney, Dan Cogdell, said. There, he will serve no more than half of the remaining sentence, Cogdell said.

Tappin fought extradition to the United States for two years until being denied a petition to take the case to Britain's Supreme Court. His extradition touched a nerve in Britain among those who believe extradition arrangements with the United States are unfairly weighted against British citizens.

After he was brought to Texas, Tappin was held in jail for about two months, where he initially was put in solitary confinement at his request. Tappin was later released on bond and has since lived near his lawyer's house in a gated community in Houston.