TORONTO — An Iranian-Canadian has been convicted of violating the United Nations Act for trying to ship goods to Iran that could be used in nuclear technology.

Mahmoud Yadegari was found guilty of eight other offences, including forgery and violations of the Customs Act, related to his attempts last year to ship pressure transducers to Iran.

The high-profile case is the first time in Canada that someone has been prosecuted for violations of U.N. regulations that restrict the export of certain goods to Iran.

Justice Cathy Mocha concluded Tuesday that the Crown had proven its case on nine of the ten charges that Yadegari faced, acquitting him on one count of making a false document.

“On the totality of the evidence, the defendant knew or was willfully blind that the transducers had the characteristics that made them embargoed by the U.N. Act,” said Judge Mocha. “He wanted to sell the products to a person in Iran and he did so knowingly,” the Ontario provincial court judge added.

Yadegari, 37, has been in custody since he was arrested by the RCMP in April 2009 at his Toronto home, from which he operated a small import-export business.

The arrest followed attempts by Yadegari to ship two transducers, for just over $2,000, to an address in Dubai. Transducers convert pressure measurements into electrical signals that can be displayed on a computer. They have benign applications, yet they can also be used as component in centrifuges for enriching uranium.

While the Crown proved that Yadegari knew he was violating the law by attempting to export the devices, there was no evidence at his trial about what they would have been used for in Iran.

“This clearly was not a sophisticated operation.,” said Judge Mocha. “He was not a sophisticated offender,” she added.

Defence lawyer Frank Addario stressed that his client was not accused of trying to aid Iran’s nuclear program. “That theory was not advanced in court by the Crown,” said Mr. Addario. “All the judge needed to find was that Mr. Yadegari knew they [pressure transducers] were prohibited,” he observed.

The judge did conclude that the type of transducer that Yadegari was trying to export, had the capability to be part of a centrifuge used to enrich uranium, noted federal Crown attorney Bradley Reitz. “The finding that the devices were destined for Iran, makes this a more serious case,” said the prosecutor.

Yadegari faces a maximum of five years in prison for his offences. Both the Crown and defence told Judge Mocha that since this is the first case of its kind in the country, there is no precedent for the sentence that should be imposed on Yadegari.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place on July 29.