Moghadam

The instant proceedings were instituted on June 25, 1984 pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant from the Republic of France requesting the extradition of Matin Tabatabai Moghadam to France to stand trial on criminal charges. Because the unusual and involved factual background of the case is critical, it is set forth in detail below.

Facts

In 1983, prior to the incidents leading to this extradition request, Moghadam had been charged with heroin possession in indictments in the Western District of Washington and the Northern District of California. The Northern District charges were dismissed in December 1983. Moghadam was placed on probation after a guilty plea to the Washington charges.

On April 10, 1984 two women, Charla Custer and Catherine MacNeil, were arrested during a stopover in Paris while in route from Bombay to San Francisco. The two women were detained and their luggage was removed from the plane and searched. Customs agents found 20 grams of opium and 1010 grams of heroin in Custer’s luggage. Also in Custer’s possession was a letter written in Farsi implicating Moghadam in the smuggling attempt.

Custer made a statement to the French Magistrate on June…