Koblenz, Germany - A German businessman aged 63 was jailed Monday for six years after admitting he sold Iran 16 tons of high-grade graphite, apparently to make rocket nozzles. Judges in the western city of Koblenz said his activities "could have done major damage to Germany's international relationships."
They found he illicitly shipped the product to Iran via Turkey between 2005 and 2007. The trade stopped when alert Turkish customs officers halted two road shipments with another 10 tons of graphite.
He was also ordered to pay a financial penalty of 705,000 euros (960,000 dollars), equivalent to his earnings from the illicit deal.
The man circumvented laws preventing illicit arms exports by declaring the graphite to be of low grade.
Since 2007, under UN embargo rules even exports of low-grade graphite to Iran have required a government security clearance.
German intelligence suspects the graphite was bought for Iran's missile programme. Tehran is suspected of secretly developing nuclear weapons which could be delivered as the payload of the medium and long-range missiles.
Rocket nozzles are often made of graphite, a form of carbon.
The accused was chief executive of a firm that specialized in trading graphite.
Judges described his jail term, which was recommended by the prosecution, as "on the low side" for such an offence. The court said he would have been jailed for longer if he had had a criminal record or had not made an admission.
He has been in custody since last June and this was credited to his jail term. The prosecution and defence said they would not appeal.
His name has been withheld under privacy guidelines applied to the German media.
