Rahmani

Background

Anyone who “knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so” faces up to 10 years in prison. 18 U.S.C. § 2339B(a)(1).1 A foreign “terrorist organization” is defined as any organization so designated by the Secretary of State under 8 U.S.C. § 1189(a)(1).2 1 The maximum sentence was increased to 15 years in 2001. See USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, § 810(d), 115 Stat. 272, 380 (2001). 2 All references to 8 U.S.C. § 1189 are to the version in place before the 2001 and 2004 amendments. 4840 UNITED STATES v. AFSHARI Roya Rahmani was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B for making monetary contributions to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), also known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization for Iran, between 1997 and 2001. See United States v. Rah- mani, sub nom. United States v. Afshari, 426 F.3d 1150, 1152 (9th Cir. 2005). MEK is opposed to the current fundamentalist regime in Iran. See People’s Mojahedin Org. of Iran v. Dep’t of State, 182 F.3d 17, 20-21 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (“PMOI I”). It was first designated a terrorist organization in 1997, and was re-designated in 1999 and 2001. See id. at…