An Iranian national working as a research assistant in Taiwan was yesterday convicted of assaulting police officers in two separate incidents, with the New Taipei City District Court handing him a three-month prison term and ordering his deportation after serving the sentence.
The court found the 31-year-old man guilty of obstructing an officer in discharge of duties for both incidents on Oct. 12 and Oct. 13, when he clashed with police, injuring several officers and a bus driver.
However, the Iranian, who in 2014 arrived in Taiwan to study and work, does not have to serve the three-month term, as the punishment is commutable to a fine of NT$90,000.
It was the first ruling on the case and can be appealed.
The court also ordered that he deported after serving his sentence, citing Article 95 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates that an alien who receives a jail term may be deported after it is served.
Following the incidents, Academia Sinica said he would be suspended from his job as a research assistant.
Local media quoted the man's friends as saying that he was easygoing, but was emotionally distressed after a breakup and had problems at work.
Media reports said that he came to Taiwan for a doctoral program in chemistry at National Central University, which he did not finish, and later worked as a research assistant at other universities before his job at Academia Sinica.
Prosecutors said that he was involved in a brawl with police near the Presidential Office Building on Oct. 12, in which he head-butted and punched three officers — as seen on videos captured by bystanders — before reinforcements arrived and subdued him.
After being taken for questioning at a police station, he was released without bail, despite having injured three officers.
The next day, he got into another fight.
Prosecutors said a video shows him blocking a bus by praying, in the rain, in the middle of a street in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) on the morning of Oct. 13.
The 63-year-old driver of the bus, surnamed Lin (林), said he approached the man to ask him to move aside when the Iranian began punching him, leaving Lin with cuts and bruises to his eyes, nose and lips.
That incident once again required the cooperation of several police and bystanders to subdue the Iranian, with Lin and one officer sustaining injuries that required medical attention, prosecutors said.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
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