Iran
sentenced Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen with permanent U.S. residency,
to 10 years in prison and a $4.2 million fine after he was found guilty
of collaborating against the state, his U.S.-based lawyer announced on
Tuesday.

Zakka, an
information technology expert, was invited to Iran by a government
official a year ago, but then disappeared after attending a conference
in Tehran.

State media announced
in November that he had been detained by Iran’s powerful Revolutionary
Guards, and reported that he had ties to U.S. military and intelligence
services.

Zakka’s supporters and his U.S. lawyer Jason Poblete have said that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

“Nizar
doesn’t recognize this process,” Poblete said in a telephone interview.
“He was there at the invitation of the Iranian government, and he was
pulled over on the side of the road by a bunch of men. He’s been treated
as a hostage ever since.”

Poblete said Zakka had learned of his verdict last Wednesday, and his Iranian lawyer was told on Sunday.

“It’s
10 years in prison and a $4.2 million” fine, Poblete said of the
60-page verdict. The Virginia-based lawyer said he has not seen the
document but was informed of its contents by Zakka’s Iranian lawyer.

Zakka
was charged under Article 508 of Iran’s penal code, Poblete said. The
code states that anyone found cooperating with a foreign state against
the Islamic Republic of Iran faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Iran’s
vice president for women and family affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi,
invited Zakka to attend a conference on women’s entrepreneurship in
September 2015, according to a copy of a signed letter from Molaverdi
provided by Poblete.

Amnesty International said last week that
Zakka’s health was deteriorating in his detention in Tehran’s Evin
Prison but authorities were denying him medical care.

In
a statement, Poblete called on U.S. officials to use the visit by
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the annual United Nations General
Assembly meeting in New York this week to ask for Zakka’s unconditional
release.

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Washington and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai; Editing by Daniel Bases)